Germany and UK selling out from uranium enrichment company
German Paper: RWE and E.ON Consider Urenco Sale, Nuclear Street, Sep 8 2011 Reports indicate two German utilities are preparing to sell their stake in Urenco, a uranium enrichment company that recently opened a new centrifuge plant in New Mexico.
Urenco’s other owners include the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In recent years, the UK also has indicated it wants to sell its 33 percent stake in the company. ….
Deepening gloom for Australia’s uranium industry
Uranium prices plunge causing issues for Australian producers, Herald Sun, Greg Roberts ,September 07, 2011 URANIUM prices have fallen back to levels last seen after Japan’s nuclear accident in March, causing further grief to struggling Australian producers.
The uranium spot price is $US48.85 ($A46.04) a pound, having plummeted from $US67.75 to $US49 immediately after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
The spot price had recovered to about $US56.50 after the Fukushima accident. Analyst group Resource Capital Research says the dynamics driving the sector have changed in the aftermath of the meltdown, with Germany planning to close all 17 of its nuclear power reactors by 2022.
The “fund implied price” – an indicator of market price expectations – is signalling a further fall in the spot price to $US45.95. The Merrill Lynch Uranium Equity Index, which measures the performance of uranium equities, has fallen 19 per cent over the past month.
It is down 27 per cent over the past three months and 23 per cent over the past year, according to the latest quarterly report by Resource Capital Research. Shares in Australia’s largest uranium producer, the Rio Tinto-backed Energy Resources of Australia, have fallen 13 per cent in the past month and 73 per cent in the past year.
A year ago, ERA shares were $13.49, compared with $3.65 now, with the company posting a $122 million half-year net loss. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/uranium-prices-plunge-causing-issues-for-australian-producers/story-fn7j19iv-1226130940686
Virginia Uranium pays politicians for trip to Canada
Local, state lawmakers flying to Canada as part of lobbying push for uranium mining, Washington Post, 6 Sept 11, By Anita Kumar, About 15 local and state lawmakers are flying to Canada this month on all-expenses paid trips as part of an on-going lobbying effort by a company pushing lawmakers to lift a moratorium on uranium mining in the state.
Virginia Uranium invited state legislators and local elected officials from Southside Virginia to visit an active mine in Canada as it looks to mine what is thought to be the largest deposit of uranium in the United States, in south central Virginia.
Larry Campbell, a member of the Danville City Council, said he had planned to go on the two-day trip, but that he changed his mind when some of his constituents told him they thought he was being “bought off.”
Virginia Uranium already sent Sen. Frank W. Wagner (R-Virginia Beach) to Saskatchewan, Canada, this year. The trip is similar to the one about a dozen legislators took this summer to France that came under heavy criticism across the state.
The trips are permissible under Virginia law and must be reported to the state as gifts next year…..
Virginia Uranium hopes to persuade the General Assembly to repeal the nearly three-decade ban on mining at its regular session in January by convincing lawmakers that mining can be done safely. … http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/virginia-politics/post/2011/09/06/gIQAr37P7J_blog.html
Farmland ruined by radioactive “superdumps” from uranium mining
He blames the recent toxic and radioactive spillages on Mine Waste Solutions, a subsidiary of Canadian First Uranium, which is reprocessing mining waste from 15 old slimes dams – some of which are located on his expansive farm – in the Klerksdorp area….
Superdumps are huge dams that store toxic waste form the smaller, historical dumps that are reprocessed for gold and uranium.
(South Africa) Radioactive spillages condemn farmlandAugust 31 2011 IOL Science Tech, By Sheree Bega INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS Johan Kondos can only use a small portion of his land to grow lucerne. “……This lone field, and a few beloved cattle, is all Kondos has left of his farm in Hartbeesfontein in the North West.
Like many of his neighbours, he blames surrounding mining operations for contaminating his farm, situated about 5km from the Vaal River.
“Some of the pollution is historic but some of it is so recent, it’s still wet,” he explains.
“I’ve had calves born with two heads on my farm. At one time I was having 70 percent abortions and very high mortality with my animals. They drank from the Koekemoerspruit and ate the lucerne I produced.
He blames the recent toxic and radioactive spillages on Mine Waste Solutions, a subsidiary of Canadian First Uranium, which is reprocessing mining waste from 15 old slimes dams – some of which are located on his expansive farm – in the Klerksdorp area.
As part of this, the company is also constructing a controversial central tailings storage facility, or superdump, about 2km from the Vaal River, touting it as a model rehabilitation plan, where the mining waste from the 15 tailings dams is piped. Superdumps are huge dams that store toxic waste form the smaller, historical dumps that are reprocessed for gold and uranium.
In July, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) shut down Mine Waste Solutions’ operations after its inspection revealed spillages and leakages of tailings materials along the company’s extensive pipeline and on the properties of farmers like Kondos.
But a week later, Mine Waste Solutions was back on line, stating it said it had been given conditional approval to restart operations provided it follow an “enhanced pipeline maintenance programme” and submit monthly reports.
Radioactive spillages condemn farmland – IOL SciTech | IOL.co.za
Radioactive uranium drums found on beach in Namibia
There are a number of reasons why the latest incident is of great concern:
• it puts into question the level of security at Namibian uranium mining operations, with the worry being that radioactive uranium oxide could get into the “wrong hands”….
Drums of radioactive uranium found on beach, Care 2 by Andreas S., August 30, Last week, Namibian authorities discovered four unguarded barrels of radioactive uranium oxide on a beach near the coastal town of Swakopmund.
Floods cause production drop in Namibia’s uranium mines
Namibia Q2 uranium production down | Industrial Fuels and Power August 30th, 2011 NewsroomUranium production in Namibia decreased from 2.35mlb to 2.09mlb in the second quarter of 2011 when compared with the previous quarter.“This was largely due to adverse weather conditions, with some of the mines becoming flooded with the abnormally heavy rains seen this year,” financial group Capricorn Investment Holdings said.Namibia’s uranium is produced by Rio Tinto and Australia’s Paladin Energy.
Namibia Q2 uranium production down | Industrial Fuels and Power
Uranium brings lower and lower prices
Uranium transactions fail to raise spot price, Industrial Fuels and Power August 31st, 2011 The uranium spot market reported five transactions totalling 1Mlb in the week ended 26 August, but each transaction was conducted at successively lower prices as sellers dropped offer prices to attract buyers. Consequently, the spot uranium price was cut by US$1.05 WoW to US$48.85/lb by the end of the week, according to TradeTech……
On 29 August, The Ux Consulting Co reported a US$1.50 fall in the uranium spot price to US$49.00/lb of uranium oxide.
Over the past month, uranium oxide prices decreased by US$2.50 while conversion rates at both sides of the Atlantic saw 75 cents shaved of their end-of-July price to US$10.00/kgU. Uranium hexafluoride prices fell by US$7.28 to US$138.03/kgU during this period……
Colorado State makes things financially easier for uranium milling company
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State defers Energy Fuels’ bond deadlines Telluride Daily Planet, By Kathrine Warren August 24, 2011 |
Investors fleeing from uranium mining
Uranium Spot Market a ‘Ghost Town’ With No Price Change, Ux Says, Bloomberg, , By Jason Scott – Aug 22, 2011 Uranium spot prices, depressed by the nuclear crisis in Japan , were unchanged last week amid low trading volume, says Ux Consulting co.
Uranium-oxide concentrate for immediate delivery sold for $50.50 a pound in the seven days ended yesterday, the same as the previous week, Ux said in an e-mailed report today. That’s based on the most-competitive offer tracked by the Roswell, Georgia-based company.
The spot price for the nuclear fuel has declined 24 percent since the week before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station. The crisis prompted some nations to put their atomic power plans on hold.
“A number of market participants have indicated that recent market activity has been very limited,” Ux said in the report. “This lack of activity has been described as the market looking like a ghost town.”…http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-23/uranium-spot-market-a-ghost-town-with-no-price-change-ux-says.html
General Atomics trying to avoid uranium mine cleanup
General Atomics Faces Yet Another Uranium Cleanup Fight, By Matt Potter, San Diego Reader August 22, 2011, The New York Times has reported via the Greenwire news service that Rio Grande Resources Corp., a subsidiary of La Jolla-based General Atomics is stirring opposition in New Mexico with its plans to delay cleanup of its Mount Taylor uranium mine, which has been closed since 1990.
The mountain, which contains the nation’s largest single deposit of the radioactive ore, is said to be viewed as sacred land by surrounding Native American tribes, the story says.
“More than 8 million pounds of “yellow cake” were produced from the mine before it was closed more than two decades ago due to plummeting uranium prices,” according to the report…….
Rio Grande critics testified at a hearing on the application to keep the mine in “standby status” held by the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division that a five year delay in remediation risked further contamination of the site, but backers said it would help the mine get back into operation.
As we’ve previously reported, General Atomics, operated by San Diego brothers Neal and Linden Blue, also faces a fight in Colorado over the cleanup of an old uranium mill in that state….San Diego Reader | “General Atomics Faces Yet Another Uranium Cleanup Fight” by mpotter
Silex laser uranium enrichment process classified secret under Atomic Energy Act
Some New Wrinkles in Nuclear Weapons Secrecy, Secrecy News, August 22nd, 2011 by Steven Aftergood “………At this late date in the nuclear era, there are still other “innovations” in nuclear technology and nuclear secrecy. The New York Times reported last weekend on an apparent breakthrough in the use of lasers to enrich uranium. This laser enrichment process, known as SILEX (Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation), also poses new proliferation issues. See “Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear” by William J. Broad, August 21.
Though the Times story did not mention it, the SILEX process is also a unique case in which information that was privately generated was nevertheless classified by the government. …..
As far as could be determined, the decision to classify this non-governmental information under the Atomic Energy Act is the first and only time that such authority has been exercised. See this 2001 “Record of Decision to Classify Certain Elements of the SILEX Process as Privately Generated Restricted Data.” (See also “A Glimpse of the SILEX Uranium Enrichment Process,” Secrecy News, August 22, 2007.) Some New Wrinkles in Nuclear Weapons Secrecy | Secrecy News
Among the sinking uranium stocks, Uranium Resources one of the worst
URANIUM RESOURCES DOWN 4.4%, SHARES SLIDE INTO THE RED (URRE) – Zacks Investment Research Aug 22, 2011 Uranium Resources is one of today’s worst performing low-priced stocks, down 4.4% to $1.08 on 0.4x average daily volume. Approximately 504,000 shares have traded hands today vs. 30-day average volume of 1.3 million shares.
High volume often signals a change in trends. Shares of Uranium Resources are currently trading below their 50-day moving average (MA) of $1.52 and below their 200-day MA of $2.26
Silex laser uranium enrichment opening opportunities for nuclear terrorism
Dr. Slakey of the American Physical Society noted that the State Department a dozen years ago warned that the success of Silex could “renew interest” in laser enrichment for good or ill — to light cities or destroy them.
Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear, NYT, By WILLIAM J. BROAD,August 20, 2011 Twenty miles southwest of Sydney, in a wooded region, Horst Struve and Michael Goldsworthy kept tinkering with the idea at a government institute. Finally, around 1994, the two men judged that they had a major advance.
The inventors called their idea Silex, for separation of isotopes by laser excitation. “Our approach is completely different,” Dr. Goldsworthy, a physicist, told a Parliamentary hearing… Continue reading
A new route to more nuclear bombs – Silex laser enrichment
Laser advance may increase spread of nuclear bomb, SMH, William Broad, August 22, 2011 In a little-known effort, General Electric has successfully tested laser enrichment for two years and is seeking permission from the US government to build a $US1 billion ($960 million) plant that would make reactor fuel by the tonne.
That might be good news for the nuclear industry, but critics fear that if the work succeeds and the secret gets out, rogue states and terrorists could make bomb fuel in much smaller plants that are difficult to detect……. critics want a detailed risk assessment. Recently, they petitioned Washington for a formal evaluation of whether the laser initiative could backfire and speed the global spread of nuclear arms.
”We’re on the verge of a new route to the bomb,” said Frank von Hippel, a nuclear physicist who teaches at Princeton University. ”We should have learnt enough by now to do an assessment before we let this kind of thing out.” New varieties of enrichment are considered dangerous because they simplify obtaining the fuel……http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/laser-advance-may-increase-spread-of-nuclear-bomb-20110821-1j4mm.html
Down, down, continues uranium price
Uranium market sees thin activity and lower price, Industrial Fuels and Power, August 17th, 2011 The uranium spot price delivered no surprises this week as it slipped further by US$1.00 to US$50.50/lb. Three days earlier, TradeTech had noted a US$1.25 WoW fall to US$50.25/lb, attributing the drop to thin demand and supply “with a few sellers competing for even fewer sales opportunities.”
Buyers – this week utilities, traders and financial entities – are largely uninterested and reluctant to commit purchases. …http://www.ifandp.com/article/0013083.html
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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