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03.05.09 Savannah River Site Public Tours Aiken, SC 03.05.09 Portsmouth Site Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Piketon, OH 03.05.09 Scoping Mtg.: EIS on Proposed Loan Guarantee for TX Energy, LLC, Industrial Gasification Facility Beaumont, TX 03.11.09 Nevada Test Site/Environmental Management Community Advisory Board Mtg. Las Vegas, NV 03.11.09 Oak Ridge Site Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Oak Ridge, TN 03.11.09 Savannah River Site Public Tours Aiken, SC 03.12.09 Paducah Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Paducah, KY 03.18.09 - 03.19.09 Environmental Management Site Advisory Board Chairs' Mtg. Augusta, GA 03.23.09 - 03.24.09 Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Aiken, SC 03.24.09 Savannah River Site Public Tours Aiken, SC 03.25.09 Northern NM Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Santa Fe, NM 03.31.09 Public Mtg.: Revised Draft EIS on Decommissioning and/or Long-term Stewardship at West Valley Demonstration Project Irving, NY 03.31.09 Idaho National Lab/Environmental Management Citizens Advisory Board Mtg.

03.05.09 Savannah River Site Public Tours Aiken, SC 03.05.09 Portsmouth Site Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Piketon, OH 03.05.09 Scoping Mtg.: EIS on Proposed Loan Guarantee for TX Energy, LLC, Industrial Gasification Facility Beaumont, TX 03.11.09 Nevada Test Site/Environmental Management Community Advisory Board Mtg. Las Vegas, NV 03.11.09 Oak Ridge Site Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Oak Ridge, TN 03.11.09 Savannah River Site Public Tours Aiken, SC 03.12.09 Paducah Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Paducah, KY 03.18.09 - 03.19.09 Environmental Management Site Advisory Board Chairs' Mtg. Augusta, GA 03.23.09 - 03.24.09 Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Aiken, SC 03.24.09 Savannah River Site Public Tours Aiken, SC 03.25.09 Northern NM Citizens Advisory Board Mtg. Santa Fe, NM 03.31.09 Public Mtg.: Revised Draft EIS on Decommissioning and/or Long-term Stewardship at West Valley Demonstration Project Irving, NY 03.31.09 Idaho National Lab/Environmental Management Citizens Advisory Board Mtg.

The U.S. Department of Energy has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency to recertify its nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which turns 10 on Thursday, must seek recertification every five years to demonstrate that it complies with EPA regulations for disposing of radioactive waste. WIPP, excavated in salt beds 2,150 feet below the surface of the southern New Mexico desert, is designed for waste generated by the nation's defense work - largely such things as plutonium-contaminated rags, tools or clothing. The EPA first certified WIPP in May 1998, with the first 5-year certification period dating from March 26, 1999, when WIPP received its first shipment of waste. AddThis Social Bookmark Button Unrated You must be logged in to rate this story. Login or register Comments Terms of Use: We welcome your participation in our community. Please keep your comments civil and on point. You must be at least 13 years of age to post comments. By submitting a comment, you agree to these Terms of Service You must be logged in to leave a comment. Login or register Leave a comment @ Controls (Powered by JS-Kit) See all comments Close windowBranding NM Nuclear Waste Dump Seeks Recertification Leave a comment Leave a comment as: [logout] Loading... OpenID: Loading... Login: Password: Loading... Haloscan login: Haloscan password: Loading... Login: Password: Re-type Password: Nickname (required): Send replies to email: (if provided, email will not be displayed or shared) Avatars management: No avatars uploaded. Please use the form below to add avatars. Upload new avatar: Rating: Comment: Add pictures (Powered by JS-kit) (Spam filtering by Akismet) Leave a comment @ Controls (Powered by JS-Kit) Close window

International Isotopes Inc. has selected a site in Lea County, New Mexico, for the construction of International Isotopes' depleted uranium de-conversion and fluorine extraction processing facility. According to a release, International Isotopes had narrowed its site selection to Eastern Idaho, Andrews County, Texas, and Lea County, New Mexico. The New Mexico location is about 15 miles west of Hobbs, NM. INIS announced its plans to construct the de-conversion facility in 2008 and has since been working on site selection, plant design, and licensing.

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."

"A bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, is requesting a hearing on a proposed expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), aimed at reaching victims throughout the western U.S. whose high rates of cancer and other diseases have been tied to radiation exposure. RECA currently provides funding to qualified "downwinders" in Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington and Wayne counties. The proposed expansion would extend coverage to all of Utah, along with the other six states, and increase the list of illnesses eligible for compensation. Introduced in April, the bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee for consideration, and the group wrote a letter to the committee requesting the hearing."

"A New Mexico-based uranium producer plans to move forward with a mining operation in the western part of the state after that a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that its land is not part of Indian Country. The full 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled in a 6-5 decision that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency erred when it determined that a parcel of land near the Navajo community of Church Rock was Indian land. The decision means that Hydro Resources Inc. can seek an underground injection control permit from the state of New Mexico rather than the EPA, which has permitting authority on tribal lands."

An environmental group is challenging claims that a rebirth of the uranium mining industry in western New Mexico would return thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to a region still hurting from the collapse of the last uranium boom. A study commissioned by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center contends estimates that the industry would bring $30 billion and more than a quarter of a million jobs to the state are "a gross exaggeration." Eric Jantz, the center's staff attorney, said the impetus for doing the report was to get a realistic perspective on whether the economic benefits of renewed uranium mining in New Mexico would outweigh environmental and health concerns.

An environmental group challenges the idea a rebirth of the uranium mining industry in western New Mexico would return thousands of jobs and billions of dollars. A study commissioned by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center calls estimates that the industry would bring $30 billion and more than a quarter of a million jobs to New Mexico "a gross exaggeration."

In a response to the industry's exaggerated claims that renewed uranium mining would be a multi-billion dollar economic bonanza for New Mexico and the Grants area, the Law Center commissioned Dr. Thomas M. Power to evaluate the true economic impacts of uranium mining in New Mexico. The result is the only independently reviewed analysis of the subject in New Mexico entitled An Economic Evaluation of a Renewed Uranium Mining Boom in New Mexico.

Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: URRE) ("URI" or the "Company") announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with BHP Billiton to acquire 100% of the ownership of Rio Algom Mining LLC ("Rio Algom"). Under the agreement, URI will pay BHP Billiton $110 million in cash and assume certain retirement benefits and reclamation liabilities of which up to $35 million will be pre-funded at closing. URI will also pay BHP Billiton $16.5 million contingent upon the receipt of a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to construct and operate a conventional uranium mill. The transaction is expected to close on or before June 1, 2008 and is subject to customary closing conditions, financing and regulatory approvals.

When: * June 25, 2008-- 11:30 am and 12:30 pm Where: * Dept of Labor's Cleveland District Office 1001 Lakeside Ave.; * Denver, Co District office 1999 Broadway; * Espanola, NM District office 412 Paseo De Onate, Suite D; * Oak Ridge, TN 800 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Suite C-103; * Las Vegas, NV--Flamingo Executive Park, 1050 E. Flamingo Rd, W-156 Contact:* Terrie Barrie, Alliance of Nuclear Workers Advocacy Groups, for more information 970-824-2260, tbarrie@yahoo.com

SANTA FE-The state Environment Department will investigate the improper disposal of a drum filled with radioactive liquid at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico. The drum was shipped from Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Environment Department spokeswoman Marissa Stone says investigators will try to determine who was responsible for the improper disposal.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A Texas mining company - blaming sliding uranium prices and the difficulty of getting financing - on Thursday backed out of a deal that could have led to the first uranium mill in the Grants area in two decades. Uranium Resources Inc. agreed last Oct. 12 to buy Rio Algom Mining LLC, based in Oklahoma City, from Australian mining company BHP Billiton Ltd.

The state of New Mexico has filed a court brief backing a uranium company's request for a federal appeals court review of an April decision. The decision says a proposed uranium mine site in western New Mexico is on American Indian land. The attorney general's office and the governor's chief counsel filed the friend of the court brief Monday before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

Los Alamos National Laboratory has sent its first shipment of remote-handled radioactive waste to the federal government's underground repository in southern New Mexico. The shipment left the northern New Mexico lab on Tuesday. It's the first of 16 canisters of such waste that are scheduled to be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant this year. The shipments cleared their final regulatory hurdle in April when the state Environment Department approved a report detailing the contents of the canisters and where the material was used.

The cultural and natural resources of New Mexico's Mount Taylor will now be protected by the state, ending a yearlong battle between American Indians and landowners all concerned about preserving their rights to use the mountain without interference. A state committee voted unanimously Friday to list the mountain on the State Register of Cultural Properties, a state spokesman said. The mountain, which as many as 30 Indian tribes consider sacred, is threatened by exploration and proposals for uranium mining. The mountain was listed among America's 11 most endangered historic places for 2009, which is compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

*Court upholds EPA ruling that mine site is on Navajo land *Mine would be subject to Clean Safe Drinking Water rules LOS ANGELES, April 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld a 2007 finding by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the site of a uranium mine that Hydro Resources Inc plans to operate is on Navajo Nation land and subject to Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. Hydro Resources (HRI) plans to operate the underground injection mine on a 160-acre (65-hectare) site it owns in McKinley County, New Mexico, a few miles from Church Rock.

Federal stimulus funds will help clean up the legacy of the Cold War. Some $172 million in recovery act funding will accelerate how sites around the country prepare to ship nuclear waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy's dump site near Carlsbad, while $212 million will go to help Los Alamos National Laboratory demolish old buildings. The money is above what the facilities received for those projects in their annual budgets. For WIPP, the money will speed up getting shipments ready over the next 2½ years.

A Utah company is defending its decision to truck contaminated soil from Los Alamos National Laboratory into southern Colorado. Last week, EnergySolutions began shipping the soil by truck to Antonito, where it is loaded on to rail cars. The load is then shipped by rail to Walsenburg and then on to a storage facility in Clive, Utah, 74 miles west of Salt Lake City. The soil is from an area where conventional weapons were tested and contains depleted uranium and PCBs. Antonito is about 100 miles from Los Alamos and residents questioned why EnergySolutions didn't truck the soil to a closer railhead. The company says other transfer stations didn't work because they added more rail miles and because of a lack of daily rail service and multiple switching requirements.

A Utah company is defending its decision to truck contaminated soil from Los Alamos National Laboratory into southern Colorado. Last week, EnergySolutions began shipping the soil by truck to Antonito, where it is loaded on to rail cars. The load is then shipped by rail to Walsenburg and then on to a storage facility in Clive, Utah, 74 miles west of Salt Lake City. The soil is from an area where conventional weapons were tested and contains depleted uranium and PCBs. Antonito is about 100 miles from Los Alamos and residents questioned why EnergySolutions didn't truck the soil to a closer railhead. The company says other transfer stations didn't work because they added more rail miles and because of a lack of daily rail service and multiple switching requirements.

Intera Inc. will assess sites on federal and private lands throughout New Mexico. State Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard calls the project a step forward in reducing exposure to health and safety hazards associated with abandoned mines and their legacy of radiological contamination. Brancard says there's a need to clean up sites because of renewed interest in uranium exploration in the state. The assessment will cover sites that were part of a uranium mining boom before regulations required reclamation and cleanup.

Intera Inc. will assess sites on federal and private lands throughout New Mexico. State Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard calls the project a step forward in reducing exposure to health and safety hazards associated with abandoned mines and their legacy of radiological contamination. Brancard says there's a need to clean up sites because of renewed interest in uranium exploration in the state. The assessment will cover sites that were part of a uranium mining boom before regulations required reclamation and cleanup.