nuclear-news

Judge invalidates Colorado radioactive materials license for uranium mill

License to build uranium mill in southwest Colorado nixed by Denver judge,   06/14/2012   Denver Post, By Bruce Finley, A state judge has invalidated a radioactive materials license that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued to allow construction of a new uranium mill in southwestern Colorado.

The decision from Denver District Judge John McMullen says “CDPHE
acted contrary to law” in failing to allow a proper adjudicatory
public hearing, with cross-examining of witnesses and a full review of
evidence, before granting the license to Energy Fuels Resources.
That company has been courting investors for a $150 million project to
build a mill near Nucla. It would be the nation’s first new uranium
mill since the Cold War.
McMullen ordered CDPHE to hold a proper hearing. McMullen also
temporarily has prohibited Energy Fuels from conducting activities at
the site for the proposed mill.
The decision resulted from a lawsuit by the opposition group Sheep
Mountain Alliance, which is challenging the license that would have
lett Energy Fuels construct the mill. Town governments in Telluride
and Ophir joined in the lawsuit…… Project opponents welcomed the
court decision, saying this bolsters their case that state oversight
of uranium mills is flawed.
“From the beginning, we felt the process was unfair,” said Jennifer
Thurston, coordinator of the Sheep Mountain Alliance campaign against
the mill. “There’s never been a uranium mill in Colorado that has been
operated and cleaned up without problems…..We have deep concerns
about how the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
regulates uranium mills in this state. There are many problems
associated with the mill in Cañon City. We don’t want problems of the
past to be repeated.”…. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission
has transferred regulatory authority to state officials.
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20858236/license-new-southwest-colorado-uranium-mill-nixed-by#ixzz1xtTMAD4m

June 15, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, Uranium, USA