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The name Poison Canyon offers a hint of what's faced by those trying to clean up abandoned uranium mines in the West. The area north of the village of Milan contains some of the 259 abandoned uranium sites in New Mexico that need cleanup. State officials are pressuring the federal government to direct more money to those areas because of their unique hazard of radioactivity. "In this case, a pile of rocks is more than just a pile of rocks," said New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard. There are hundreds of thousands of safety issues at abandoned hardrock mines in 13 western states, according to the Government Accountability Office. Thousands of sites, many dating to the 19th century, also are considered environmentally damaged.

The name Poison Canyon offers a hint of what's faced by those trying to clean up abandoned uranium mines in the West. The area north of the village of Milan contains some of the 259 abandoned uranium sites in New Mexico that need cleanup. State officials are pressuring the federal government to direct more money to those areas because of their unique hazard of radioactivity. "In this case, a pile of rocks is more than just a pile of rocks," said New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard. There are hundreds of thousands of safety issues at abandoned hardrock mines in 13 western states, according to the Government Accountability Office. Thousands of sites, many dating to the 19th century, also are considered environmentally damaged.

The name Poison Canyon offers a hint of what's faced by those trying to clean up abandoned uranium mines in the West. The area north of the village of Milan contains some of the 259 abandoned uranium sites in New Mexico that need cleanup. State officials are pressuring the federal government to direct more money to those areas because of their unique hazard of radioactivity. "In this case, a pile of rocks is more than just a pile of rocks," said New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard. There are hundreds of thousands of safety issues at abandoned hardrock mines in 13 western states, according to the Government Accountability Office. Thousands of sites, many dating to the 19th century, also are considered environmentally damaged.

"The Disaster Hazard Mitigation Project for the Kyrgyz Republic aims to: (a) minimize the exposure of humans, livestock, and riverine flora and fauna to radionuclides associated with abandoned uranium mine tailings and waste rock dumps in the Mailuu-Suu area; (b) improve the effectiveness of emergency management and response by national and sub-national authorities and local communities to disaster situations; and (c) reduce the loss of life and property in key landslide areas of the country. There are three project components. Component 1, Uranium Mining Wastes Isolation and Protection, finances interventions in the Mailuu-Suu area to increase the condition of abandoned uranium tailings and waste dumps, and decrease the instability of large landslide areas. Component 2, Disaster Preparedness and Monitoring, (1) carries out a program of capacity building to improve the national system for disaster management, preparedness and response that can be administered effectively by national and sub-national authorities, as well as local communities; (2) establishes real-time monitoring and warning systems at about major landslides areas to detect and warn against active landslide movements and establish seismic stations and sensors to detect and warn against seismic events in key hazard areas; and establish a comprehensive monitoring system in Mailuu-Suu. Component 3 supports project management."

Earlier this month, a shipment off-site of seven barrels of tritium- and mercury-contaminated oil put the Savannah River Site on a fast track to remove legacy mixed waste originally scheduled for disposition in 2053. "Not only is it radioactive for its tritium content, it is hazardous for mercury, which can make treatment of this waste challenging," said Jacob Nims, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) project engineer. "We had plans to let all of it decay to be able to ship it off-site in the future." Decaying would have taken 10 to 50 years. Instead, funding from the Recovery Act accelerated the project as part of the cleanup that will reduce the footprint of the Site by 67 percent. In essence, the removal of the mixed waste frees space in N Area, allowing for the consolidation of the remaining waste from a total of 30,000 square feet of space to a smaller 3,600-square-foot facility in E Area. "The plan is to ship all we can from N Area and move only what is necessary into E Area to allow maximum space for all future generated waste," Nims said.

Earlier this month, a shipment off-site of seven barrels of tritium- and mercury-contaminated oil put the Savannah River Site on a fast track to remove legacy mixed waste originally scheduled for disposition in 2053. "Not only is it radioactive for its tritium content, it is hazardous for mercury, which can make treatment of this waste challenging," said Jacob Nims, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) project engineer. "We had plans to let all of it decay to be able to ship it off-site in the future." Decaying would have taken 10 to 50 years. Instead, funding from the Recovery Act accelerated the project as part of the cleanup that will reduce the footprint of the Site by 67 percent. In essence, the removal of the mixed waste frees space in N Area, allowing for the consolidation of the remaining waste from a total of 30,000 square feet of space to a smaller 3,600-square-foot facility in E Area. "The plan is to ship all we can from N Area and move only what is necessary into E Area to allow maximum space for all future generated waste," Nims said.

"An extensive area of more than 8,000 square kilometers has accumulated cesium 137 levels of 30,000 becquerels per square meter or more after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to Asahi Shimbun estimates. The affected area is one-18th of about 145,000 square kilometers contaminated with cesium 137 levels of 37,000 becquerels per square meter or more following the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union. The contaminated area includes about 6,000 square kilometers in Fukushima Prefecture, or nearly half of the prefecture. Fukushima Prefecture, the third largest in Japan, covers 13,782 square kilometers. The government has not disclosed the size of the area contaminated with cesium 137 released from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant. Cesium 137 has a long half-life of about 30 years. The Asahi Shimbun calculated the size of the contaminated area based on a distribution map of accumulated cesium 137 levels measured from aircraft, which was released by the science ministry on Sept. 8. "

Panel to consider prohibiting mining Uranium exploration and mining again are on tap for the Fremont County Planning Commission. The panel will meet Tuesday evening in regular session with an agenda that includes a public hearing on a proposed amendment to the Fremont County Master Plan that would prohibit mining in certain areas of the county. The amendment, submitted by the Tallahassee Area Community group, would prohibit mining in the "Mountain District" of Fremont County. That area covers about 500 square miles in the northern part of the county and another 250 square miles in the south-central part of the county. TAC formed last year to protest uranium exploration and possible future mining in the Tallahassee area northwest of Cañon City. Lee Alter, chairman of TAC's government affairs committee, will represent the group in presenting the Master Plan amendment.

"On July 21, 2009, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar proposed a two-year withdrawal of about 1 million acres of Federal land near the Grand Canyon from future mineral entry. These lands are contained in three parcels: two parcels on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land to the north of the Grand Canyon (North and East Segregation Areas) and one on the Kaibab National Forest south of the Grand Canyon (South Segregation Area). The purpose of the two-year withdrawal is to examine the potential effects of restricting these areas from new mine development for the next 20 years. This proposed withdrawal initiated a period of study during which the effects of the withdrawal must be evaluated. At the direction of the Secretary, the U.S. Geological Survey began a series of short-term studies designed to develop additional information about the possible effects of uranium mining on the natural resources of the region. Dissolved uranium and other major, minor, and trace elements occur naturally in groundwater as the result of precipitation infiltrating from the surface to water-bearing zones and, presumably, to underlying regional aquifers. Discharges from these aquifers occur as seeps and springs throughout the region and provide valuable habitat and water sources for plants and animals. Uranium mining within the watershed may increase the amount of radioactive materials and heavy metals in the surface water and groundwater flowing into Grand Canyon National Park and the Colorado River, and deep mining activities may increase mobilization of uranium through the rock strata into the aquifers. In addition, waste rock and ore from mined areas may be transported away from the mines by wind and runoff."

" Cumulative radiation outside the 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the past three months has reached as high as 82 millisieverts, more than four times the yardstick of 20 millisieverts a year, a science ministry estimate showed Tuesday. The highest level was detected in a part of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, around 22 kilometers northwest of the nuclear plant crippled since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Namie is among the designated evacuation areas lying outside of the no-entry zone where radiation levels are feared to exceed the annual limit of 20 millisieverts. Of 160 monitoring sites in the designated areas outside the no-entry zone, 23 registered radiation levels exceeding 20 millisieverts over the three-month period, the ministry said. A man is scanned for levels of radiation in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) A man is scanned for levels of radiation in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) Outside the areas subject to evacuation, an area in the city of Minamisoma had an estimated cumulative radiation level of 20.4 millisieverts a year since the start of the crisis. (Mainichi Japan) June 22, 2011"

Forty four Tallahassee Area Community property owners are slated as being the first population in the world to live within 500 feet of an active Uranium Mining program. The remainder of the community would be irreversibly, and irretrievably affected by a decision of our county to allow the mining project to move forward. The environment which we chose for our retirement years would be damaged and changed. We stand against the existence of an industrial mining operation in our agricultural/forestry neighborhood. We believe that people cannot live inside an active uranium mining area safely; the two functions cannot coexist in the same area, at the same time.

A spike in uranium prices in recent years has sparked a mining-claim rush near a proposed Colorado wilderness area - a situation that would be exacerbated by a federal energy bill that may include nuclear power in a national renewable energy standard. Several uranium mining claims have been filed near the proposed Dolores River Canyon Wilderness Area along the high desert cliffs of a river known for its scenic rafting and kayaking from high in the San Juan Mountains to the border of Utah. The Dolores was initially recommended as a wild river under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1976 and for years has been part of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's 29,000-acre Dolores River Canyon Wilderness Study Area.

Agency gives OK to some Area 51 workers seeking compensation In 1998, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy were keeping mum about the secret work that went on at Area 51, a widely known Air Force installation near the northeast corner of the Nevada Test Site. That year, the U.S. Supreme Court turned away an appeal by former Area 51 workers who claimed that they were made sick and that co-workers had died from exposure to toxic fumes from stealth coatings burned in open trenches near the Groom Lake base, 90 miles north of Las Vegas. The site was used to test high-tech aircraft.

David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists; Consideration of Petition in the Rulemaking Process AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Resolution and closure of petition docket. SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issues raised in a petition for rulemaking submitted by David Lochbaum, on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists, in the ongoing ``Power Reactor Security Requirements'' rulemaking. The petitioner requested that the NRC amend its regulations to require that licensees implement procedures to ensure that when information becomes known to a licensee about an individual that would prevent that individual from gaining unescorted access to the protected area of a nuclear power plant, the licensee will implement measures to ensure the individual does not enter the protected area, whether escorted, or not; and, when sufficient information is not available to a licensee about an individual to determine whether the criteria for unescorted access are satisfied, the licensee will implement measures to allow that individual to enter the protected area only when escorted at all times by an armed member of the security force who remains in periodic communication with security supervision.

When Paul Zimmerman writes in his new book about the Rio Puerco and the Four Corners, he calls out the names of the cancers and gives voice to the poisoned places and streams. Zimmerman is not just writing empty words. Zimmerman writes of the national sacrifice area that the mainstream media and the spin doctors would have everyone forget, where the corners of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet, in his new book, A Primer in the Art of Deception: The Cult of Nuclearists, Uranium Weapons and Fraudulent Science. "A report in 1972 by the National Academy of Science suggested that the Four Corners area be designated a 'national sacrifice area," he writes.

I am a Middle East Consultant living in the UK and would like all people living in or near areas of conflict to understand the High Tech Weaponry used by many military establishments worldwide, especially the US (the manufacturers) and other NATO forces. The reason for pointing this out to you is as a response to my research on the terrible rise in cancer related deaths. This is not only confined to military personnel in the battle zone but also the indiscriminate contamination of civilians, field crops and water supplies in the immediate area as well as the adjacent areas/countries. Below is my report: Concerns regarding radiation contamination by the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) weaponry in the Balkans, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eastern Mediterranean Countries. The majority of high tech weapons today contain Depleted Uranium and or other Heavy Metals. Some are coated in DU and others have both DU and Heavy Metal in their warheads. DU is also used to act as a counterweight.

Protesters gathered in Helsinki and Tampere on Thursday to lend support to residents of Ranua, in Finnish Lapland, who oppose plans for uranium mining in the area. The French energy group Areva has filed an application with the Ministry Employment and the Economy for a uranium mining claim at Ranua, just south of Rovaniemi. If granted, the claim would allow Areva to carrying out prospecting in the area. According to a local activisit, Kaisa Kaikkonen, granting the claim could force residents of the area to live for decades in fear of the start-up of uranium mining.

North Korea's nuclear tests and their results have been of great interest to us, but the way the lead-up to these two tests has been kept a secret in such a small country has been mostly overlooked. And there has been absolutely no information regarding human rights abuses or radioactive contamination in the area. North Korea's recent nuclear test, which followed the first one in 2006, is a disaster in itself. A nuclear test in a place like the Korean Peninsula, which does not have the deserts or wastelands and is densely populated, can cause serious damage like radioactive leaks. For its first test, which was on a relatively small scale, North Korea cordoned off the area and stopped trains from coming near for three months before the test. For the recent one, however, there were no such actions, and residents of the area went about their daily lives during the test period.

Radioactive contaminants leaked into Quehanna Wild Area Beginning nearly 50 years ago at a site near Karthaus, where Clearfield, Clinton and Centre counties come together, two companies leaked nuclear radiation into the largest wild area in the eastern United States, the Quehanna Wild Area. It took 40 years for the government to figure out how badly the place was contaminated, and another 10 years to clean up the sources of radiation. Now, more than $20 million in cleanup costs later, the state Department of Environmental Protection is suing the companies to get the money back. In separate suits filed May 14 that share many of the same claims, DEP attorney Michael D. Buchwach asks a federal judge to force Lockheed Martin Corp. and Atlantic Richfield Co. to pay the cleanup costs.

"Some residents of the Apollo area say in a new lawsuit that they developed cancer from exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals at the former Babcock & Wilcox plant, Team 4's Paul Van Osdol reported Wednesday. It's closed now, but the property in Parks Township, Armstrong County, was once the site of the largest private nuclear processing facility in the country. Neighbors and former workers there say all the radiation left them poisoned. A new lawsuit says that "repeated releases of hazardous and radioactive substances into the area" around the plant caused three area residents to develop cancer. One of those people -- Eva Myers -- lived 400 feet from the plant. She died of lung cancer two years ago."

Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the Lower North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said yesterday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, one of 20 doctors at the the Centre hospitalier et des services sociaux de Sept Îles who signed an open letter to Health Minister Yves Bolduc pledging to resign unless uranium exploration activities in the area are stopped. The hospital employs 60 physicians. The doctors oppose a proposed uranium mine at Kachiwiss Lake, about 13 kilometres from Sept Îles, because they believe it will harm the environment and the health of area residents.

Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the Lower North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said yesterday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, one of 20 doctors at the the Centre hospitalier et des services sociaux de Sept Îles who signed an open letter to Health Minister Yves Bolduc pledging to resign unless uranium exploration activities in the area are stopped. The hospital employs 60 physicians. The doctors oppose a proposed uranium mine at Kachiwiss Lake, about 13 kilometres from Sept Îles, because they believe it will harm the environment and the health of area residents.

The Ohio Department of Health not only believes a childhood cancer cluster exists in the vicinity of Clyde, Ohio, it now believes it extends to a wider geographical area. A map released to the media yesterday by Robert Indian, chief of the state health department's comprehensive cancer control program, shows the agency's study area has been expanded west into Fremont. It follows the Sandusky River north to Lake Erie's Sandusky Bay, and goes south into Seneca County.

The Ohio Department of Health not only believes a childhood cancer cluster exists in the vicinity of Clyde, Ohio, it now believes it extends to a wider geographical area. A map released to the media yesterday by Robert Indian, chief of the state health department's comprehensive cancer control program, shows the agency's study area has been expanded west into Fremont. It follows the Sandusky River north to Lake Erie's Sandusky Bay, and goes south into Seneca County.

The land in Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay contains the remains of years of pollution from industrial sources and dumps, including radioactive waste, according to a recent report by the Geological Survey of Israel. The report states that land in urban areas, even those distant from industrial facilities, has absorbed pollutants released into the air from smokestacks. Advertisement The team of scientists that wrote the report, led by Dr. Moshe Shirav-Schwartz, chemically analyzed 1,823 soil samples throughout the Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay area - checking for various toxic metals and radioactive materials. Long-term and or high exposure to such materials can lead to cancer, diseases of the central nervous system, impaired development of children and other health conditions.

The land in Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay contains the remains of years of pollution from industrial sources and dumps, including radioactive waste, according to a recent report by the Geological Survey of Israel. The report states that land in urban areas, even those distant from industrial facilities, has absorbed pollutants released into the air from smokestacks. Advertisement The team of scientists that wrote the report, led by Dr. Moshe Shirav-Schwartz, chemically analyzed 1,823 soil samples throughout the Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay area - checking for various toxic metals and radioactive materials. Long-term and or high exposure to such materials can lead to cancer, diseases of the central nervous system, impaired development of children and other health conditions.