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The prospect of placing a uranium mill northwest of Green River, Emery County, has inched forward with a purchase agreement penned for "Lot One" at Mancos Hills Industrial Park. The escrow agreement was signed earlier this week by Mancos Resources and government officials with four counties in southeastern Utah that make up the Castleland Resource Conservation and Development Council.

With an eye on the vast, emerging Asian market for nuclear power generation, Japanese industry, academia and government groups are stepping up joint efforts to train personnel from the region in legal, technological and safety areas. Amid concerns over global warming, more countries in Asia and elsewhere are moving to introduce nuclear power generation, giving rise to the need for a wide range of expertise. Such countries are counting on Japan's help in pushing their goal, while Japan-- vying with such rivals as France and South Korea-- hopes to gain business footholds in the Asian market through cooperation in human resources development. "Japan is highly rated for its safety regulations, nuclear nonproliferation efforts and manufacturing expertise," says industry ministry official Taizo Takahashi, director of the Nuclear Energy Policy Planning Division of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

Mitchell Capitan points to a flock of sheep grazing in the shadow of a sandstone mesa. The sheep belong to Capitan's family, along with a few head of cattle and twelve quarter horses standing in a corral near his mother-in-law's house in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Shelley Smithson: Navajos say "No!" as the return of uranium mining threatens to despoil their lands and health. "All of this area," Capitan says, gesturing to the valley of sage and shrub brush below, "there's a lot of uranium underneath there. That's what they're after." Capitan and his Navajo neighbors are battling a license granted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Hydro Resources Inc. (HRI)--a subsidiary of a Texas company, Uranium Resources--one of several firms that have laid claim to the minerals beneath thousands of acres on and around the lands of the Navajo Nation and three American Indian pueblos in northwestern New Mexico. A group called the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining is suing the NRC to block mining in Crownpoint and another Navajo community. A panel of federal judges in Denver heard the case in May 2008 but has yet to issue a ruling.

Thousands of Safety Violations Still Pending Because of Lack of Funding; Agency Needs New Leadership WASHINGTON, D.C. - Facing a backlog of more than 13,000 unheard safety cases, the federal agency responsible for ruling on mine safety violations is in urgent need of more resources and new leadership, Public Citizen said in letters sent today to President Obama and members of Congress. Agency officials estimate that under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission's current funding level, the commission will need at least five years to address its existing case backlog, excluding any new cases that arise during that time, according to Public Citizen's letter. Public Citizen is calling on Congress to increase the budget of the mine safety commission to bring it in line with other agencies that fill similar roles. For example, the mine commission's budget is $2 million lower than that of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, despite having 6.5 times as many outstanding cases. The public interest group also is calling for Obama to replace the current chairman, a Bush administration holdover and a former attorney for the mining industry's lobbying organization, who has done little to garner additional resources for the mining commission.

A uranium-mining company has asked a federal appeals court to review an April decision that a proposed uranium mine site in western New Mexico is on Native American land. Durango auto dealer custom residential construction Katie Ogier - The Wells Group Lewisville, Texas-based Uranium Resource Inc. said Monday it asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver for an "en banc review" of the decision that sided with the Environmental Protection Agency. Monday was the deadline for making the request. A 2-1 decision made on April 17 by a three-judge panel requires URI subsidiary Hydro Resources Inc. to obtain a groundwater injection permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, which delays the company's plans to mine for uranium near Church Rock. The company already has a state groundwater-injection permit.

Addressing controversial statements he made last month, US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff on Tuesday clarified that he believes electricity markets will decide the future of new coal and nuclear power generation. During a press conference in Washington April 22, Wellinghoff said he believes renewable energy resources coupled with demand-side management might eliminate the need for new conventional power plants. "Ultimately, I was talking about a scenario" involving demand response and other technologies "where there may be a point where it would be feasible to utilize what are thought of as variable resources to really meet peak loads in a very reliable way," Wellinghoff said Tuesday at a Washington press event. "Reliability is the key.

Desalination might become increasingly necessary if severe drought continues in the United States. This process of removing salt from seawater will require an abundant, clean energy source with a secure domestic supply that avoids the emission of greenhouse gases. Nuclear energy is that source, and the good news is that the technology for nuclear desalination is proven and available. The Lewis and Clark project demonstrates that easily accessible water resources cannot fully support the anticipated future demand for crops, livestock, industry and people. In fact, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, many water resources across North America already are heavily used by industry and agriculture in addition to drinking water and electricity production. The fresh-water supply in Western states is susceptible to an extended drought that would reduce rainfall and the Rocky Mountain snowpack, both of which feed the Missouri River.

Uranium Resources Inc. and Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency began a weeklong assessment Monday of Section 17 in Churchrock where its subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc., has proposed in situ mining of uranium. Rick Van Horn, chief operating officer for URI/HRI, said Tuesday that the two entities are looking at what the radiation values are and how they impact the air, soils, and water in the area of Section 17. As part of the field work, background levels will be established under the review of Navajo EPA. "We have people that are looking over our shoulders providing oversight on-site, real time, and that will be part of the data set that we collect," Van Horn said.

The preliminary approval of UniStar's application to build a new nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs by state regulators will not be contested, a member of an opposition coalition said Tuesday. "We are not going to appeal the decision," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Takoma Park, one of the organizations in the intervening group. "We don't think we would prevail," he said. "We don't think it's a good use of limited resources."

*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.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has upheld an Environmental Protection Agency decision that a proposed uranium mine in western New Mexico would be on American Indian land. A three-judge panel on Friday denied a petition from the New Mexico-based uranium producer, Hydro Resources Inc., challenging a 2007 EPA decision that an area where the company hoped to develop uranium mines is in "dependent Indian Country." The ruling means Hydro Resources must get a groundwater injection permit from the EPA, rather than use a permit already issued by the state of New Mexico.

Nuclear power is among the most costly approaches to solving America's energy problems. Per dollar of investment, clean energy solutions - such as energy efficiency and renewable resources - deliver far more energy than nuclear power. This fact has important implications for America's energy policy. By directing resources toward the most cost-effective solutions, we can make greater progress toward a secure, reliable and safe sup- ply of electricity to power America's economy. Dollar for dollar, a clean energy portfolio can deliver more energy than nuclear power. Per dollar of investment:

A U.S. Supreme Court decision rendered on April 1 could delay the relicensing of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. But then again, the decision might not affect the relicensing at all. "We are sort of in limbo, not knowing what the rules are going to be," said Catherine Gjessing, legal counsel for Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources. "It will probably cause further delay," said Pat Parenteau, a former director of Vermont Law School's Environmental Law Center and of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic.

"Uranium mining, banned on the Navajo Nation, advanced closer to tribal boundaries when the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing of in situ leach uranium mining at four sites near Crownpoint and Church Rock in New Mexico. The split decision by a three-judge panel March 8 also denied a request for review of one of the sites near Church Rock where Hydro Resources, Inc., whose parent company is Uranium Resources Inc., has a joint venture with Itochu, a Tokyo-headquartered transnational, to begin producing an estimated six to nine million pounds of uranium annually from New Mexico. Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining, a Navajo community organization; Southwest Research and Information Center, a nonprofit environmental education organization; and two local ranchers were joined by the Navajo Nation in a friend-of-the-court brief asserting that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission violated atomic energy and environmental laws in granting the license."

"France Uses Less than 1 Percent of the Natural Uranium Resource, Has Higher Waste Volume; Reprocessing Still Requires a Repository and Increases Costs, Proliferation Risks WASHINGTON, April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Contrary to some prevailing opinion, reprocessing would not eliminate the need for a deep geologic disposal program to replace Yucca Mountain. It aggravates waste, proliferation, and cost problems. The volume of waste to be disposed of in deep geologic repository is increased about six times on a life-cycle basis in the French approach compared to the once-through no-reprocessing approach of the United States. A new report by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), a nonprofit scientific research group, shows that France uses less than 1 percent of the natural uranium resource, contrary to an impression among some policy makers. The report has several recommendations for President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, which was created to address U.S. nuclear waste issues after the administration's cancellation of the Yucca Mountain program."

"Bats are unlikely to find abandoned uranium mines as desirable places to roost, but if they do, two state agencies have established a procedure for dealing with them. The state Division of Wildlife Resources, which is charged with managing bats in Utah, and the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (DOGM), which is responsible for reclaiming abandoned mines, have signed an agreement that lays out ways in which DOGM can seal old mines dangerous to people without hurting any bat populations found inside. In cases where surveys find bats living in an abandoned uranium mine, the agreement specifies that the divisions will confer on an acceptable approach, with Wildlife Resources' officials having the final say. In many cases, the agreement will allow Oil, Gas and Mining officials to use grates to keep people out but let bats enter and exit. "

"Deeper and more advanced resources might be available today for a study on nuclear neighborhood risk. Members of the atomic energy industry and nuclear watchdogs alike welcomed a new study of cancer risks around nuclear facilities requested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week. Unlike a previous similar study, this one will look at cancer incidents instead of just cancer-related deaths. Its official scope -- how it would be performed -- has yet to be determined, a representative for the National Academy of Sciences, which is overseeing the study, said Wednesday. Still, reasons the NRC has given for requesting the study, including advances in information technology since the previous study about 20 years ago, might point to resources that researchers could lean on."

"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."

""Loan Guarantee Fever" in Congress Finds No Counterpart in Across-the-Board Cold Shoulder From State Solons; From Kentucky to Arizona, Industry Lobbyists Fail to Overturn Bans, Pass Costs on to Consumers or Get Nuclear Classified as "Renewable Energy" WASHINGTON, May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- It was front-page news across America this February when the Vermont Senate voted to shut down the troubled Vermont Yankee reactor in 2012. But what most Americans don't know is that the nuclear industry also lost all of its seven other major state legislative pushes this year ? going 0-8 and putting yet another nail in the coffin of the myth of the "nuclear renaissance" in the United States, according to an analysis by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). Even as some in Congress would lavish tens of billions of dollars ? and even unlimited ? loan guarantees on the embattled nuclear power industry, state lawmakers in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia and Wisconsin said a firm "no" this year to more nuclear power. The legislative issues ranged from attempts by nuclear industry lobbyists to overturn bans on new reactors to "construction work in progress" (CWIP) assessments to pay for new reactors to reclassifying nuclear power as a "renewable resource." How bad is the nuclear power industry doing in state legislatures? In 2009, the industry went 0-5 with reactor moratorium overturn efforts in Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, and West Virginia. Even after stepping up its on-the-ground efforts in 2010 with paid lobbyists and extensive public relations efforts in states like Wisconsin, the industry again came up with nothing."

200 environmental, peace, consumer, religious organizations and small businesses today joined together to blast the Kerry-Lieberman "climate" proposal as a taxpayer bailout of the nuclear power industry and other dirty energy interests that would be ineffective at addressing the climate crisis. The groups pledged to oppose the Kerry- Lieberman bill unless substantial changes are made, including removing all support for nuclear power. "This bill is just business-as-usual: taxpayer giveaways to giant nuclear and other energy corporations wrapped in the guise of doing something about our climate crisis. To call this a climate bill is greenwashing in the extreme. We need to direct our resources to the fastest, cheapest, cleanest and safest means of reducing carbon emissions-this bill does just the opposite," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a national organization based in Takoma Park, MD, which coordinated this statement.