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The Legacy of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear and Chemical Weapons Upon US Indigenous & Communities of Color We are communities that, in partnership with the Peace Development Fund, form the Building Action for Sustainable Environments Initiative (BASE). We are citizens who represent some of the communities in the US who bear the legacy of 50 years of nuclear energy and weapons production. We are indigenous nations, we are Latino citizens and farm-workers, and we are African American communities living near nuclear power and weapon production sites. Reducing and eliminating the wasteful and dangerous means of producing nuclear energy and bringing renewable green energy production and jobs to our communities are the goals in which our communities have a major stake. Our communities suffer from diseases and illnesses that we contend are related to our exposure to the highly toxic processes of mining and milling uranium, the unsafe storage of radioactive materials and the lack of clean-up of sites and facilities, the transportation of highly radioactive waste through our communities, and the lack of safe disposal methods for highly deadly nuclear waste. Cancer, neurological damage, genetic damage, lung disease, respiratory disorders, lupus, and heart problems are among some of the illnesses that affect our communities.

The Legacy of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear and Chemical Weapons Upon US Indigenous & Communities of Color We are communities that, in partnership with the Peace Development Fund, form the Building Action for Sustainable Environments Initiative (BASE). We are citizens who represent some of the communities in the US who bear the legacy of 50 years of nuclear energy and weapons production. We are indigenous nations, we are Latino citizens and farm-workers, and we are African American communities living near nuclear power and weapon production sites. Reducing and eliminating the wasteful and dangerous means of producing nuclear energy and bringing renewable green energy production and jobs to our communities are the goals in which our communities have a major stake. Our communities suffer from diseases and illnesses that we contend are related to our exposure to the highly toxic processes of mining and milling uranium, the unsafe storage of radioactive materials and the lack of clean-up of sites and facilities, the transportation of highly radioactive waste through our communities, and the lack of safe disposal methods for highly deadly nuclear waste. Cancer, neurological damage, genetic damage, lung disease, respiratory disorders, lupus, and heart problems are among some of the illnesses that affect our communities.

After a decade in development, microwave casting is about to become part of the production capabilities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Y-12 has contracted with a vendor, Microwave Synergy Inc., to complete the detailed design work and deliver the first production unit by unit July 2010. "Overall completion of installation, checkout and turn-over of the microwave caster to operations is scheduled for the end of FY 2011," B&W, the government's contractor at Y-12, said in response to questions. The Oak Ridge plant currently has five R&D microwave units and a "production-scale" prototype caster in the 9212 complex, where uranium is processed and fabricated into nuclear warhead parts. "The current prototype unit only has been used to cast enriched uranium into different shapes for evaluation purposes," B&W said via e-mail.

After a decade in development, microwave casting is about to become part of the production capabilities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Y-12 has contracted with a vendor, Microwave Synergy Inc., to complete the detailed design work and deliver the first production unit by unit July 2010. "Overall completion of installation, checkout and turn-over of the microwave caster to operations is scheduled for the end of FY 2011," B&W, the government's contractor at Y-12, said in response to questions. The Oak Ridge plant currently has five R&D microwave units and a "production-scale" prototype caster in the 9212 complex, where uranium is processed and fabricated into nuclear warhead parts. "The current prototype unit only has been used to cast enriched uranium into different shapes for evaluation purposes," B&W said via e-mail.

Uzbekistan's export operator the Navoiisky mining and smelting plant (NGMK) plans to put into operation seven new uranium deposits, the NGMK general director said Tuesday. Kuvandik Sanakulov said the uranium production and enrichment monopoly was conducting geological prospecting work at five of the seven deposits. "As part of an increase in uranium production up to 2012, the expansion and reconstruction of sulfuric production, at a cost of about $12 million, will be carried out. The implementation of the program will make it possible to increase uranium production in 2012 by 50%," Sanakulov said.

SCE&G's plan to build two reactors goes before state regulators Wednesday SCE&G and Santee Cooper estimate it will cost about $10 billion to build two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County. What nuclear energy can you do with $10 billion? A few ideas: Thirty years after the commercial nuclear power industry appeared dead, South Carolina is on the leading edge of its rebound. Nationwide, applications to build a dozen nuclear power reactors - four in South Carolina - have been filed with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. While there is growing public support for nuclear power, its resurgence also has touched off a firestorm of debate.

As Energy Fuels Resources (EFR) awaits Montrose County BOCC approval for a special use permit for the Pinon Ridge Mill and prepares to submit a permit application to Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE), it lacks capitalization to build the mill, faces a very tight uranium market with surplus uranium production capacity, a dropping uranium market price and production costs higher than market value. Today's market bears little resemblance to the first uranium boom and bust in the Colorado-Utah borderlands when the federal government paid a guaranteed base price for uranium ore to miners to feed nuclear weapons production programs. "Yellowcake," uranium oxide produced by uranium mills is a global commodity widely available at a volatile market-based price for commercial purchase for use in nuclear reactor fuel. Advertisement 1. The Uravan belt uranium is not a significant fraction of U.S. nor global uranium resources. Uranium resources at permitted uranium production sites in Wyoming, Nebraska and Texas dwarf the potential of this district.

Resumes UF6 production at Ontario plant * Had expected to resume output in third quarter * No change to fuel services production outlook TORONTO, June 17 (Reuters) - Cameco Corp (CCO.TO) said on Wednesday it has restarted production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at its Port Hope, Ontario, nuclear fuel conversion facility, slightly ahead of schedule. The uranium producer suspended production of UF6 -- used in the uranium enrichment process -- last December after failing to come to terms with its main supplier of hydrofluoric acid, which is needed to produce UF6.

"With Shell Oil's recent withdrawal of a water right permit application to divert 375 cubic feet per second of water from the Yampa River in northwest Colorado, one would get the impression that the bubble has finally burst on mass scale, traditional energy development in the West and that the oil industry has finally come to terms with the impact of traditional energy development on rapidly diminishing water resources. Not so in Utah. While recently briefing the Utah Board of Oil, Gas and Mining, Dr. Laura Nelson, vice president of the Salt Lake City-based Ecoshale, for example, proclaimed that the company just completed a pilot project that produced a high-quality oil-shale product and, "we did so working closely with the Environmental Protection Agency to make an environmentally sensitive product." Similarly, the National Commission on Energy Policy - a bipartisan group of energy experts - recently stated that climate change legislation currently being considered by Congress must also spur more domestic energy production by extending the production tax credit for new reactors through 2025 and expanding the renewable energy standard to include nuclear."

After struggling for months to repair production lines hammered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a Saitama Prefecture-based maker of plastic containers threw in the towel. The damage had been overcome at its plant in Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the company's main production centers. But it could not cope with consumer fears that its products, including lunch boxes, were contaminated with radiation spewed from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. "It will be difficult to restart the plant until the nuclear accident comes to an end," said a company official.

"On January 30, 2009, General Electric (GE)-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE) submitted an environmental report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to construct, operate, and decommission the GLE Global Laser Enrichment Facility. The proposed GLE Facility would be located in the North-Central Sector of the existing GE property near Wilmington, North Carolina. The proposed GLE Facility, if licensed, would enrich uranium for use in commercial nuclear fuel for power reactors. Feed material would be comprised of non-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6). GLE would employ a laser-based enrichment process to enrich uranium to up to eight percent uranium-235 by weight, with an initial planned maximum target production of six million separative work units (SWUs) per year. GLE expects to begin preconstruction activities in 2011. If the license is approved, GLE would expect to begin facility construction in 2012, and continue some construction activities through 2017. GLE anticipates commencing initial production in 2013 and reaching peak production in 2017. Prior to license expiration in 2052, GLE would seek to renew its license to continue operating the facility, or plan for the decontamination and decommissioning of the facility per the applicable licensing conditions and NRC regulations. The proposed GLE Facility would be licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act. Specifically, an NRC license under Title 10, "Energy," of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Parts 30, 40, and 70 would be required to authorize GLE to possess and use special nuclear material, source material, and byproduct material at the proposed GLE site."

The suspension of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production at Cameco Corp.'s Port Hope, Ont., conversion facility will result in layoffs at the plant but will not affect its uranium production in Saskatchewan, the company says. Cameco Corp. announced Friday it has temporarily suspended UF6 production at Port Hope due to a contract dispute with its hydrofluoric acid (HF) supplier. The Saskatoon-based company, one of the world's largest uranium producers, says the dispute has resulted in unreliable and expensive deliveries of HF.

Radioactive materials from nuclear weapons production sites are being dumped into regular landfills, and are available for recycling and resale. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has tracked the Department of Energy's (DOE) release of radioactive scrap, concrete, equipment, asphalt, chemicals, soil, and more, to unaware and unprepared recipients such as landfills, commercial businesses, and recreation areas. Under the current system, the DOE releases contaminated materials directly, sells them at auctions or through exchanges, or sends the materials to processors who can release them from radioactive controls. The recycling of these materials-for reuse in the production of everyday household and personal items such as zippers, toys, furniture, and automobiles, or to build roads, schools, and playgrounds-is increasingly common. The NIRS report, "Out of Control on Purpose: DOE's Dispersal of Radioactive Waste into Landfills and Consumer Products," tracks the laws, methods, and justifications used by the DOE to expedite the mandatory cleanup of the environmental legacy being created by the nation's nuclear weapons program and government-sponsored nuclear energy research. One of the largest and most technically complex environmental cleanup programs in the world, the effort includes cleanup of 114 sites across the country to be completed by the end of 2008.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today delivered to Congress the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Licensing Strategy Report which describes the licensing approach, the analytical tools, the research and development activities and the estimated resources required to license an advanced reactor design by 2017 and begin operation by 2021. The NGNP represents a new concept for nuclear energy utilization, in which a gas-cooled reactor provides process heat for any number of industrial applications including electricity production, hydrogen production, coal-to-liquids, shale oil recovery, fertilizer production, and others that meet significant industrial needs.

African countries can make use of the valuable nuclear technique to ensure better productivity via exploring a regional approach, the visiting UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said here on Wednesday. IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei made the remarks at a joint press conference with Tanzanian Communication, Science and Technology Minister Peter Msolla in responding to a question from Xinhua about his comments on the increasing efforts of African countries to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purpose. "We have many programs in all our member states in the African continent in using nuclear techniques. These are the valuable techniques in increasing food production, extending people's life, making varieties through natural breeding and nutrition to ensure you have better productivity," ElBaradei said.

There's still nowhere to put that toxic waste Nuclear electricity is affordable and emission free People opposed to nuclear energy applications point to the high initial price tag of enormous nuclear generating facilities that can … read more provide enough reliable electricity for several million people; they often overlook the resulting low cost per unit of power when spread over that large market. There are 104 nuclear plants operating in the US today. Many of us who are old enough to remember the controversies surrounding their construction can remember how many times we were told that nuclear power plants are frighteningly expensive and that they always cost more than predicted. We even remember that electrical power prices often increased immediately after the plants went into operation due to the effect of adding those big, expensive plants into the utility rate base. What many people who consider "news" media to be their only information sources rarely understand, however, is that the 104 plants currently operating provide the US with 20% of its electric power at an average production cost of about 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour. They also do not understand that after a few decades of operation and revenue production, the initial mortgages on those plants are largely paid off. The best information of all, which is not really "news" and does not get regularly published on the front page, is that the plants still have at least 20 years of life remaining during which they can produce emission free, low cost power. The companies that own the plants and their stock holders understand the economics pretty well; that is why 18 applications for 25 new plants have been turned into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission already with more in the pipeline. All of the used fuel - what some people call waste - is being carefully stored in a tiny corner of the existing sites, just waiting to be recycled into new fuel. It still contains 95% of its initial potential energy, but

There's still nowhere to put that toxic waste Nuclear electricity is affordable and emission free People opposed to nuclear energy applications point to the high initial price tag of enormous nuclear generating facilities that can … read more provide enough reliable electricity for several million people; they often overlook the resulting low cost per unit of power when spread over that large market. There are 104 nuclear plants operating in the US today. Many of us who are old enough to remember the controversies surrounding their construction can remember how many times we were told that nuclear power plants are frighteningly expensive and that they always cost more than predicted. We even remember that electrical power prices often increased immediately after the plants went into operation due to the effect of adding those big, expensive plants into the utility rate base. What many people who consider "news" media to be their only information sources rarely understand, however, is that the 104 plants currently operating provide the US with 20% of its electric power at an average production cost of about 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour. They also do not understand that after a few decades of operation and revenue production, the initial mortgages on those plants are largely paid off. The best information of all, which is not really "news" and does not get regularly published on the front page, is that the plants still have at least 20 years of life remaining during which they can produce emission free, low cost power. The companies that own the plants and their stock holders understand the economics pretty well; that is why 18 applications for 25 new plants have been turned into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission already with more in the pipeline. All of the used fuel - what some people call waste - is being carefully stored in a tiny corner of the existing sites, just waiting to be recycled into new fuel. It still contains 95% of its initial potential energy, but

* Resolves contract dispute with acid supplier * To restart UF6 production in third quarter * Shares up 4.4 percent TORONTO, May 19 (Reuters) - Cameco Corp (CCO.TO) said on Tuesday it will restart production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at its Port Hope, Ontario, plant after resolving a contract dispute with a key supplier. The uranium producer suspended production of UF6 -- used in the uranium enrichment process -- last December after failing to come to terms with its main supplier of hydrofluoric acid, which is needed to produce UF6.

Admittedly, it sounds like bad science fiction, but long-term exposure to such products as diverse as reclining chairs, common kitchen utensils and tableware, elevator buttons and construction steel could be a long-term health hazard. That's because radioactively tainted metal is increasingly turning up in common consumer goods and industrial products, thanks to widespread use of radioactive isotopes, increased recycling in the United States that sometimes inadvertently processes them and imports of metal products from countries like China that have a relaxed attitude toward consumer safety. And there are reports that exporters in China, India, the former Soviet bloc and some African nations are taking advantage of the fact that the United States has no regulations specifying unacceptable levels of radiation in imports.

The nation's only uranium enrichment facility sits in Paducah. For 52 years the plant, now owned by United States Enrichment Corp., has been in the business of enriching uranium. When it first went online, the plant served the U.S. military in its production of nuclear weapons, but in the mid-1960s the mission shifted to electricity production. Representatives say that's been its sole purpose since. Today, the USEC plant serves as a middle man in the process of fueling nuclear reactors for electricity production. Spokeswoman Georgann Lookofsky said the plant receives mined uranium and then proceeds to refine it for use in a reactor.

"Preparation work is beginning at the production facility "Mayak" for the establishment of a new production complex. It will be supplying Russian nuclear powerplants with the high-density mixed nitride fuel for fast neutron reactors. Information centre of "Mayak" told RusBusinessNews that the start up of the complex is planned for 2018. The initial capacity will amount to 14 tons of fuel annually. In the future the capacity may increase to 40 tons. The estimated cost of the project is 9 billion roubles. The establishment of the high density fuel production facility is a part of the strategy for the development of Russian nuclear power engineering with the new generation fast neutron reactors. One of these is the power generating unit BN-800 which is being constructed at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station in the Sverdlovsk Oblast. "

Kazakhstan's uranium production will hit 13,500 metric tons in 2009, or up 58% from last year, making the ex-Soviet state the world's leading uranium producer, Kazatomprom said on Tuesday. "Consolidated revenue from the sale of Kazatomprom's output in 2009 will exceed last year's level by 53%," the country's nuclear holding company said in a statement. Kazatomprom earlier said it expected to receive a net income of 49 billion tenge ($326.6 million) in 2009. The company is currently developing areas like natural uranium conversion and enrichment, fuel production for reactors, and the creation and operation of small and medium-sized reactors. Kazatomprom is the national operator for the import and export of uranium, rare metals, nuclear fuel for power plants, special equipment and duel-purpose materials. The company is wholly owned by the government of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan's uranium production will hit 13,500 metric tons in 2009, or up 58% from last year, making the ex-Soviet state the world's leading uranium producer, Kazatomprom said on Tuesday. "Consolidated revenue from the sale of Kazatomprom's output in 2009 will exceed last year's level by 53%," the country's nuclear holding company said in a statement. Kazatomprom earlier said it expected to receive a net income of 49 billion tenge ($326.6 million) in 2009. The company is currently developing areas like natural uranium conversion and enrichment, fuel production for reactors, and the creation and operation of small and medium-sized reactors. Kazatomprom is the national operator for the import and export of uranium, rare metals, nuclear fuel for power plants, special equipment and duel-purpose materials. The company is wholly owned by the government of Kazakhstan.

"WHAT: News briefing to release 1st Year Radioactive Report Card on President Obama and his Administration to grade their performance on policies on nuclear weapons production, waste cleanup and reactor funding. WHEN: Monday, March 15, 2010 - - 10:00am WHERE: Room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC WHO: Leaders of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) a national network of organizations representing the concerns of people living downwind and downstream from U.S. nuclear research, testing, production and waste disposal facilities - Michele Boyd, Director, Safe Energy Program, Physicians for Social Responsibility -- taxpayer subsidies for new reactors, radioactive waste disposal, and nuclear contamination cleanup - Ralph Hutchison, Coordinator, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance -- new Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear production plants, the next generation of weapons they may help support, and the implications for U.S. treaty obligations - Nick Roth, Program Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability -- performance of President Obama and his Administration during its first year in office and changes that must be made to improve its grades. WHY: Scores of activists from across the nation will present their concerns about U.S. nuclear weapons, cleanup and reactor spending policies in dozens of meetings with leaders of Congress and the Obama Administration from March 15 - 17 as part of ANA's 22nd Annual DC Days. "