uranium « nuclear-news

Higher costs, lower profits for Cameco uranium mining

Cameco downgraded to sell FP Trading Desk: April 05, 2010, by David Pett Uranium, Mining, CamecoThe ongoing saga at Cigar Lake continues to haunt Cameco Inc. investors.Late Thursday, the uranium miner released its long-awaited technical report on the Northern Saskatchewan project, revealing higher costs and a slower-than-expected ramp-up of production.
“While the company had recently disclosed a revised capital cost estimate of around $1.0 billion and a revised start-up timeline of 2013, the technical report disclosed higher than forecast life of mine cash operating costs of $23/lb (up from $14/lb) and a relatively slow production ramp up timeline (with full capacity not expected until 2017),” Orest Wowkowdaw, Canaccord Adams analyst, said.

April 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium enrichment hardware acquired by Iran

Report: Iran gets parts needed for uranium enrichment, Wall Street Journal says little-known Tehran firm linked to Islamic Republic’s nuclear program was able to acquired special hardware despite sanctions News agencies 04.03.10, Ynetnews The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and western intelligence agencies are probing how an Iranian firm linked to Tehran’s nuclear program acquired special uranium enrichment hardware, despite sanctions intended to keep such equipment out of Iran. Continue reading →

April 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, weapons and war | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

International Indigenous Gathering will focus on uranium mining

The gathering will focus on the environmental impacts of mining, proposed uranium dumping

Our Land Our Culture Our Sovereignty Indigenous Self-Determination Gathering Aboriginal News Group by: Ana , 5 April 2010, INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS SOLIDARITY GATHERING IN ALICE SPRINGS JULY 10, 11

Indigenous communities around the world are supporting the International
Indigneous Gathering in Australia, there will be 6 international
Indigenous leaders visiting Alice Spring during July 10, 11 with the
intention to solidarise with their brothers and sisters in Australia…… Continue reading →

April 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, indigenous issues | antinuclear, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Make uranium mills accountable for their radioactive devastation

the legacy of uranium mills was that operators worked them until the money was gone, then closed up shop, claimed bankruptcy and left radioactive waste behind for taxpayers to clean up. The waste then threatens and harms groundwater, streams, wildlife and communities.

Make uranium milling cleaner With the nation considering more nuclear energy, a bill that requires mill operators to clean up as they go is a smart move.The Denver Post 04/04/2010 Given the atrocious environmental record of uranium mills in Colorado and the West, a bipartisan effort in the General Assembly designed to keep mill operators from leaving behind costly piles of toxic waste makes good sense. Continue reading →

April 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Navajo and other nuclear victims sought for compensation

Program Aims To Find Victims Of Radiation Exposure. cbs4denver.com, FELICIA FONSECA, Associated Press Apr 4, 2010, FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) ― Some toiled in uranium mines, transported the extracted ore and carried it home on their clothes. Others participated in nuclear weapons testing or lived downwind from test sites.Not all have been compensated, let alone know about a federal program that does so. Continue reading →

April 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, cancer, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

One year’s taxpayer payment to UK nuclear executives £19.5 million

included paying £3.8 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to staff during 2008…The payments, which ranged from an average of just under £12,000 to nearly £37,000, were made on top of regular salary payments totalling £19.5 million.

Top jobs go in shake-up at nuclear quango, The Times April 3, 2010, Two of Britain’s most highly paid civil servants have been axed and dozens more jobs are under threat at the quango charged with cleaning up nuclear plants, The Timeshas learnt. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation, reactors, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Niger: Tuareg activist speaks out in Germany, against nuclear giant AREVA

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’ 2 April 2010, The Blogger: For the past 40 years, the French state-owned company Areva has been mining uranium for Europe’s nuclear power needs in Niger, one of the poorest countries on Earth. One local activist is taking on the company, claiming that water and dust have been contaminated and workers are dying as a result of its activities…..He said he was the founder of an environmental organization in the city of Arlit in northern Niger. He said that Areva, a French company, is mining uranium there. He also described the alleged dark side of Areva’s operations: millions of tons of radioactive waste, contaminated water and serious illnesses. And Deutsche Bank was partially connected to this, Alhacen said, because it lends a lot of money to Areva….
Mysterious Illnesses Alhacen founded his organization, Aghirin Man, nine years ago, when he noticed that many of his fellow workers were dying of mysterious illnesses. In Alhacen’s Tuareg language, Aghirin Man means “Protection of the Soul” The Blogger: Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Stimulus spending goes to nuclear waste cleanup states

it’s not clear to me that this has much of a stimulative effect on the American macroeconomy

Gotcha on stimulus spending? Washington Examiner, By: Michael Barone, 2 April 2010, “…………lots of stimulus dollars went to the 4th district of Washington, which is on the other side of the Cascades from Olympia, and which with the South Carolina 3rd is the only non-state capital district among the top 25 districts on de Rugy’s list. What these two districts have in common is the presence of two Energy Department nuclear manufacturing sites—the Hanford Site and the Savannah River Site.

These have had huge pollution problems, and have been part of a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar cleanup process. I gather that the Energy Department was in a position to ramp up this process quickly and got a lot of stimulus funds to do so.

This may be a worthy use of federal dollars; these sites were contaminated because we were sloppy in the development of nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War, and it may very well make sense to clean them up. In effect we’re paying for past wars, as we do when we pay for veterans’ benefits. But it’s not clear to me that this has much of a stimulative effect on the American macroeconomy. Gotcha on stimulus spending? | Washington Examiner

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Tuareg and uranium: AREVA’s grip on Niger

“You can’t just fight against nuclear power plants and waste repositories,” he said. “If you want to kill the tree, kill the roots”. He was referring to the uranium mines.

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’ The Blogger: 2 April 2010, “……..A total of 80,000 people live in the two cities Areva created in the desert to service the mines. There are no paved roads, but there is plenty of reddish-brown dust, which penetrates into every crack and pore. Well water is radioactively contaminated, and precious fossil groundwater is used in the uranium ore processing plant. The region’s nomads are finding fewer and fewer pastures for their cattle, and people are affected by fatal illnesses.

Citizens’ organizations critical of Areva claim that the little money the company pays to the Niger state remains in the capital or simply ends up in the pockets of family members of the longstanding president. When Alhacen is asked what the mine has done for people, he says: “Nothing — except radiation, which will be here for thousands of years”. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Mountainous cost of nuclear wastes and still no plan

The DOE now has no place to put the waste and no plan

Seeking a ‘Plan B’  for nuclear waste: With Yucca Mountain site dead, billions paid into project are in limbo By Margaret Newkirk , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 2, 2010 “…….. Georgia electric customers paid the U.S. government more than $701 million over nearly three decades, in exchange for a service now 12 years overdue.Today, the U.S. government is as far away from delivering on its part of the bargain as it has ever been. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radioactive, reactors, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Scandalous and continuing legacy of uranium mining in Niger

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’, The Blogger, 2 April 2010,“……….Uranium from Niger has served as a fuel for Europe’s energy supply for 40 years. But unlike Saudi Arabia, Niger has arguably reaped little but misery in return.The country in Africa’s Sahel zone is one of the world’s least-developed nations. One in four children dies before the age of five.The conditions in Niger are one of the dirty sides of supposedly clean nuclear energy. The activities there are well hidden from the outside world: Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

The uranium industry – a boon to terrorists

An IAEA database counts scores of thefts, losses and other incidents involving nuclear materials each year.

Uranium-mining nations flout UN on nuclear terror Norwalk News 03/31/2010 By CHARLES J. HANLEYAP NEW YORK (AP) — Years after a six-month deadline passed, dozens of nations, including uranium producers, remain potential weak links in the global defense against nuclear terrorism, ignoring a U.N. mandate on laws and controls to foil this ultimate threat. Continue reading →

April 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium mining devastates indigenous communities

According to the EPA , “Approximately 30 percent of the Navajo population does not have access to a public drinking water system and may be using unregulated water sources with uranium contamination.” Uranium exposure is a known cause of cancers, organ damage, miscarriages and birth defects.

Resisting the Nuclear Boom: A new wave of uranium mining threatens Indigenous communities in the Southwest By Klee Benally and Jessica Lee April 2, 2010

GRAND CANYON, Ariz.—The American Southwest has again become ground zero in the debate about nuclear power. Continue reading →

April 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, USA | antinuclear, indigenous, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium, water | Leave a comment

The staggering and increasing costs to USA taxpayer of the “nuclear revival”

While the nuclear power loan guarantees essentially subsidize new power plants, what has not been factored in are the hidden costs of “clean” nuclear power: the financial legacy of past mining and milling operations have reached into tens of billions of dollars in the West’s “National Sacrifice Areas.”

Hot Rocks: Hidden Cost and Foreign Ownership of “Clean” Nuclear Fuel Emerging,THE HUFFINGTON POST, D.A. Barber, 1 April 2010, “…..Political Costs Critics say the new nuclear power subsidies should not come as a surprise. Over the last decade, the nuclear industry has spent more than $600 million lobbying Washington and another $63 million in campaign contributions, according to the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

Critics like Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. have questioned whether banks will back new nuclear plants – which cost nearly 35% more than coal or natural gas plants – until the nuclear waste issue is dealt with. Continue reading →

April 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | AUSTRALIA, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium mining leaves behind toxic and EXPENSIVE wastes

at each step of this process, the material leaves behind progressively more toxic – and expensive – waste.

Hot Rocks: Hidden Cost and Foreign Ownership of “Clean” Nuclear Fuel Emerging,THE HUFFINGTON POST, D.A. Barber, 1 April 2010, “…..Unlike coal, which goes straight from the mine to the power plant, uranium goes through several steps to become fuel for “clean” nuclear power plants and then needs to be disposed of. From the mine the ore goes to a mill to be turned into “yellow cake,” which then goes to an enrichment facility to boost its potency. Continue reading →

April 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment