Cover-up of effects of depleted uranium weapons on West’s soldiers and Iraqui citizens
West covering up depleted uranium use in wars: Webre http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/05/338390/west-covering-up-depleted-uranium-use/ 6 Dec 13 Press TV has conducted an interview with Alfred Lambremont Webre, an international lawyer in Vancouver, concerning the rising number of suicide rates among Canadian war veterans.
The following is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Webre, first of all, who would you blame for this rising trend that we are seeing among these war veterans? Is it because the situation is not being treated when they come back home? Can this issue even be pursued through legal channels?
Webre: Yes, the cause of this was very squarely pointed out in the final opinion of the Tokyo International Tribunal for war crimes in Afghanistan. In their final opinion, they stated that the US forces used depleted uranium weapons in Afghanistan in the manner that Zyklon B gas was used across Europe as a weapon of mass murder in Afghanistan calculated to destroy all the living species exposed.
And so what has been found is that exposure to the ionizing radiation in depleted uranium weapons has been felt both by the targeted victims of Afghanistan but also by the Canadian, by the US and by the UK troops who have had to handle the depleted uranium weapons and who have been in the proximity of the ionizing radiation there.
And it is now known that the [Persian] Gulf War syndrome was caused by large-scale use of depleted uranium weapons against Iraq in 1991 so that 70 percent of [Persian] Gulf War veterans have now had children born after the [Persian] Gulf War with mutations, deformities, genetic [dis]orders and suffer from the same syndromes that go on to produce suicides.
And omnicide is a word, the killing of all living things, the genome of all living things including humans, animals and plants and now this is coming home with the suicides of the Canadian forces and the suicides in the American and the British forces and all of the deformed babies and offspring in these soldiers but the greatest tragedy is in Iraq and Afghanistan itself.
Press TV: With what you are saying and the evidence to support it, do you think this issue can be raised in international courts? Or do you think the US could be standing accountable for the use of depleted uranium and the effects that it is having or is going to have?
Webre: Both Iraq and Afghanistan, in my judgment, should immediately go at the international level and break open the courts of justice at the International Criminal Court and other venues and we know those successful legal venues in international organizations to secure damages for what has been called a silent genocide.
This is a complete cover-up by the US, the UK and Canadian forces and also because Canadian uranium has been exported illegally against the Canadian nuclear commission regulations in which no Canadian uranium may be used in weapons and all depleted uranium in US and UK depleted uranium weapons is Canadian uranium and Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, has knowingly allowed this to go forward.
Catastrophic radioactive spill at Rio Tinto’s Rossing uranium mine
Rössing shuts operations after ‘catastrophic leak’ Namibia Times, December 6, 2013 By Jade McClune & Marshallino Beukes All milling operations at Rössing Uranium Mine ground to an immediate halt after “a catastrophic structural failure” at one of twelve leach tanks in the processing plant on Tuesday.
The incident triggered a veritable crisis, reinforcing widespread fears of a radioactive leak.
Sources at the mine told the Namib Times on Tuesday that they had heard some “kind of explosion”.
The mine has since confirmed that a leak was detected near one of the leach tanks and said there was “a very serious incident”, but did not mention any explosion.
A Red Banner Health and Safety Alert was sent out to all employees of the mine on Wednesday, confirming that there had been a “leach tank failure” at around 18:30 on Tuesday, 3 December.
The actual outcome of the incident was described as “serious” and the “maximum reasonable outcome: critical”……..http://www.namibtimes.net/forum/topics/rossing-shuts-operations-after-catastrophic-leak
Call for a fair deal from AREVA, for Niger
Niger says seeks better uranium terms from French Areva au news 6 Dec 13Paris (AFP) – Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou said in Paris on Friday that his country wanted to renew its uranium mining agreement with French nuclear giant Areva, but on more equitable terms….. Areva’s contract to extract uranium in the west African country expires on December 31, after more than four decades of mining at two sites on the southern edge of the Sahara, with a third under development………http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/world/a/20197961/niger-says-seeks-better-uranium-terms-from-french-areva/
The future of the uranium market melting away
Of course, the nuclear lobby is well-heeled and has its silver-tongued apologists who will do their best to discredit such stories. Beyond the despicable aspects of this, you should consider, from an investment point of view, the risk that the industry loses control of the public relations battle as more stories emerge – and legal consequences ensue……uranium stocks are a no-go as a long-term investment.
Meltdown Coming? The Uranium Story You Haven’t Heard Money 
Morning 27 November 2013 by Chris Mayer “……You remember the nuclear disaster at Fukushima? It was a horrible human tragedy that is still playing out – and in ways I am sure you will be surprised to learn.
The disaster also set back the so-called nuclear renaissance that was then in swing. Uranium prices fell like a piano tumbling down a flight of stairs, only recently crashing down to five-year lows and laying waste to uranium stocks.
But it’s been over two years since the meltdown at Fukushima, and memory is short. Here is Barron’s over the weekend, on its optimistic appraisal of Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded producer of uranium:
‘Cameco shares recently rallied after stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings, but are still flat for the year. They fetch just 15.2 times what the company has earned, well below its decade median of 24 times, and the low-cost producer generated net profit margins near 22% even when uranium prices slumped. Improving prices can only energize the stock.‘
Among the ‘reasons for optimism‘, Barron’s included ‘gradual progress toward the cleanup in Japan‘.
Barron’s piece inspired me to write to you today. As a long-term investor, I am not tempted – at all – by the apparent bargain in uranium stocks. Continue reading
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy wants to build a laser uranium enrichment facility in Kentucky
GE Hitachi, Energy Dept. in talks over Ky. uranium Chron, By DYLAN LOVAN and ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press | November 27, 2013 LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday that it is entering negotiations with General Electric’s nuclear division on a proposal to replace an aging uranium enrichment plant in Kentucky with a new facility.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy wants to build a laser enrichment facility that would make use of the depleted uranium kept at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The Energy Department announced that it has selected GE Hitachi to begin exclusive negotiations for the sale of the uranium inventory.
GE Hitachi spokesman Chris White said Global Laser Enrichment that uses a unique laser technology would extract natural uranium from Paducah’s stores of depleted tails. The uranium would be used to fuel commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S., he said.
The negotiations are just beginning and there is no timetable on building a new plant, White said…….http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/GE-Hitachi-Energy-Dept-in-talks-over-Ky-uranium-5017015.php
Navajos copped uranium pollution, now they’re to do the clean-up
they always give the dirty jobs to indigenous people
NAU seeks Navajos for uranium cleanup training http://www.sunherald.
com/2013/11/25/5146098/nau-seeks-navajos-for-uranium.html BY FELICIA FONSECA Associated PressNovember 25, 2013 FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. — Northern Arizona University is using federal grant money to address two of the most widespread problems on the Navajo Nation — unemployment and uranium contamination.
A $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will allow the school’s Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals to train up to 40 people over three years to safely handle radioactive materials and to find a job in a place where the unemployment rate hovers around 50 percent.
About 4 million tons of uranium ore were mined from the reservation from 1944 to 1986 for wartime weapons, leaving a legacy of death and disease. Families still live among the contamination that the tribe and federal government are working toward cleaning up. The top priority is the former Northeast Church Rock Mine near Gallup, N.M. Continue reading
Uranium market not a good prospect – Goldman Sachs gets out
Goldman Sachs to sell uranium unit BUSINESS DAY, BY SCOTT DISAVINO AND DAVID SHEPPARD, NOVEMBER 25 2013 NEW YORK — US BANK GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP HAS PUT ITS URANIUM TRADING BUSINESS UP FOR SALE, A SOURCE FAMILIAR WITH THE MATTER SAID ON FRIDAY, THE LATEST SIGN THAT WALL STREET’S MOST STORIED COMMODITY TRADER IS PARING BACK PARTS OF THE BUSINESS.
The move comes as other US banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, look to exit physical commodity trading in the wake of increased government scrutiny, squeezed trading margins and forecasts for tepid demand in certain markets……
The move to sell also comes as uranium prices languish at their lowest since 2005. Spot prices of U3O8 (triuranium octoxide), a material that is converted to uranium hexafluoride for the purpose of uranium enrichment, have ranged from $34-$35 a pound since September, less than half the price prior to the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011……
Financial firms started to get into the uranium business in the mid-2000s when prices were rising on expectations demand would grow with the nuclear renaissance. Reuters http://www.bdlive.co.za/world/americas/2013/11/25/goldman-sachs-to-sell-uranium-unit
Another delayed hearing about Rapid City uranium mining plan
Water board delays Rapid City uranium mine hearing http://www.seattlepi.com/news/science/article/Water-board-delays-Rapid-City-uranium-mine-hearing-5010884.php, November 25, 2013 PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A second state panel has delayed hearings on a proposed uranium mine in the Black Hills until two federal agencies decide on the project.
The South Dakota Water Management Board on Monday postponed its second week of hearings scheduled for the week of Dec. 9 in Rapid City.
The Board of Minerals and Environment earlier delayed its second round of hearings on Powertech Uranium Corp.’s application for a mine near Edgemont.
Both state boards say they’ll reschedule after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Environmental Protection Agency rule on the project and establish financial surety. The Water Management Board says the delay was in response to a request from Powertech and other parties. The panel must decide whether to grant water rights permits and a groundwater discharge plan.
Ruptured pipeline leaks radioactive water from old uranium mill
Pipeline blamed for spill at former uranium plant in Colorado http://trib.com/business/energy/pipeline-blamed-for-spill-at-former-uranium-plant-in-colorado/article_de1c924f-92ae-5df5-b0d8-e5be8d2282da.html By the Associated Press, 25 Nov 13, CANON CITY, Colo. — A pipeline rupture led to a spill of an estimated 4,000 to 9,000 gallons of contaminated water spilled at a former uranium mill near Canon City, but an on-site collection system contained the spill, officials told residents.
A joint on the underground pipeline broke Nov. 5, unleashing the spill at the defunct Cotter Corp. mill, Jennifer Opila, a radioactive materials monitor for the state health department, told the Thursday meeting. The pipe was repaired and operable by Nov. 6, Opila said.
Cotter safety officer Jim Cain said between 4,000 and 9,000 gallons of water spilled. A sample showed traces of uranium and molybdenum were found, Cain said.
John Hamrick, vice president of Cotter Mill operations, said there have been three leaks “in three different years, all for different reasons.”
Cotter once processed uranium for weapons and fuel at the mill. Federal authorities placed the mill on a national list for Superfund cleanups in the 1980s after radioactive materials traced to the mill were found to have contaminated the soil and groundwater. Part of the neighboring Lincoln Park community also is a Superfund site.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency eventually turned oversight of cleanup work to state officials.
Uranium hasn’t been processed at the mill since 2006. The state requires mill sites that are being decommissioned to be thoroughly cleaned up and restored at the operator’s expense. It’s expected to be a multimillion-dollar effort.
Non Proliferation Treaty allows Iran to enrich uranium
Legal right to enrich uranium for Iran http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/112302-uranium-enrichment-is-a-right-hans-blix 23 Nov 13, TEHRAN — Hans Blix, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says his interpretation of Article IV of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is that uranium enrichment is a “right”.
The remarks by Blix come as Iran and the six major powers (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, known as the 5+1 group) are negotiating in Geneva.
The censorship of the true effects of depleted uranium
A factor rarely mentioned is the potential effects of DU on children yet to be born to U.S. Iraq war veterans, who served in places like Fallujah, Basra and Najaf.
HORRIFIC EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM STILL CENSORED BY U.S. MILITARY, MEDIA HTTPS://AMERICANFREEPRESS.NET/?P=13599 NOVEMBER 03, 2013 BY RICHARD WALKER In a move seen by medical experts worldwide as an effort to suppress the truth about the horrors of depleted uranium (DU) munitions, the United Nations (UN) health arm, the World Health Organization (WHO), along with the Ministry of Health of Iraq (MoH) on September 13, 2013, produced a report that was not even authored, meaning no experts attached their names to it, on birth defects among Iraqi babies in which DU was not even considered a factor.
The report was published on the WHO website at a time when birth defects among Iraqi babies have been rising steadily, especially in areas like Najaf and Fallujah, where DU shells were used indiscriminately, killing and injuring large numbers of civilians. Some estimates for the 2003 death toll in Iraq put the civilian casualties in Fallujah as high as 75% to 80%. Continue reading
Another uranium company stops operations, with poor market prospects
Company slows uranium mining in northern Arizona, Yahoo 7 Finance 21 Nov 13,Uranium mining company to temporarily halt operations in northern Arizona amid low ore prices. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The only two uranium mines operating in Arizona and an associated mill in southern Utah are set to cease operations temporarily as prices for the ore decline.
Energy Fuels Resources Inc. said uranium at its Arizona One Mine in the north part of the state will be depleted in early 2014, and the nearby Pinenut Mine and the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, Utah, will be placed on standby next year.
The move comes after the company stopped short of extracting uranium at another mine south of the Grand Canyon near Tusayan and as per-pound prices for uranium on the spot market dip to a five-year low, in the mid-$30s. The company plans to maintain the sites so that they can begin operating if the uranium market improves……..
Environmentalists are looking to the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to ensure that the company doesn’t leave anything behind that would harm wildlife or the landscape.
“It’s a good thing on the one hand, but there’s a systemic problem in the regulations by the land management agencies that allow these mines to blink on and off at will without any review or revision in their plans of operation,” said Roger Clark of the Grand Canyon Trust. http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/company-slows-uranium-mining-northern-153826141.html
Yet another uranium company makes wider losses
Energy Fuels makes efforts to sustain current drop in uranium prices Proactive Investors by Deborah Bacal 16 Nov 13 Energy Fuels (TSE:EFR)(OTCQX:EFRFD), which recently gained a majority stake in one of the largest and highest grade uranium projects in the U.S. through its acquisition of Strathmore Minerals, reported widened third quarter losses as a result of a drop during the period in both uranium spot and term prices, which it sees rising in the future.
For the three months to September 30, America’s largest conventional uranium producer, which says it has a strategy in place to beat current low prices, reported net loss was $70.47 million, or $4.30 per share, compared to $19.16 million, or $1.41 per share, a year ago. Revenues fell slightly to $24.5 million from $25.03 million.
As a result of the downward trend in prices through to the end of the quarter and Energy Fuels’ expectations to place the Pinenut mine on stand-by in July of next year, the company said it recorded an impairment loss of $60.26 million in the period. ince July 1, the spot price of uranium dropped from $39.65 per pound to its current price of $35.35 per pound, the company noted, and the long term price declined from $57.00 per lb. to $50.00 per pound.
Poor uranium market freezes Uranium One’s expansion
Rosatom’s Uranium One to Freeze Expansion Moscow Times, 13 November 2013 | Issue 5255 Reuters Canadian miner Uranium One Holding, acquired this year by state-owned reactor builder and supplier Rosatom, said it would freeze expansion projects in Russia and elsewhere due to low uranium prices.
The price of uranium, used mainly as fuel for nuclear plants, plummeted after the March 2011 meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant and has shown no signs of recovery.
“We cannot discount the dramatic fall in natural uranium prices, as a result of which more than 50 percent of global uranium production is currently loss-making,” Uranium One President Vadim Zhivov said in e-mailed comments Wednesday.
Uranium One, which Rosatom took private last month, will mothball the Honeymoon mine in uranium-rich South Australia, local media reported this week, citing high costs and unfavorable contracts with Japan’s Mitsui.
A company spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the mine would be put in “care and maintenance” mode. Zhivov did not specify which of the company’s projects had been cancelled, saying the details would be announced later…….
November uranium futures on the New York Mercantile exchange closed at $35.85 per pound on Tuesday, compared with $68 per pound before the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Uranium workers unhappy with safety arrangements
A Fridge Full of Uranium for Honeywell Employees, In These Times, BY MIKE ELK 7 Nov 13 On Monday, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) team arrived at Honeywell’s Metropolis, Ill., uranium conversion plant to do a routine weeklong inspection. Recently, workers at the plant have alleged that the employee refrigerator in the control room of the main processing building has repeatedly tested positive for dangerous levels of uranium.
But because Honeywell will not allow a qualified union worker to accompany NRC representatives on their inspections if the workers are on layoff, the union claims that the company is putting them and the local community at risk.
During the last few years, the plant has faced problems with federal authorities over a series of safety issues. In March 2011, after an investigation by the Environmental Proection Agency (EPA), Honeywell pleaded guilty to one felony offense for knowingly storing hazardous radioactive waste without a permit in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)” and paid an $11.9 million fine to the federal government. Two months later, OSHA officially cited the company for 17 serious violations for the accidental release of toxic hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas directly into the atmosphere outside of the plant in December 2010.
Members of United Steel Workers Local 7-699, which represents workers at the Metropolis plant, claim that having a specifically designated worker present during inspections was the key to at least some of the company’s citations in 2011. The plant, workers say, is large and complex. Though inspectors are highly trained, they may miss small but crucial details during their visits. Union representatives, they say, can point out problems known to workers that regulatory officials may otherwise overlook.
So when workers found out that the union’s elected representative, USW Local 7-699 President Stephen Lech, would not be allowed to go on the NRC inspections because he is on what the union labels a “punitive” layoff, they were outraged. As union president, they say, Lech talks to more members of the union and has a more in-depth knowledge of safety issues than anyone else…….http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15848/honeywell_employees_west_texas_regulation_uranium_fridge/
1 This Month
Website of the Week
New book – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923372157?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
-
Archives
- January 2026 (127)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (377)
- September 2025 (258)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
- April 2025 (305)
- March 2025 (319)
- February 2025 (234)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 