Legal opinion on Iran’s right to uranium enrichmen
Iran’s right to uranium enrichment unquestionable: Intl. lawyer An international lawyer tells Press TV that Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes is unquestionable under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).Press TV 30 Sept 13
Alfred Lambremont Webre said Monday that Iranian officials have made it clear that they will not go after weapons-grade uranium enrichment, citing Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s fatwa on the prohibition of nuclear arms production and development.
“I think things are very clear that statements have been made that Iran will not be going forward to enrich at weapons grade, which is over 90 percent. It will be doing under 20 percent down to 5 percent, which is enough for power enrichment,” he said.
“There is no question that under the NPT Iran has the right to enrich uranium of non-weapons grade, that is, of power-station grade, which you would say would be between 5 percent and certainly under 20 percent,” he added.
He said that there was no evidence that Iran was intending to develop nuclear weapons, adding the Islamic Republic was enriching for nuclear power as its “basic legal right.” …..http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/30/326923/iran-right-to-enrichment-unquestionable/
Astroturfing in North Dakota – sly underhand promotion of uranium mining interests
Thoughts on the uranium debacle http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/hot-springs/opinion/thoughts-on-the-uranium-debacle/article_f681dd4c-29ef-11e3-9acc-0019bb2963f4.html By Rebecca Leas, PhD 1 Oct 13 Unless you ‘ve been living in a cave, you know natural gas is the new major focus for energy. Natural gas has negatively affected the nuclear industry, resulting in decreased demand for uranium. Germany is nearly nuclear-free and other countries, including the United States, are closing down reactors. The U.S.’s reactors are in ill repair and very susceptible to weather events, earthquakes, and terrorism. Our storage of spent fuel is outdated, making our reactors very vulnerable. Europe uses a “HOSS” (Hardened On-Site Storage) system greatly reducing the risks.
The USA is shutting down reactors and has sufficient uranium available. France is perfecting a system of re-using uranium which will further decrease its demand.
Confusing the public are Powertech (PT) employees, shareholders and supporters writing Letters to the Editor, but not identifying themselves as such. This is important for the public to know. Continue reading
Sierra Club outlines Cameco’s uranium pollution
Cameco, Sierra Club face off over uranium licences for Saskatchewan mines THE STAR PHOENIX THE CANADIAN PRESS SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 SASKATOON – An environmental group is raising pollution concerns about Cameco’s uranium mining in northern Saskatchewan to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
But Cameco says the Sierra Club’s allegations that it massively exceeded regulatory limits are false.
The commission will hear from both sides as public hearings start Tuesday on Cameco’s application to renew its mine and mill licences for its Key Lake, McArthur River and Rabbit Lake facilities.
“The most disturbing thing we discovered in the process of preparing the submission were huge, very huge numbers, in terms of pollution that’s coming from the plant and getting into the environment,” John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said Monday.
“Every kind of pollutant that comes out of them, their numbers are way over the limits and no one’s been enforcing it.”
The Sierra Club says that as of 2010, water releases from the Deilmann tailings facility in cadmium exceed the Saskatchewan standard by 5,782 per cent.
It says the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment allows Cameco to release water from tailings ponds directly into the environment at Horsefly Lake.
The organization also says at the McArthur River site, concentrations of arsenic, selenium, and uranium in water effluent have exceeded the standards by 54 per cent for arsenic, 700 per cent for selenium and 1,230 per cent for uranium. It says blueberries and fish are contaminated with uranium.
The Sierra Club says the pollution is increasing the risk to human health and local eco-systems.
“We think that before any kind of change, any kind of renewal of the licence, there needs to be an environmental impact study — which there hasn’t been yet,” Bennett said in an interview from Ottawa……..
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearings, which are being held in La Ronge, will last three days and will be webcast on nuclearsafety.gc.ca. http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Cameco+Sierra+Club+face+over+uranium+licences+Saskatchewan/8978684/story.html
Can USA afford Oakridge’s $12 billion uranium processing folly?
Estimate for uranium facility goes from $600 million to $11.6 billion, LA Times, 28 Sept 13 It would be one of the largest nuclear weapons investments since World War II. The cost of a proposed uranium processing facility for nuclear weapons in Oakridge, Tenn., has soared as high as $11.6 billion — 19 times the original estimate — even as critics accuse the Energy Department of overstating the need for spare bomb parts.
Under a proposal unveiled in 2005, the manufacturing plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex would produce new uranium cores for the nation’s stockpile of aging hydrogen bombs.
But not long after the plan was disclosed, with an estimated cost of $600 million, the price tag began to climb. Now, the processing facility would be among the largest investments in the U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure since the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb during World War II.
The facility has drawn sharp criticism by the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington watchdog group, which advocates that the plan be scrapped. In a report issued Wednesday, the group cites a little-noticed report by the Army Corps of Engineers that made the $11.6-billion cost estimate and argued that the work could be done more cheaply at existing facilities……
The escalating cost reflects questions that have troubled the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons complex since the end of the Cold War: How long will the Pentagon need a stockpile of nuclear weapons, and how can the massive industrial network needed to maintain the bombs be kept going at an affordable level?…… http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bomb-factory-20130925,0,6160248..story
Uncertain future for Japan’s nuclear industry affects Cameco’s grading
Bank of America Downgrades Cameco on Lower Uranium Forecast Dwight Einhorn, Benzinga Staff Writer 27 Sept 13, In a report published Friday, Bank of America analyst Oscar Cabrera downgraded the rating on Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) from Buy to Neutral, and lowered the price
target from $25.00 to $22.00.
In the report, Bank of America noted, “We are downgrading Cameco (CCO) to a Neutral from Buy rating, and lowering our price objective (PO) to $22/share from $25, following our commodities team downgrade of our 2013-15 uranium price forecast due to slower than expected Japanese reactor restarts after the country’s nuclear accident at Fukushima in March 2011……. http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/13/09/3947890/update-bank-of-america-downgrades-cameco-on-lower-uraniu#ixzz2gDw46reS
Libya’s 6,400 Barrels of Uranium controlled by militias
Libya Wondering What to do with 6,400 Barrels of Uranium Stored in City Controlled by Militias Front Page mag, September 26, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield At the UN, Obama asked whether it would have really been better to leave Gaddafi in charge of Libya. Can we get a final answer on that after we decide what to do about those 6,400 barrels of uranium?
The country was reportedly holding 6,400 barrels of the “yellowcake” uranium at a warehouse in Sabha.
Foreign Minister Muhammad Abdul Aziz said his country “is trying to determine if the concentrated uranium can be used for peaceful nuclear energy purposes or sold to countries which use the product for peaceful purposes.”
An independent think tank in Tripoli, though, has reportedly advised the government to use the material in its nascent nuclear-power program, as well as for “industrial and agricultural development.”
How secure is the city of Sabha? As secure as any place in Libya. Which is to say… not at all….http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/libya-wondering-what-to-do-with-6400-barrels-of-uranium-stored-in-city-controlled-by-militias/
Tax authority says that Cameco owes $millions to Canada
CRA says Saskatchewan uranium giant Cameco has avoided paying hundreds of millions in Canadian taxes by offshoring profits in Switzerland http://business.financialpost.com/2013/09/25/cameco-cra-tax/ John Greenwood | 25/09/13 The Canada Revenue Agency says Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp. hasn’t been paying its taxes and it wants the money. Now Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall has joined the fray, calling for Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium producer, to pay up.
Speaking to reporters this week, Mr. Wall said part of the tax revenue that Ottawa collects ends up going back to the provinces, so when the CRA says it’s not getting what it believes it should, “that’s a concern to [Saskatchewan] as well, and it should be. It doesn’t matter who the company is, or the individual. We should pay taxes that are due.”
At issue is Cameco’s alleged practice of shifting profits to a Switzerland subsidiary where taxes are lower. And while the Cameco case has been going on for several years and though the CRA won the most recent round, the ruling is being appealed and observers say it is unclear who will come out on top.
“The CRA has had a lot of trouble proving some of these cases in court,” said Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness.
Observers say the practice of transfer pricing as a way to lower tax rates is widespread across corporate Canada, engaged in by many of the biggest and best known players across a swath of industries.
South Dakota medical association unanimously opposes uranium mining in Black Hills
The acceptance by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that “the restoration of an ISL-mined aquifer to pre-mining water quality is … an impossibility.”
“the loss of large volumes of water in such mining operations is not in the public interest” when “considering the projected future scarcity of uncontaminated fresh water in our semi-arid region.”
SD medical association unanimously against uranium mining in Hills http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_833ccd96-2536-11e3-b6be-0019bb2963f4.html 24 Sept 13,
Group hopes to work with Colorado Medical Society, bring petition to AMA By Adam Hurlburt Black Hills Pioneer
CHAMBERLAIN — The South Dakota State Medical Association has come out in opposition of uranium mining in the Black Hills in direct response to Powertech USA’s proposed in situ leach (ISL) uranium mining project in Fall River County, making it the second statewide medical association to publicly oppose uranium mining in response to a Powertech ISL uranium mining proposal in the past six years.
At a recent meeting held in Chamberlain, the SDSMA’s 78-member Council of Physicians unanimously voted to support a petition opposing not only Powertech’s proposed Dewey-Burdock ISL uranium mining project in the Southern Hills, but uranium mining of any type in the Black Hills Area.
“The vote was held after a careful and thoughtful discussion,” SDSMA President Dr. Daniel Heinemann said in a prepared statement Monday afternoon. “The health and safety of the public is of paramount concern to the SDSMA when considering issues such as this.” Continue reading
Niger government wants French uranium company AREVA to stop ripping it off
Niger audits Areva uranium mines, seeking better deal By Daniel Flynn and Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY | Fri Sep 20, 2013 (Reuters) – Niger has ordered an audit of French nuclear group Areva’s (AREVA.PA) uranium mines in the West African country as it presses for a better deal in talks over a new long-term contract, Mining Minister Omar Hamidou Tchiana told Reuters.
Areva’s two mines in Niger – Somair and Cominak – produce the fuel for roughly one-third of France’s nuclear power, providing some of the cheapest electricity in the West.
Niger, a former French colony and one of the world’s poorest countries, has long complained it does not reap enough benefits from these resources……..
Extractive industries watchdogs, including the local branch of Publish What You Pay, have accused Areva of a lack of transparency in its revenues and costs in Niger…….
Previous Niger governments have struggled to substantially increase the state’s take from uranium and details of the 2003 mining contract have been kept confidential. The IMF estimates Niger’s gross domestic product at around 5.5 billion euros, only just over half of Areva’s revenues of 9.3 billion in 2012……..http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/20/us-niger-areva-idUSBRE98J0MY20130920
Arms and uranium trade pact between Zimbabwe and North Korea
Zimbabwe in ‘arms for uranium’ pact with North Korea Nehanda Radio 19 Sept 13, President Robert Mugabe’s military henchmen have reportedly signed an arms trade agreement worth millions of dollars with North Korea, in return for allowing Pyongyang access to Zimbabwe’s controversial Kanyemba district, which has sparked a uranium mining race pitting Iran and other powers, Nehanda Radio has been told.
Kanyemba district is about 160 miles north of the capital, and is believed to be holding significant uranium reserves, first discovered in the 1970s by German prospectors, but never exploited due to low world prices at the time.
Several other countries have sought the rights to mine Zimbabwe’s untapped uranium deposits, and these include Russia, China and a failed bid by neighbouring South Africa and Namibia, as they scramble for the Yellow cake which is a key ingredient needed for the production of nuclear bombs. Continue reading
Iran not planning to close uranium enrichment plant
| Iran will not close Fordo nuclear plant: source, Tehran Times, 17 Sept 13 TEHRAN – Iran would not suspend activities at the Fordo enrichment plant, the ISNA news agency said on Tuesday, quoting an informed source.
According to the source, Iran would not come up with any fresh proposal to the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) in New York and it would await the other side’s offers. His comments came after the Spiegel weekly published an article on Monday claiming that Iranian President Hassan Rohani is reportedly prepared to decommission the Fordo enrichment plant and allow international inspectors to monitor the removal of the centrifuges.,,,,,,,http://tehrantimes.com/politics/110850-iran-will-not-close-fordo-
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Iran’s President Rohani prepared to shut uranium enrichment plant
Rohani Ready to Shut Uranium Plant to Ease Sanctions: Spiegel http://www.bloomberg.
com/news/2013-09-16/rohani-ready-to-shut-uranium-plant-to-ease-sanctions-spiegel.html By Kambiz Foroohar – Sep 16, 2013 President Hassan Rohani ready to decommission Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility, near the city of Qom, in exchange for an easing of international sanctions, Der Spiegel says. *Magazine cites unidentified intelligence officials on decommissioning. *Rohani will close down Fordo, which started operations in late 2011, and allow international inspectors to monitor removal of centrifuges, according to German publication. *Rohani may demand U.S. and EU rescind sanctions against Iran, lift ban on oil exports and allow central bank to conduct business overseas: Spiegel. *Rohani is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24 in New York.To contact the reporter on this story: Kambiz Foroohar in New York atkforoohar@bloomberg.netVbcx
Depleted uranium and birth defects – World Health Organisation covers this up
WHO Refuses to Publish Report on Cancers and Birth Defects in Iraq Caused by Depleted Uranium Ammunition http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-refuses-to-publish-report-on-cancers-and-birth-defects-in-iraq-caused-by-depleted-uranium-ammunition/5349556 By Denis Halliday Global Research, September 13, 2013 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorically refused in defiance of its own mandate to share evidence uncovered in Iraq that US military use of Depleted Uranium and other weapons have not only killed many civilians, but continue to result in the birth of deformed babies.
This issue was first brought to light in 2004 in a WHO expert report “on the long-term health of Iraq’s civilian population resulting from depleted uranium (DU) weapons”. This earlier report was “held secret”, namely suppressed by the WHO:
The study by three leading radiation scientists cautioned that children and adults could contract cancer after breathing in dust containing DU, which is radioactive and chemically toxic. But it was blocked from publication by the World Health Organization (WHO), which employed the main author, Dr Keith Baverstock, as a senior radiation advisor. He alleges that it was deliberately suppressed, though this is denied by WHO. (See Rob Edwards, WHO ‘Suppressed’ Scientific Study Into Depleted Uranium Cancer Fears in Iraq, The Sunday Herald, February 24, 2004)
Almost nine years later, a joint WHO- Iraqi Ministry of Health Report on cancers and birth defect in Iraq was to be released in November 2012. “It has been delayed repeatedly and now has no release date whatsoever.”
To this date the WHO study remains “classified”.
According to Hans von Sponeck, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations,
“The US government sought to prevent the WHO from surveying areas in southern Iraq where depleted uranium had been used and caused serious health and environmental dangers.” (quoted in Mozhgan Savabieasfahani Rise of Cancers and Birth Defects in Iraq: World Health Organization Refuses to Release Data, Global Research, July 31, 2013
This tragedy in Iraq reminds one of US Chemical Weapons used in Vietnam. And that the US has failed to acknowledge or pay compensation or provide medical assistance to thousands of deformed children born and still being born due to American military use of Agent Orange throughout the country.
The millions of gallons of this chemical dumped on rural Vietnam were eagerly manufactured and sold to the Pentagon by companies Dupont, Monsanto and others greedy for huge profits.
Given the US record of failing to acknowledge its atrocities in warfare, I fear those mothers in Najaf and other Iraqi cities and towns advised not to attempt the birth of more children will never receive solace or help.
A United Nations that is no longer corrupted by the five Permanent Members of the Security Council is what is needed.
Iran reduces enriched uranium stockpile
the West should speak to Iran not with a language of threats or sanctions but with a language of respect.”
Iran says it has reduced its 20 percent-enriched uranium stockpile by producing reactor fuel, Newser.13 Sept 13 By NASSER KARIMI | ASSOCIATED PRESS Iran significantly reduced its stock of 20 percent-enriched uranium by converting it to reactor fuel, a senior official said, an announcement that appears to be a bid to ease international concerns over its nuclear program. The West remains concerned over Iran’s continuing production of 20 percent uranium, which is enriched to a higher level than that used to fuel most energy reactors and is closer to the 90 percent needed for a warhead. The U.S. and its allies demand Iran halt all enrichment, which Tehran rejects.
The late Thursday announcement, from the government of moderate President Hasan Rouhani, appeared to be a signal to ease Western worries. Speaking to state television, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the country’s stocks of 20 percent-enriched uranium has fallen from 240 kilograms to around 140 kilograms as it is converted into fuel for a medical research reactor. Salehi said the remainder is also being converted.
“We have converted a remarkable part to fuel rod,” Salehi said. “The amount of 20 percent-enriched uranium is small.”…..
Salehi’s remarks came ahead of a new round of talks planned for later this month between Iran and the U.N. nuclear agency. Talks over the past years failed to reach any breakthrough.
It also came a few days after Rouhani showed a willingness to use his coming visit to the U.N. General Assembly as a point for resuming nuclear talks with world powers.
Earlier Thursday, the new Iranian envoy to the U.N. agency said in Vienna that Tehran was ready for more engagement to clarify its disputed nuclear program. However, Reza Najafi stressed Iran would never give up its “inalienable right to develop a nuclear program,” the official IRNA news agency reported Friday. “Iran is ready to engage and remove any ambiguity,” Najafi said, according to the report. He added: “If other sides want a proper response, the West should speak to Iran not with a language of threats or sanctions but with a language of respect.”
A disarmament expert, Najafi, 51, replaced former envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh after Rouhani came to power in August.http://www.newser.com/article/da8pic783/iran-says-it-has-reduced-its-20-percent-enriched-uranium-stockpile-by-producing-reactor-fuel.html
Virginia Uranium still bribing politicians, yet uranium market has collapsed
Whatever Happened to Virginia Uranium? http://www.baconsrebellion.com/2013/09/whatever-happened-to-virginia-uranium.html By Peter Galuszka , 11 Sept 13, A big effort to mine uranium in Southside Virginia seemed stymied when the General Assembly failed to end a moratorium on such activity in the last General Assembly.
It would seem that exploiting a large deposit of ore in Pittsylvania County by a wealthy local family and some obscure Canadian investors had fallen away.
Two developments underline the uncertainty of the venture, which has been wrought with political turmoil involving expenses-paid trips for legislators to Paris and allies of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell making late night phone calls to twist local arms for the project.
First, Virginia Uranium keeps giving donations. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the firm has given $53,500 to state politicians this year. It is part of a whopping $324,650 in donations the firm has given since it ramped up in 2008.
The other noteworthy item is a story in today’s Wall street Journal that paints a very bad picture for the future of nuclear power. Uranium prices are at their lowest levels in eight years, trading at about $34 a pound Tuesday. For the Virginia project to work, they have to be well above $65 a pound.
What’s more, the Journal says, the market for the fuel hasn’t recovered since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, which is still causing trouble. In the U.S., cheap and plentiful shale gas from fracking has priced nukes out. Germany is shutting its off by 2022 and even nuke-happy France plans on reducing its nuke load from 80 to 50 percent.
So, one might ask, why is Virginia Uranium still doling out dough?
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