Group items tagged

This letter is in response to a quote by Dr. Sonja Johnson's in the article titled "Public voices displeasure at uranium meeting" in the June 5 Times & Transcript. She is quoted as saying "80 percent of an individual's exposure to uranium is through sources such as the Earth's core, water and food."

I understand Natural Resources Minister Donald Arseneault to say health risks would occur after exposure of "500 hours," a mere 21 days, of being within five feet of a drill sample with just one per cent of uranium.

When people think of Durango, Colo., they usually think of the scenery, or the tourist attractions, or the disproportionate number of healthy, spandex-clad bicyclists, runners and raft guides. Rarely do they think of cancer. Perhaps they should.

Andy Thorne, general manager of Cameco Corp.'s Port Hope conversion facility, provided an update on the contamination situation to about 80 Port Hope residents Monday, similar to the one provided to Port Hope council last Tuesday. Yellow staining was observed in the bottom of excavation pit in the UF6 building on July 13, 2007, and Cameco halted production six days later, once it was discovered the contamination was more widespread than originally thought.

TOKYO, May 26 (Reuters) - Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Co (9503.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday its joint venture with two other Japanese utilities and a trading house would participate in a project to explore for uranium in South Australia.

Canada's Cameco Corporation and Kazatomprom of Kazakhstan have announced the formation of a new joint-owned company, Ulba Conversion LLP, to move forward with development work on a 12,000 tonne uranium hexafluoride conversion facility in Kazakhstan.

Linda Cogswell says she's worried about New Brunswick's decision to allow uranium exploration in the province and she wants her opinion heard. The Rusagonis resident was one of more than 250 people who crowded into a theatre at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Complex on Wednesday night to listen to presentations and participate in a question-and-answer session.

BRATTLEBORO - The recent spate of advertisements promoting the electric power generated at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant as "clean and green" doesn't tell the true story, said two Native Americans whose native lands are severely affected by the nuclear power industry. Lorraine Rekmans, of the Northern Ojibwa people from Elliot Lake, Ontario, and Ian Zabarte, from Mercury, Nev., secretary of state of the Western Shoshone National Council, spoke in Brattleboro Monday night, their last stop in a weeklong visit to Vermont organized by the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance and Citizens Awareness Network.

ALBUQUERQUE -- A state committee has approved a proposal from five American Indian tribes to give central New Mexico's Mount Taylor temporary protection as a cultural property at a contentious meeting. The state Cultural Properties Review Committee voted 4-2 Saturday in Grants for an emergency listing of more than 422,000 acres surrounding the mountain's summit on the state Register of Cultural Properties.

Balloons representing more than 500 local residents who have battled cancer in recent years were released after a presentation by the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) about cancer rates in the Monticello area.

WINDOW ROCK - Producers of the 2000 documentary, "The Return of Navajo Boy," were back on the Navajo Reservation Tuesday to showcase an epilogue to the acclaimed film before Navajo Environmental Protection Agency staff.

MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - Somalia hopes Russian companies will take part in the development of uranium deposits, and oil and natural gas production, the Somali ambassador to Russia said Friday. "Today we say: let's cooperate. Somalia is a very rich country, this is the main basin of oil and gas on the territory of the Horn of Africa," Mohamed Handule told a RIA Novosti press conference.

Kazakhstan, the world's third- biggest uranium miner, plans to overtake Canada and Australia next year by producing 12,826 metric tons of the radioactive metal. The country is aiming to become the world's biggest producer of uranium, Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the president of state- run Kazatomprom, told reporters in Almaty today. The company plans to produce more than 9,000 tons of uranium this year, he said.

UN global uranium maps

Interviews and documentation of navajo miners

To prove he is sick enough to deserve the federal compensation promised to former uranium miners such as himself, 86-year-old Ross Williams must take a lung-function test. The problem is, Williams and some others like him are too sick to complete the required test. With measured breath, he explains in his native Navajo language what has happened each time he has tried to take it.

"Senator McCain would strongly oppose any waste and inefficiency in providing benefits and compensation to eligible claimants. The intent of the legislation should be fulfilled - these workers should be adequately compensated and treated for their injuries and illnesses. The health problems of these individuals are tragic and this program should administer benefits and compensation in an effective and timely manner."

TUBA CITY, Ariz. - This spring, officials from the U.S. Department of Labor sat around a small fire, touching sweet corn pollen to their tongues and inhaling spicy cedar smoke in a traditional Navajo ceremony. Larry Martinez, who manages the Office of Navajo Uranium Workers, had organized the ceremony hoping to improve a working relationship that he described as "difficult and getting worse" between the Navajo and the labor department, which manages a federal program to compensate sick nuclear weapons workers.

FREDERICTON - Natural Resources Minister Donald Arseneault isn't backing down from his position that uranium exploration doesn't pose any dangers, despite British Columbia's recent decision to ban exploration of the element. "Every jurisdiction has its own premise on why they should go in a certain direction or not, and it's no different for New Brunswick," said Arseneault.

Most Americans have heard of Niger only because that's where the CIA dispatched former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV to find out whether Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium. But Niger's precious resource, just a footnote to the Iraq war, is the cause of monumental suffering here.