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Experts have kept uranium seized by the police in a special room after initial tests showed it was highly radioactive. It has been placed in a one-metre-thick concrete wall room at the National Radiation Protective Board Deputy head of the board Arthur Koteng said final results would be ready on Friday. "At the moment, nobody is allowed to touch it except experts with protective clothing," he told the Nation on Wednesday.

The New Mexico Environment Department will hold a water fair to test well water from private wells only in the San Mateo Basin from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Cibola County Building, 515 High St. in Grants. All present and future owners and users of private wells that are within the advisory area are advised to sample their wells to ensure the quality of well water does not pose health concerns. Water from public drinking water systems will not be tested because those supplies are routinely tested and deemed to be safe pursuant to the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 will hold a community meeting 6-8 p.m., the same day, also at the Cibola County Building.

lmost four years after saying they would examine the site, federal officials are still unsure whether they will clean up the radioactive legacy of their atomic weapons program. From 1943 to 1952, Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. used its plant at 2400 Taylor St. to mill radioactive uranium into fuel rods for atomic power plants. The plant has changed hands several times since then; it is now owned by Valbruna Slater Stainless, a subsidiary of Italy-based Acciaierie Valbruna SpA.

In Mississippi County, where nearly a fourth of the residents live in poverty, farmers have a long history of making a living off what springs from the flat, fertile lowlands - soybeans, corn, timber. But now a geologist has come to the area with promises of millions of dollars in jobs and benefits and a theory about what may be tucked deep inside the crevices under the Mississippi River Valley. It could be one of the "biggest deposits of undiscovered uranium in the U.S.," said John Gustavson, a geologist. "The future market for uranium is there."

Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer, is suspending uranium-processing temporarily at a plant in Canada because of a dispute over supplies of hydrofluoric acid used in the production of nuclear fuel. Output of uranium hexafluoride at its Port Hope, Ontario, plant will be halted until the second half of next year because of "unreliable and expensive deliveries" of hydrofluoric acid, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco said today in a statement. The acid is used in uranium oxide's conversion into uranium hexafluoride, or UF6, a critical step in the fuel-making process.

South Africa would implement interventions with regard to the export of uranium to ensure that the country retained an adequate supply for its own electricity-generation needs, the Department of Minerals and Energy's (DME's) director of nuclear non-proliferation Elsie Monale asserted on Wednesday. Speaking at the Institute for International Research's Nuclear & Uranium Summit in Johannesburg, Monale stated that South Africa and Southern Africa had an abundance of uranium and that the country should benefit from its minerals.

Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), Russia's leading uranium producer, plans to increase production in Russia and Kazakhstan by 12% to 4,300 metric tons, the company chief said on Wednesday. Vadim Zhivov said uranium output could reach 3,841 tons in 2008, a 20% increase on 2006, and that the company could issue bonds next year. Russia's proven uranium reserves have increased 275% to 545,000 metric tons since 2006, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said earlier this month.

A one-size-fits-all analysis is inappropriate when it comes to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities," according to the Navajo Nation. "The jurisdictional issue involving the Navajo Nation cannot be looked at in a vacuum. It involves substantial environmental justice implications for a Native Nation uniquely impacted by past activities now under the direct control of the NRC, " David Taylor, principal attorney with the Natural Resources Unit, stated in comments to the NRC sent Nov. 7.

Russia's proven uranium reserves have increased 275% to 545,000 metric tons since 2006, the natural resources minister said on Tuesday. Yury Trutnev attended a meeting with civilian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko to discuss joint measures that the ministry, mineral resources regulator Rosnedra and state nuclear power corporation Rosatom are taking to develop Russia's uranium deposits. Vadim Zhivov, head of Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), Russia's leading uranium miner, said 3,841 tons of uranium is planned to be produced this year, a 20% increase on 2006.

The Salt Lake Tribune recently editorialized in support of protecting more of Utah's incredible rivers as Wild and Scenic Rivers. As the main advocate for Wild and Scenic Rivers in Utah, the Utah Rivers Council wholeheartedly agrees. However, the recently finalized Bureau of Land Management plans may be a good beginning for a few rivers, as The Tribune states, but they are also a death trap for the majority of Utah's rivers.

He is a messenger between heaven and earth. Manuel Pino comes from the Acoma Pueblo, an adobe village of the Tewa west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Beyond the earthcolored dwellings one sees only blue sky - Acoma Pueblo occupies the rim of a steep mesa. Standing on the center plaza, one has the feeling that a great invisible magnet is pulling the settlement into the clouds. Tourist guidebooks and highway billboards refer to Acoma as, "Sky City."

Federal researchers have begun a public health review in Cañon City amid renewed concerns about pollution from a closed uranium mill. The study, by the Health and Human Services Department, is examining potential exposure to pollution from the Cotter Corp. mill and the possible health risks. "We're not saying these (potential health impacts) were caused by the contamination," said environmental scientist Teresa Foster. "We're not at the point where we can make that determination. We're taking the community's concerns very seriously."

A new, 12-person group has been created to advise the provincial government on the development of Saskatchewan's uranium resources, however some are questioning its ability to be objective. The Uranium Development Partnership was announced Monday in Saskatoon by Enterprise and Innovation Minister Lyle Stewart and Crown Corporations Minister Ken Cheveldayoff. Richard Florizone, a nuclear physicist and vice-president of finance at the University of Saskatchewan, was chosen to lead the group, which will receive up to $3 million in funding from the Crown Investments Corp.

A Newspoll survey conducted by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has revealed that 40% of Australians are against the export of Australian uranium to any country for use in nuclear power plants for electricity generation. A further 22% were found to be against the export of uranium to countries that possess nuclear weapons, even if those countries have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Federal researchers have begun a public health review in Canon City amid renewed concerns about pollution from a closed uranium mill. The study, by the Health and Human Services Department, is examining potential exposure to pollution from the Cotter Corp. mill and the possible health risks. "We're not saying these (potential health impacts) were caused by the contamination," said environmental scientist Teresa Foster. "We're not at the point where we can make that determination. We're taking the community's concerns very seriously."

could protect public lands from resource development has conservation groups saying the BLM is trying to accommodate industry. The immediate impact of the change, if approved, could be a denial of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's authority to stop uranium exploration on 1 million acres of public lands near the Grand Canyon by declaring an "emergency withdrawal" of that land.

The Northern Territory Resources Department says it is justified in allowing uranium exploration on a site near Alice Springs because most of the objections it received did not relate to the exploration process. There have been two protests in Alice Springs since the Government's decision to grant exploration rights for the Angela-Pamela deposit.

A delegation from the Navajo Nation and officials from five federal agencies went before U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman's committee Thursday in Washington to follow up on actions taken so far under a five-year plan to clean up Cold War uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation.

Broken down by icons, FAS lays out details of the entire fuel cycle both front and back end, with additional resources for each... Best site yet on this

Uranium leaks discovered in the groundwater have come closer to contaminating the entire supply of drinking water for two villages in the Hopi reservation. A series of studies conducted by consultants of the Hopi tribe and Navajo Nation show uranium contamination within 100 feet of water supply wells that provide all the drinking water to the village of Lower Moencopi.