Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

The EPA will drill test holes looking for uranium-contaminated waste that villagers fear is a threat to their downstream springs. A dump near Tuba City that has been leaching low levels of radioactive waste into the shallow aquifer finally is getting some federal attention, if not an actual cleanup yet. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to fence off a remaining section of an old dump, near two Hopi villages, and test for hot spots of radioactivity close by. This includes one area where the agency says uranium levels in the water exceed what's federally considered safe for drinking water by eight times. Local villagers who believe their downstream springs are threatened have long sought a total excavation of the dump. Uranium-related waste found in the testing will be removed with heavy equipment beginning in October, and 263 new testing holes will be dug to search for more.

An Australian company exploring for uranium in southwest North Dakota says it believes it may be able to save millions of dollars by pouring chemicals over piles of lignite to extract the radioactive element and other valuable substances. Formation Resources Inc. of Bismarck is a unit of PacMag Metals Ltd., based in West Perth, Australia. The company says the so-called heap-leach process can be done for less than $20 million. Building a processing plant could cost four times that much. The company says the high-grade uranium found in southwest North Dakota is at a shallow depth, usually less than 60 feet. Jim Guilinger, a PacMag consultant, says that makes the heap-leach process more attractive.

As a Pittsylvania native and one who spent 40 years in the chemical industry, I have found it embarrassing to admit to friends that I knew very little about uranium, the element, and nothing about its source and processing. When it was announced that the largest deposit of uranium in the United States was discovered in Pittsylvania County, I was excited, as anyone with scientific curiosity should be. I had hoped factual details concerning this discovery, as well as some development plans, would be forthcoming in an understandable way. However, it seems that some newspapers rarely feel any obligation or responsibility to pass on scientific facts; residents seeking such information must find other venues. That's just what my family and I did, and a report of our experience may encourage others who are interested in such facts to do the same thing. The website for Virginia Uranium is www.virginiauranium.com, and it lists the company's contact number, 434-432-1065. Upon calling this number, I was told they welcomed visits at any time, but preferred scheduling visitors in groups. I telephoned six friends, who were free on short notice, and together we attended an informational presentation at VUI last week.

The town of Mailuu Suu has been recognized by world experts including Blacksmith Institute as one of the top ten radioactively contaminated areas of the world.There is more than 25 000 residents estimated in Mailuu Suu daily exposed to the dangerous level of radiation from the radioactive waste dumps collected around the town. The first range of the soviet atomic bombs has been developed using Mailuu Suu uranium in 1940-1950's. Jetigen.org requested an interview with one of the Blacksmith Institute coordinators in the former soviet block,Vladimir Kuznetsov who manages field operations in Mailuu Suu. Ryskeldi Satke- What's the history of Blacksmith project "Mailuu Suu" in Kyrgyzstan? Vladimir Kuznetsov - The problem of Mailuu-Suu region has been partially (along with the other regions) raised in our first micro-project in 2007 which identified contamination of water supply source in the Mailuu Suu. The practical result of the previous project in this area contributed to the cessation of illegal excavation of contaminated waste parts for evolving purpose of metal trade business with chinese smugglers (fencing the terraces, implementation of new rules on the metal export for the customs, clarifying activities). The application for this project was submitted in March 2008, processed twice, and approved in June 2008.

Cameco Corp. is aggressively buying uranium in the spot market as it looks to take advantage of "trading opportunities" in the radioactive metal. In the company's first-quarter results, released yesterday, it revealed that the cost of sales in its uranium business jumped 30% from the same quarter a year ago to $220-million. That was largely due to purchases on the spot market.

Explorer Uranium Equities (UEL) has just signed its third deal with global uranium giant Cameco, a joint venture over the Rudall River uranium project in Western Australia, which happens to be just 25km from the huge Kintyre deposit now owned by Cameco (in partnership with Mitsubishi). This comes just a month after UEQ announced the start of drilling at Lake Blanche, South Australia, where Cameco is earning 51 per cent; there is a third joint venture between the companies in the Northern Territory.

Uranium Resources on Monday said it plans to ask a US appeals court to reconsider its ruling that a proposed uranium recovery site in northwestern Mexico is on Indian land and subject to permitting requirements under the US Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Act. The Lewisville, Texas-based company said that it plans to file a petition Monday asking for an "en banc" review in which all judges in the appellate court would rehear the case, instead of the three-judge panel that issued the original ruling. The 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals on April 17 said it agreed with EPA's 2007 finding that Section 8 of the property in Churchrock, New Mexico, falls under federal, not state, jurisdiction.

The Navajo Nation has weathered severe drought conditions for about the last 20 years, so when a water source presents itself, the last thing usually considered is whether it might be contaminated. "Water is precious," said Eleanor Peshlakai, 67, of Black Falls. "Last year I was hauling water in my truck during the middle of a real dry spell. As I was filling up at a water trough, some of the water sprayed out from the hose and out of nowhere the lizards came running. They were thirsty. They, too, are suffering the drought, just like the humans, waiting for any form of moisture."

The State Government expected to reap a windfall of more than $30 million a year from uranium export royalties from as early as 2015, Premier Colin Barnett said yesterday. Mr Barnett also reiterated the Government's commitment not to allow uranium exports through ports in residential areas, but said it was possible yellowcake would be shipped out of Pilbara ports in the longer term.

Katherine Peshlakai, Faye Willie and Elsie Tohannie have a lot in common, besides their years.Following the Long Walk in the 1860s and the imprisonment of Navajos at Bosque Redondo, their families settled in an area later known as Wupatki National Monument. Recognition of Navajo occupancy was not included in enabling legislation that created the park, and in the early 1960s, the families were kicked out. Driven from their winter sheep camps at Wupatki and across the Little Colorado River to make way for the national monument near Flagstaff, they settled in Black Falls, an area contaminated in the 1950s by radioactive fallout from above-ground atomic testing at Nevada Test Site.

Recent dust storms from strong winds have had the communities of Norwood, Telluride and Mountain Village concerned about future contamination with radionuclides should uranium development in the Paradox valley ramp up. Winds measuring consistently above 40 mph have mobilized large quantities of dust from the west end of San Miguel County, bringing sands all the way from Utah. Paradox valley, the proposed site for a new uranium mill, is due west of the resort communities of Telluride and Mountain Village, and the ranching town of Norwood. The dust storms, which occurred over two days at the end of March and early May, brought thick quantities of red dust up into the mountains, obscuring the sky and reducing visibility. "It was like being in a red fog," said one Norwood resident. "I couldn't even see Lone Cone [mountain]." The dust filled the sky, covered cars and homes, and settled visibly on the slopes around Telluride. It was an eerie portent, a bloody sunset and doom-like sky. Each spring strong winds race up Wright's mesa, heading in from the desert. A strong differential is formed by the heat in the low-lying desert areas around Moab and the four corners, and the cool mountain air at elevation. Each year, winds roll in from the west. But this amount of dust was unusual.

Two American Indian tribes are pressing the federal government to clean up an area where they say medical, uranium and other radioactive waste was dumped and has been contaminating the land and groundwater. The Navajo and Hopi tribes say their pleas to have the waste materials from two sites near Tuba City, Ariz., taken off tribal land have been ignored. The Hopi Tribe filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government last week over the cleanup. On Tuesday, the Navajo Nation filed a motion to intervene in a 2007 lawsuit the owner of the mill brought against the federal government. El Paso Natural Gas claims that the federal government is responsible for the cleanup of the mill and nearby properties.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has published its final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for in situ leach uranium recovery (ISR) operations in the Western United States, and is announcing a change in the agency's approach for environmental reviews of new ISR facilities. The agency has decided to issue full Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements (SEIS) for new recovery operations, instead of Environmental Assessments as originally planned. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, an Environmental Impact Statement is the most thorough review of potential impacts of a proposed licensing action on the environment. It involves extensive opportunities for public participation, with a draft report issued for public comment before a final report is prepared. "This new approach responds to public concerns that our review of generic impacts common to all uranium recovery actions would overlook unique characteristics of each individual site," NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko said. "Citizens may have confidence in the certainty of our regulatory decisions, because our reviews will be as comprehensive and transparent as possible, with maximum opportunity for the public to participate in the process."

Public meetings on the future of uranium in Saskatchewan are leaving too many questions unanswered, the NDP charged Tuesday. No experts were available at the first of 10 community sessions, which focus on the findings of the Saskatchewan Party government-appointed Uranium Development Partnership (UDP), to field queries from people in the audience on issues such as nuclear power, said Sandra Morin, the Opposition's environment critic. "It unfortunately confirmed my worst fears in terms of what we thought might happen versus what we had been told by (former minister of Enterprise and Innovation) Lyle Stewart," said Morin, who attended the Yorkton forum Monday night.

Public consultations on uranium development in Saskatchewan just started, but the man overseeing them says there are already a lot of questions. Two of 10 community meetings have been held so far to get public input for a uranium development report. Dan Perrins says most questions have been about the safety and health effects of nuclear power plants and the storage of nuclear waste. Perrins also admits concerns have been raised to which people haven't received answers because there were no experts available at the meetings.

Residents couldn't have been happier when, in February, a ribbon cutting was held to officially open the Black Falls Church watering point. Ideally, it meant water haulers wouldn't have to travel long distances anymore to fill their barrels with safe drinking water. For people such as Nina Tohannie, it meant that her brother Ronald wouldn't be sending her down into Dry Spring to scrub the walls of the well with chlorine and pull out the bones and carcasses of dead animals. "When it's like that, you can smell it," Ronald said. "We'd have to clean out the well and siphon all that water out with a water pump. Then somebody has to crawl down in there and get what's left. I can't get it with the water pump. It's really thick. So we have to take a bucket down there with a rope on it.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, in Dallas will discuss ground water cleanup efforts at the former United Nuclear Corp. mill site May 5 at a community meeting in Pinedale. In short, cleanup efforts are no longer working. Contamination from the UNC site - which is in Pinedale Chapter right in the middle of Indian Country - is nearing the Navajo Nation boundary. And though the cleanup remedy at the Superfund site is no longer effective, because no one is drinking the contaminated water, the remedy is still considered protective of human health and the environment.

While their plant officially remains an environmental disaster, owners of a Cañon City uranium mill are pursuing a plan to reopen for nuclear business by hauling 12.5 million tons of ore by train from a protected mountain in New Mexico to refurbished facilities along the Arkansas River. Cotter Corp. executives have informed state officials they will crush and chemically leach 500,000 tons of uranium per year for 25 years - starting as soon as 2014 - "dependent upon market forces."

After decades of controversy, a huge pile of radioactive waste near Moab is finally on the move. A train load of waste is expected to pull out of Moab Monday evening -- the first of thousands of trains over the next decade or two. The pile of red dirt blends into the red rock scenery so well, it's hard to make out how big it is, but "big" is the word. There are 130 acres of uranium mill tailings, 16 million tons of radioactive waste. Many Moab residents will be glad to get rid of it. "This is one of the happiest days in our town's history, actually," said Mayor David Sakrison. The waste is being loaded into sealed containers and hauled by truck to a nearby railroad. Trains will haul the waste 30 miles north, nearly a train a day for at least 10 years. Near Crescent Junction on Interstate 70, the radioactive red dirt will be placed in a covered disposal cell.

AFTER years of public pressure, the NSW Government yesterday agreed to a thorough clean-up of radioactive land in Hunters Hill. It will dig out thousands of tonnes of contaminated dirt and uranium tailings from the site of a former uranium smelter by the end of next year, supervised by an independent auditor. It will then sell the waterside land in Nelson Parade for housing if it is declared safe. At least six people who have lived on or near the radioactive section of the street have died of cancer, though there is no proven link between the elevated radiation levels and their deaths.