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Indigenous people from across North America will meet in Acoma in late October to launch a campaign to end recent efforts to resume uranium mining, which is seen as a threat to Indian lands in several Native locations across the country. * The Seventh Indigenous Uranium Forum was established in 1987 with conferences on the environmental and health effects of uranium development in the Grants Mineral Belt. Since its inception the forum has developed as a vehicle for strategy development and coordination of communities along the lifeline of nuclear power, from uranium mining in Grants to nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. A statement from the forum reads, "The 7th Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum will focus on the recent onslaught of exploratory measures to mine and mill uranium in the Grants Mineral Belt. Due to recent price fluctuations of uranium on the world market and U.S. policy still emphasizing nuclear power as an answer to global warming and climate change, we will inform and educate participants of local, national and international nuclear issues impacting Indigenous people." There will also be presentations on health issues affecting both mining and non-mining populations in the affected communities.

Indigenous people from across North America will meet in Acoma in late October to launch a campaign to end recent efforts to resume uranium mining, which is seen as a threat to Indian lands in several Native locations across the country. * The Seventh Indigenous Uranium Forum was established in 1987 with conferences on the environmental and health effects of uranium development in the Grants Mineral Belt. Since its inception the forum has developed as a vehicle for strategy development and coordination of communities along the lifeline of nuclear power, from uranium mining in Grants to nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. A statement from the forum reads, "The 7th Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum will focus on the recent onslaught of exploratory measures to mine and mill uranium in the Grants Mineral Belt. Due to recent price fluctuations of uranium on the world market and U.S. policy still emphasizing nuclear power as an answer to global warming and climate change, we will inform and educate participants of local, national and international nuclear issues impacting Indigenous people." There will also be presentations on health issues affecting both mining and non-mining populations in the affected communities.

The U.S. Forest Service is developing an environmental cleanup plan for the San Mateo Uranium Mine under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. The site is located on the Mount Taylor Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest, Cibola County, approximately 12 miles northeast of Grants. * The Forest Service prepared an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) to identify and evaluate several cleanup alternatives to address the waste rock piles associated with past uranium mining. The recommended cleanup alternative is to consolidate the waste rock piles and place them in an on-site repository. A geomembrane would be placed above the waste rock in the repository and would be covered with clean soil, re-vegetated, and armored with rock. Rock armoring would reduce the potential for erosion during heavy storm events and reduce the potential risk of exposure to gamma radiation and direct contact, inhalation, or ingestion of waste rock. The agency is requesting public input and comments on the EE/CA and the recommended cleanup alternative. The EE/CA and the Administrative Record are available for review at the Southwestern Regional Office in Albuquerque and the Mount Taylor Ranger District Office, 1800 Lobo Canyon Rd., in Grants and also available at the following link: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/cibola/projects/index.shtml.

The U.S. Forest Service is developing an environmental cleanup plan for the San Mateo Uranium Mine under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. The site is located on the Mount Taylor Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest, Cibola County, approximately 12 miles northeast of Grants. * The Forest Service prepared an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) to identify and evaluate several cleanup alternatives to address the waste rock piles associated with past uranium mining. The recommended cleanup alternative is to consolidate the waste rock piles and place them in an on-site repository. A geomembrane would be placed above the waste rock in the repository and would be covered with clean soil, re-vegetated, and armored with rock. Rock armoring would reduce the potential for erosion during heavy storm events and reduce the potential risk of exposure to gamma radiation and direct contact, inhalation, or ingestion of waste rock. The agency is requesting public input and comments on the EE/CA and the recommended cleanup alternative. The EE/CA and the Administrative Record are available for review at the Southwestern Regional Office in Albuquerque and the Mount Taylor Ranger District Office, 1800 Lobo Canyon Rd., in Grants and also available at the following link: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/cibola/projects/index.shtml.

The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld a 2008 Environmental Court decision to allow Entergy Vermont Yankee to release thermal discharge water into the Connecticut River that is expected to raise the temperature of the river by one degree. And while environmental groups that argued against the release say the decision will adversely affect aquatic life, Entergy officials celebrated the decision by the state's high court. "We are very pleased with this decision," Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said after the Supreme Court issued its ruling Friday. "Vermont Yankee is a responsible steward of the river and this small leeway granted on temperature limit will help ensure the plant's reliability output during the warmer summer months for the region's electric consumers." Yankee plans on releasing the warmer water into the river this summer, Williams said. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources first granted Yankee a permit to increase the temperature of the Connecticut River near the plant by one degree in 2004.

The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld a 2008 Environmental Court decision to allow Entergy Vermont Yankee to release thermal discharge water into the Connecticut River that is expected to raise the temperature of the river by one degree. And while environmental groups that argued against the release say the decision will adversely affect aquatic life, Entergy officials celebrated the decision by the state's high court. "We are very pleased with this decision," Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said after the Supreme Court issued its ruling Friday. "Vermont Yankee is a responsible steward of the river and this small leeway granted on temperature limit will help ensure the plant's reliability output during the warmer summer months for the region's electric consumers." Yankee plans on releasing the warmer water into the river this summer, Williams said. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources first granted Yankee a permit to increase the temperature of the Connecticut River near the plant by one degree in 2004.

"Govt picks TVO, Fennovoima to build new nuclear reactors * Says no to utility Fortum * Says aims to make Finland electricity self-sufficient Finland's government granted on Wednesday a permission to utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) and consortium Fennovoima to build new nuclear power stations, but rejected Fortum's (FUM1V.HE) application. "We are giving a strong signal to the industry that it is worthwhile to invest in Finland. Granting one (nuclear reactor) permission is not enough," Mauri Pekkarinen, Minister of the Economy, told a news conference."

"That's what a panel decided today, granting petitions from other states and saying the federal law does not grant authority to DOE to abandon application. Surely will be appealed. The decision is at right."

"Thousands of feet under a hot patch of sand and brush is buried a deposit of uranium so rich it could revive a hardscrabble New Mexico town pocked with vacant lots and shuttered buildings. The mining industry and those residents of the area who are eager for an influx of jobs see the plateau around Mount Taylor near the town of Grants in the northwest corner of New Mexico as an irresistible opportunity for economic gain. "It's what we need, it's what's going to fuel the future," said Star Gonzales, director of the Grants chamber of commerce. "They will be good paying jobs.""

Ministers have been accused of an "abuse" of the Commons for not giving MPs the chance to object to important conditions granted to the new company running the Sellafield nuclear site. David Heath, for the Liberal Democrats, said MPs were not allowed to properly scrutinise the granting of a £22 billion contract to Nuclear Management Partners to run the site. The company insisted on being fully indemnified against the costs of cl ADVERTISEMENT eaning up any future accidents - which opponents say could run to billions of pounds.

Two congressman argue in a letter sent Wednesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacks power to grant a license for Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions to import 20,000 tons of Italian low-level radioactive waste into the United States. Saying they understand a decision may be granted soon on EnergySolutions' request, Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., ask the NRC to reject the application to bring the waste to American shores because there is no site to store it.

Two congressmen argue in a letter sent Wednesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacks power to grant a license for Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions to import 20,000 tons of Italian low-level radioactive waste into the United States. Saying they understand a decision may be granted soon on EnergySolutions' request, Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., ask the NRC to reject the application to bring the waste to American shores because there is no site to store it. "The NRC has no authority to import waste when there is not a facility to ultimately dispose of it," Matheson and Gordon wrote.

The exploration licence for a uranium mine outside Alice Springs has been granted. The Northern Territory Government has granted the licence to the joint venture of Cameco Australia and Paladin Energy to exlpore for uranium at Angela and Pamela site, 25 kilometres from Alice Springs. The licence includes

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced an open house and public comment meeting to be held in Grants this week. On Tuesday the commission will conduct the session to accept comments on the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities. In-situ is one of the uranium extraction methods being considered for use in the Grants area.

Environmentalists and Navajo groups who have been fighting a proposed coal-fired plant on tribal land in northwestern New Mexico have appealed an air permit granted for the plant. The petition filed Thursday alleges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to complete required analyses of the project, and instead was stampeded into granting the permit because developers of the Desert Rock power plant filed a lawsuit contending the EPA was taking too long.

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.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (ASLBs) have granted a hearing on the Yucca Mountain license application, admitting eight petitioners as parties and a total of 299 contentions on safety and environmental issues. In a 153-page order issued today, the ASLBs, designated as "construction authorization boards," granted the petitions to intervene filed by the states of Nevada and California; the Nuclear Energy Institute; Nye County, Nev.; Clark County, Nev., White Pine County, Nev.; Inyo County, Calif.; and a joint petition filed by Churchill, Esmeralda, Lander and Mineral counties, Nev. The Boards ruled that these petitioners demonstrated standing and raised at least one admissible contention regarding the application.

Nine out of ten want more wind energy "Public support for building a sixth nuclear generating facility for Finland has sharply declined in the past four years. Nevertheless, a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup indicates that more than half of Finns are still in favour of more nuclear construction. Only about a third of respondents would grant licences to all three applicants, while six per cent would grant licences to two of the applicant companies. "

On April 27, the Grants Mining District five-year uranium legacy health and environmental mining plan continued its unusual evolution with a public meeting in Grants. A project of many federal, state and Native American agencies, communications are coordinated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, New Mexico Environmental Division and New Mexico Department of Health. This is a unique project that grew out of long-term pressure by the New Mexico Uranium Mining and Millings Task Force. The task force had a four-person staff which consisted of a legislative counsel attorney, the director of Mining and Minerals of NM Energy Minerals and Natural Resources, uranium industry attorney Jon Indal, uranium health expert anti-mine activist Chris Shuey and a variety of legislators. This unusual and eclectic group came up with a variety of proposals on the grounds that the federal government has a "moral obligation" to address abandoned mining and milling legacies, (and financial because New Mexico lacks money). Some proposals are embodied in the five-year plan that was spawned from their efforts."

"As the oil off Louisiana's coast continues to threaten wildlife, tourism, and the fishing industry, nuclear power plants along Florida's Gulf coast are also on edge. Progress Energy spokeswoman Susan Grant says that while forecasts look good now, they are definitely preparing for the worst at locations like their Crystal River Nuclear Plant. Grant says their coastal plants are already somewhat prepared because of standard precautions already in place. She says Progress Energy is taking no chances considering the potentially devastating effects of oil entering their plants. Aside from the Crystal River Nuclear complex in Citrus County, Progress Energy is making preperations at their Anclote Plant in Pasco County and their Bartlow Plant in Pinellas County."

The state of New Mexico House of Representatives earlier this week announced two public meetings to discuss environmental concerns and economic development in connection with uranium mining and milling. The Indian Affairs Committee and Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Committee will hold joint meetings in Crownpoint and Grants on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, respectively.

"Currently 12 states are designated as high-level risk for radiation exposure. New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah have established Radiation Exposure Services and Educational clinics. In New Mexico, residents are served by RESEP health centers in Shiprock, Laguna and Albuquerque. A majority of patients are uranium mining industry workers. Between 1953 and 1993, New Mexico was the leader in the United States uranium production. In the 1950s Grants called itself the Uranium Capital of the World. Over the decades the industry reached peak production. During the 1970s and 1980s market demand for the ore decreased substantially."

An environment ministry decision to grant an unlimited licence to the Mühleberg nuclear power station has prompted mixed reaction. The operators of the plant outside the capital Bern said they welcomed the move because it finally puts all five nuclear power stations in Switzerland on par with each other. The Mühleberg facility became operational in 1972 and had a licence that was due to run out by the end of 2012. An application has already been handed in to built a new reactor in ten years' time. However, critics of nuclear power described the decision as irresponsible and scandalous. They pledged to challenge it in court.

An environment ministry decision to grant an unlimited licence to the Mühleberg nuclear power station has prompted mixed reaction. The operators of the plant outside the capital Bern said they welcomed the move because it finally puts all five nuclear power stations in Switzerland on par with each other. The Mühleberg facility became operational in 1972 and had a licence that was due to run out by the end of 2012. An application has already been handed in to built a new reactor in ten years' time. However, critics of nuclear power described the decision as irresponsible and scandalous. They pledged to challenge it in court.