The fight to save Grand Canyon from uranium radioactive contamination
Tribes, Enviros Fight Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon KPBS, June 3, 2013 By Laurel Morales “……environmentalists and Indian tribes oppose mining near the canyon. On a recent sunny day EcoFlight pilot Gary Kraft steered the six-seat Cessna onto the tarmac of the Grand Canyon Airport and gracefully took off. He flew a group over the Grand Canyon to check out mines from above.
“As Gary brings the plane around we’ll get a little better look at the site,” said Grand Canyon Trust’s Roger Clark who served as our guide.
He has been fighting uranium mining companies for many years. Last year he scored a victory. The Obama Administration put a ban on any new mining claims on federal land surrounding the park. In the 1980s and 1990s a dozen mines pocked the landscape surrounding the park. All but a few have been cleaned up and reseeded. But a handful of older claims are still being mined. Continue reading
Uranium and thorium distribution rules, from NRC
NRC Finalizes Rules on Using & Distributing Uranium & Thorium http://smnewsnet.com/archives/66243 2 June 13, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations for products and materials containing unenriched uranium and thorium, also known as source material. The changes include new requirements for distributing source material and licensing its use.
Manufacturers and importers of products that can be used without a license—such as welding rods and gas lantern mantles that contain thorium, and decorative glassware containing uranium—will now need to apply to the NRC for specific licenses to distribute these products. Such licenses will impose new requirements for labeling, quality control, reporting and recordkeeping.
The new regulations also modify distribution, possession and use requirements for small quantities of source material that can be used or transferred without a specific license. Distributors of small quantities must now apply for specific licenses. For source material being processed or in a dispersible form, such as liquid or powder, the limit on the use or transfer at any one time without a license is decreasing from 15 to 3.3 pounds; the annual limit will drop from 150 to 15.4 pounds. Limits are not changing for anyone possessing source material in a solid, non-dispersible form (such as display samples of depleted uranium metal), removing uranium from drinking water, or determining the concentration of uranium and thorium in a material at a laboratory.
Finally, the new regulations expand the exemption from licensing for optical lenses containing thorium to include lenses and mirrors coated with or containing uranium or thorium. These products are typically used in lasers or other high-technology optical systems.
These new license requirements and possession limits are intended to ensure those who possess source material do so safely, and that the NRC has a better understanding of how much source material is being distributed annually.
Northern Saskatchewan First Nation to drop lawsuit, signs up with uranium companies
Northern Saskatchewan First Nation signs uranium mining deal worth $600 million http://www.newstalk650.com/story/northern-saskatchewan-first-nation-signs-uranium-mining-deal-worth-600-million/112624 Agreement with mining giants Cameco and Areva calls for First Nation to drop lawsuit over proposed mine by Nigel Maxwell May 31, 2013 The English River First Nation in northern Saskatchewan has signed a deal with Uranium mining giants Cameco and Areva worth $600 million.
Much of money is to flow to the First Nation over 10 years through contracts with band-owned businesses and wages to band members who would work at the mines and on community development projects.
Part of the agreement calls for the First Nation to drop a lawsuit over land near the proposed Millennium mine project.
Some members of the band have raised concerns about the environmental impact of more uranium in the area.
Iran converting much enriched uranium to non weapons usable form
Uranium conversion may help ease bomb fears, Japan Times, 1 June 13 VIENNA – An important recent development in Iran’s nuclear program, if it continues, might help to ease international fears that Tehran wants the bomb, but serious questions still remain, analysts and diplomats said.
This potentially positive step, as highlighted in recent quarterly reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, concerns uranium enriched by Iran to a fissile purity of 20 percent.
This material is of major international concern because if further purified to 90 percent — a process well within Iran’s technical capabilities — it would be suitable for a bomb.
According to the IAEA’s most recent report, Iran has produced 324 kg of uranium enriched to 20 percent, well above the about 240 kg thought to be needed for one nuclear device — which is reportedly also Israel’s “red line”.
But more than 40 percent of this has been converted into another form, triuranium octoxide, which experts say is tricky to convert back to the original uranium hexafluoride.
Iran says that it is converting this uranium in order to provide fuel for a reactor in Tehran, and four others that outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last February ordered constructed, for nuclear medicines.
Tehran also calls it a “confidence-building” measure in so-far fruitless talks with six world powers on hold until after the presidential election on June 14…… http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/01/world/uranium-conversion-may-help-ease-bomb-fears/#.UapgdNJwo6I
URENCO might die, in failing global uranium industry
one of the more important factors, surely, is the projected value of the MOX itself, which in turn is a function of long term uranium prices—there would be no point in completing the plant and then making the MOX, as opposed to just dumping the plutonium, if uranium will be dirt-cheap as far ahead as one can see.
the fate of the MOX plant is but one indicator of retrenchment in the global nuclear fuels market, post-Fukushima
the Japanese nuclear shut-down, which, the Times went on to note, has reduced global demand for nuclear fuels by close to 10 percent, plus Germany’s planned nuclear exit, have cast a pall that now stretches to New Mexico,
Kentucky, and South Carolina.
Restructuring and Retrenchment in Nuclear Fuels http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/nuclear/restructuring-and-retrenchment-in-nuclear-fuels By Bill Sweet 29 May 2013 In 2000, the United States agreed with Russia to get rid of 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium. To that end, it embarked on construction of a large plant at Savannah River, S.C.,where the plutonium would be mixed with uranium to make so-called mixed oxide fuel (MOX), suitable for use in nuclear power plants.
Buried in the president’s fiscal 2014 budget request is a line sharply cutting funding for the Savannah River MOX plant, which “may be tantamount to killing it,” a former National Nuclear Security Administration official told Arms Control Today. Continue reading
Beaverlodge area – an example of uranium mining’s filthy legacy
Uranium mining legacy expensive, The Star Phoenix, By Ann Coxworth, May 30, 2013 “…….The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission recently reviewed plans for continuing management of some of the contaminated sites in northern Saskatchewan – relics of uranium mining activities that took place during the 1960s and 1970s.
The cost of remediating surface waters to levels compatible with Saskatchewan surface water quality objectives is so overwhelming thatwe know it will never happen.
Because the companies that caused the pollution are no longer in existence, these costs now fall to the federal and provincialtaxpayers. The goal of industry and regulators now is simply to prevent the contamination from getting any worse.
One such contaminated region is the Beaverlodge area. Continue reading
India’s rural communities angry over uranium and weapons projects
Grasslands bristle over uranium plant, test range http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Grasslands-bristle-over-uranium-plant-test-range/articleshow/20357979.cms Deepika Burli, TNN | May 31, 2013 BANGALORE: Green activists and local villagers have taken serious exception to proposals from defence and research institutions to build sensitive projects on the 10,000 acres of Amrit Mahal Kaval land allotted to them in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga district.
“The Barc plan envisages conducting experiments with uranium, which will not only ruin the fertility of the land but put the lives of so many villagers at risk. Continue reading
South Korea seeking uranium enrichment, despite its previous pledges
Two-Decade-Old Pledge Complicates South Korean Nuclear Goals National Journal, By Elaine M. Grossman May 30, 2013 | South Korea’s designs on producing atomic fuel recently scotched a 2014 trade deal with the United States, but could yet have new ramifications: Potentially shattering a twenty-one-year-old pledge Seoul made to never process sensitive nuclear materials, according to issue experts.
“By dint of the Joint Declaration of 1992, South Korea has said it will not possess enrichment or reprocessing facilities on its peninsula,” Thomas Moore, deputy director of the Proliferation Prevention Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said at a recent panel discussion. …………http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/two-decade-old-pledge-complicates-south-korean-nuclear-goals-20130530
Uranium enrichment company URENCO for sale – uneconomic
Powerhouse of the Uranium Enrichment Industry Seeks an Exit NYT, BY STANLEY REED , 26 May 13“..….Urenco was formed by treaty in 1971 when Britain, West Germany and the Netherlands decided for
strategic and business reasons to combine their uranium enrichment programs. The company is still owned by the British and Dutch governments, with one-third each, and with the German third held jointly by two big utility companies, E.On and RWE.
Urenco now has four enrichment plants — in Britain, the Netherlands
and Germany — selling fuel for civilian energy purposes around the
world, capturing nearly a third of the global market………the
company is at a crossroads. Growth may flatten in the next couple of
years, executives say, mainly because Japan — a major user of nuclear
power until the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster — has shut down its
reactors, taking about 10 percent of the world’s nuclear energy
generating capacity offline. And the Japanese have stockpiled
substantial amounts of fuel for the day, if ever, that those reactors
go back into operation……
“Nuclear strategies have changed,” said Michael Kruse, a consultant on
nuclear issues for the management consultant Arthur D. Little in
Frankfurt. “Governments no longer think they need to be in this
business,” he said, “and utilities in several countries want out after
Fukushima.”
People in the industry say the most likely buyers would be companies
already in the industry that might want to offer clients fuel along
with nuclear power stations. Areva, a French giant, might fit that
bill. So might Toshiba of Japan, which is studying building nuclear
plants in Britain. Still, “there are in my view not many companies
that can buy Urenco,” Mr. Kruse said.
Kentucky’s dangerous, toxic, nuclear brew and the failure of USEC Inc
The Paducah plant cannot legally stay open, and it can’t safely be shut down—a lovely metaphor for the end of the Atomic Age and a perfect nightmare for the people of Kentucky.
Countdown to Nuclear Ruin at Paducah EcoWatch May 22, 2013 by Geoffrey Sea Disaster is about to strike in western Kentucky, a full-blown nuclear catastrophe involving hundreds of tons of enriched uranium tainted with plutonium, technetium, arsenic, beryllium and a toxic chemical brew. But this nuke calamity will be no fluke. It’s been foreseen, planned, even programmed, the result of an atomic extortion game played out between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the most failed American experiment in privatization, the company that has run the Paducah plant into the poisoned ground, USEC Inc.
As now scheduled, main power to the gargantuan gaseous diffusion uranium plant at Paducah, Kentucky, will be cut at midnight on May 31, just nine days from now—cut because USEC has terminated its power contract with TVA as of that time [“USEC Ceases Buying Power,” Paducah Sun, April 19, page 1] and because DOE can’t pick up the bill.
DOE is five months away from the start of 2014 spending authority, needed to fund clean power-down at Paducah. Meanwhile, USEC’s total market capitalization has declined to about $45 million, not enough to meet minimum listing requirements for the New York Stock Exchange, pay off the company’s staggering debts or retain its operating licenses under financial capacity requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Continue reading
The heavy footprint of uranium company AREVA, in impoverished Niger
Areva, world’s 2nd uranium company heavily present in Niger, Expatica.comm 23 May 13 French nuclear group Areva, the world’s second-largest uranium producer whose mine in northern Niger was hit by a car bomb on Thursday, extracts more than a third of its mineral in the impoverished west African country.
Areva has been present in Niger for more than 40 years, operating two big mines near the northern town of Arlit through two affiliated companies — Somair and Cominak — which represent 37 percent of its total uranium production. Continue reading
Exploitation in Malawi: Paladin’s Kayelekera Uranium Project
THE CASE OF PALADIN’S KAYELEKERA URANIUM MINE: REPORT RELEASED ON THE REVENUE COSTS AND BENEFITS TO MALAWI, Mining in Malawi, 23 May 13 The Australian mining company Paladin Energy and its subsidiaries along with the Malawi-based Kayelekera Uranium Project, in which it has an 85% stake, were the subject of much discussion this evening in Lilongwe at the launch of the report The Revenue Costs and Benefits of Foreign Direct Investment in the Extractive Industry in Malawi: The Case of Kayelekera Uranium Mine. The report explores what it describes as Malawi’s largest Foreign Direct Investment* and the extent to which Malawi is benefiting. It concludes that ”Malawi is getting a raw deal from the mining and exploitation of uranium by Kayelekera Mine”…….
At the launch of the report, Dalitso Kubalasa and Collins Magalasi, the executive directors of MEJN and AFRODAD respectively, spoke briefly before AFRODAD’s Tafadzwa Chikumbu presented the research findings. This paved the way for a lively question and answer session with questions raised about whether or not parliament is ready to renegotiate the terms of the agreement with Paladin, what has happened to the man who lost his sight due to “kayelekera radiation” and if mining revenue in Malawi therefore “dirty money”.
This discussion was followed by the official launch of the report by the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Juliana Mphande who exclaimed that she was “appalled to note that incentives offered to Paladin have severe implication to Government revenue and require attention of parliament”. She outlined the areas requiring parliamentary investigation and debate…..
Below is a summary of the main findings: Continue reading
Uranium enrichment – how crooked deals on USEC enrich the private sector
To keep a large campaign contributor out of bankruptcy court for a few more months, the Paducah plant was permitted to reach the current crisis state. And the people of Kentucky were sent straight to nuclear hell.
Countdown to Nuclear Ruin at Paducah EcoWatch May 22, 2013 by Geoffrey Sea “……….Murphie’s Law So how did it come to this? Since the plant was originally scheduled to cease operations on May 31, 2012, why didn’t USEC and DOE have plenty of time to plan for orderly and funded clean power-down, which was precisely what the sleazy one-year extension deal was supposed to give time to accomplish.
The answer is that the entire uranium enrichment enterprise of the U.S. has become a sham operation, a sham designed to funnel U.S. Treasury funds to private companies including USEC and its partners, a sham designed to convert any problem or scandal into additional contractor award fees, a sham designed to keep the fig-leaf of a privatized USEC Inc. from blowing away and exposing all the naughty bits.
Those became the goals of the operation, not enriching uranium, developing new technology or achieving safe operations or cleanup of the sites. Murphie’s Law is that if anything can go wrong, it will boost contractor award fees, for a select group of companies hand-picked by Murphie himself. Thus, the principal “cleanup” contractors at Piketon are Fluor and Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), both of which are suppliers to USEC’s fake “American Centrifuge Project,” and B&W is a strategic partner of USEC with a large share of USEC preferred stock, poised to take over USEC’s operations if the latter goes under. Continue reading
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe against uranium minng
Anti-uranium forces press Va. candidates for gov News Leader, May 21, 2013 RICHMOND — Opponents of uranium mining in Virginia met with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe on the issue and they said he’s solidly in their corner, while a meeting with Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli has yet to be arranged.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, in the meantime, has not decided his response to a February suggestion that he direct state agencies to put uranium mining regulations in place to help guide the 2014 General Assembly if it considers ending a decades-old prohibition on uranium mining in Virginia.
The two pro-mining legislators who proposed the approach after legislation fell flat in the 2013 session are divided on whether the issue will emerge in the next session of the Legislature. The meeting between mining opponents and McAuliffe occurred in Danville about three weeks ago. Two who attended said McAuliffe was clearly opposed to ending the state’s 1982 moratorium on uranium mining.
“He said he had studied the issue and that it made absolutely no sense, either economically or scientifically,” said Jack Dunavant, a longtime opponent of uranium mining from Halifax County. “He was opposed to it and he said you can quote me on that.”
Andrew Lester, executive director of the Roanoke River Basin Association, said McAuliffe called uranium mining a “horrible idea.”
Lester, who was not representing the association at the meeting, said McAuliffe assured him, “I’ll tell you right off the bat you don’t have to worry about me. I am against this thing.”….. http://www.newsleader.com/viewart/20130521/NEWS01/305210004/Anti-uranium-forces-press-Va-candidates-gov
Down she goes again – the uranium price
Spot uranium price slides to near $40.50/lb: market sources Washington (Platts Jasmin Melvin )–21May2013 The uranium spot price has been pushed down slightly to $40.50/lb or lower in a market with ample supply but few buyers looking to make deals, market sources said Tuesday.
Three market sources said Tuesday that the spot uranium price could be stuck within a $40/lb to $41/lb range for the next couple of weeks.
“There’s a very limited number of buyers, and there seems to be more interest on the selling side — again not large numbers but enough that if someone comes in and says they want to sell, it’s pushing the price down a little,” one of the sources said. Price publisher Ux Consulting said in its weekly report Monday that the market “can be characterized as rather quiet with a forward price curve that is about as flat as a pancake.” …. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/21056634
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