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Friends of the Earth says it has known about a radioactive leak at Olympic Dam for three months, but only released the information to the media yesterday. The group found out about the leak after a worker passed on photos showing the radioactive liquid collecting in unlined trenches. Dr Jim Green, from Friends of the Earth, says the State Government has known about the problem since last April, but did not make the information public. "We only became aware of the problem in December and we hear that BHP reported the problem to the State Government last April, as to why that was not made public earlier, you'd really have to put that to the State Government representative," he said.

In the Salado salt formation a half-mile below the New Mexico desert, WIPP has room to store all the radioactive waste an expanded nuclear power program could produce. Emphasis on the word could. The "nice" elevator is right out of a luxury hotel with a smooth ride and room for 75 people. It has six degrees of safety redundancy, which means that if one cable were to snap, several others, plus an emergency brake or two, would prevent the six of us from hurtling to our deaths. But just as I'm adjusting the self-rescuer respirator on my utility belt, we get the news: There's a problem with the "nice" elevator. We have to take the salt shaft.

Big heads, bulging eyes, twisted hands that don't reach their mouths and bent legs that can barely support their frail frames. Intrigued by these abnormalities among children in a pocket of Faridkot, visiting South African toxicologist Dr Carin Smit had their hair samples sent to a German laboratory. The results, which have just come in, are shocking: the deformities were caused by alarmingly high levels of uranium. ''The test results have left us baffled as there's no apparent source of uranium in Punjab,'' said Prithpal Singh, head of Baba Farid Centre for Special Children in Faridkot. More tests are now being organized among the 150 affected children with the help of a team of German and South African doctors to establish whether the traces found are from depleted uranium or natural sources.

The Saskatchewan NDP is unhappy that a Freedom of Information request on uranium development yielded documents with several paragraphs blacked out. But as displeased as the Opposition is, the Saskatchewan Party government is just as upset, saying there was no reason to black out anything. Enterprise Minister Lyle Stewart says his government has been open about the whole process until now. NDP Leader Lorne Calvert says the public deserves complete transparency from the government on such an important matter.

Saskatchewan Party and New Democratic MLAs have voted unanimously in favour of a motion supporting "consideration" of further development of the uranium industry. Saskatchewan is the world's biggest uranium producer, but it doesn't have any refineries or a nuclear power plant. The nuclear issue has been debated all week in the legislature in advance of a major report expected Friday from an advisory panel called the Uranium Development Partnership. Saskatchewan Party MLAs have been trying to drive a wedge between NDP ranks on the nuclear issue, saying some supporters are pro-development and some are against.

" For many years the residents of the Lincoln Park area, most recently Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste and its supporters, have been monitoring the futile efforts of Cotter Corp. to clean up their mess at the Canon City mill. The mill site and parts of the surrounding neighborhoods have been a Superfund site since 1984 with soil, air and groundwater showing uranium and molybdenum contamination. Cotter has been doing "interim" clean-up on their site, but not a complete clean-up to the levels that will be required when they close. That's not good enough! Several months ago, Cotter announced plans to refurbish and start processing again in 2014. The question on everyone's lips is: "How can they build a new plant without cleaning up the old one?" The answer has been: "There is nothing in the law to prevent it.""

Turns out Colorado U.S. Sen. Mark Udall is battling environmentalists and public fear of nuclear meltdowns on his new pro-nuke bill less than he's battling the lingering stigma that Homer Simpson and his scofflaw boss Mr. Burns generated at their Springfield nuclear power plant. homer simpson Where does this bit of wisdom on the hurdles facing the nuclear industry revival come from? From the staid Wall Street Journal, which Tuesday blogged about a Canadian professor who's been talking up the Simpson factor on north-of-the-border radio shows in the wake of the regulatory rejection of a nuclear power plant in Saskatchewan.

Turns out Colorado U.S. Sen. Mark Udall is battling environmentalists and public fear of nuclear meltdowns on his new pro-nuke bill less than he's battling the lingering stigma that Homer Simpson and his scofflaw boss Mr. Burns generated at their Springfield nuclear power plant. homer simpson Where does this bit of wisdom on the hurdles facing the nuclear industry revival come from? From the staid Wall Street Journal, which Tuesday blogged about a Canadian professor who's been talking up the Simpson factor on north-of-the-border radio shows in the wake of the regulatory rejection of a nuclear power plant in Saskatchewan.

The Quebec government is rejecting calls for a moratorium on uranium exploration in the province. On Thursday, 23 doctors from the province's remote North Shore region sent a letter to the health minister threatening to resign unless the province places a moratorium on uranium exploration in the region. The doctors from the Sept-Îles Hospital, who are also calling for a province-wide moratorium, said they are concerned about the impact on the health and well-being of the population. "Our main problem is concern about public health [from] long-term exposure to ionizing radiation," said respirologist Dr. Bruno Imbeault, spokesman for the doctors.

The Quebec government is rejecting calls for a moratorium on uranium exploration in the province. On Thursday, 23 doctors from the province's remote North Shore region sent a letter to the health minister threatening to resign unless the province places a moratorium on uranium exploration in the region. The doctors from the Sept-Îles Hospital, who are also calling for a province-wide moratorium, said they are concerned about the impact on the health and well-being of the population. "Our main problem is concern about public health [from] long-term exposure to ionizing radiation," said respirologist Dr. Bruno Imbeault, spokesman for the doctors.

Whose responsibility is it to notify prospective homebuyers when there is radioactive uranium mill tailings on a property? Erin Toll, director of Colorado's Division of Real Estate, said it's the responsibility of real estate agents. The Division of Real Estate is the licensing, regulation and enforcement agency for the real estate industry in Colorado. Mill tailings are "absolutely an adverse material fact that brokers would be required to disclose if they knew about it," Toll said. And if they don't know they should, Toll said. "Most brokers are aware of environmental impacts of the region they serve, even without the training," that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is currently conducting, Toll said.

Whose responsibility is it to notify prospective homebuyers when there is radioactive uranium mill tailings on a property? Erin Toll, director of Colorado's Division of Real Estate, said it's the responsibility of real estate agents. The Division of Real Estate is the licensing, regulation and enforcement agency for the real estate industry in Colorado. Mill tailings are "absolutely an adverse material fact that brokers would be required to disclose if they knew about it," Toll said. And if they don't know they should, Toll said. "Most brokers are aware of environmental impacts of the region they serve, even without the training," that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is currently conducting, Toll said.

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.

"On Tuesday, environmental activists announced legislation that will be proposed in the state House of Representatives soon. The Uranium Processing Accountability Act would require uranium processors to comply with clean-up orders before new applications are processed, strengthen public oversight of bonding requirements; require processors to inform residents about threats to their water if they have registered wells in close proximity to known groundwater contamination; and require processors to amend their operating license before accepting new sources of "alternate feeds." The legislation would affect the Cotter uranium mill south of Cañon City. "

"To date, the U. S. government has paid out $61,650,000 on some 1,213 claims prepared right here in Globe under the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The majority of these claims are called "downwinders," filed on behalf of persons who became ill with one of the certain type of cancers on a government approved list while living here in Gila County between Jan. 21, 1951 and October 1958, for a total period of 24 months, or for the period of June 1962 through July 3l, 1962. However, one needs to examine the U.S. Justice Department's list of approved cancer diseases, because not all cancers are eligible for compensation for "downwinders." In addition, the compensable disease list differs for other types of claims available under this federal act, if they are used. "

"Post '71 uranium workers employed as miners, millers and ore transporters between 1971 and 1982 have been trying for years to be recognized by the U.S. government as having illnesses that should be compensated under the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. During those years New Mexico's uranium workers made up about one third to one half of all uranium workers in the United States. While a large number of them are ill, to date, they have no medical benefits as provided to pre-1971 victims, no compensation, and no one to go to bat for them in Washington. But that could be about to change."

"According to Homestake Project Manager Al Cox, he has been waiting for re-approval of the existing permit for several years and is now requesting a third pond, EP3, to speed up the process of reclamation. If approved by the New Mexico Environmental Department, EP3 would be constructed on HMC property on Sections 22 and 23, approximately 1,800 feet north of County Road 63. A 50-foot wide access corridor will be constructed to access the proposed pond and to locate piping and associated infrastructure to the pond area. Cox said that the pond can be constructed in 90 to 120 days and would cost approximately $2.5 million."

"BHP Billiton says it will step up security at an old uranium testing site in Kalgoorlie after concerns children are accessing the area. Labor's candidate for the federal seat of O'Connor, Ian Bishop, says damage to a security gate has allowed children to enter the site at Hannan's north on dirt bikes. More than 5,000 tonnes of tailings from the Yeelirrie uranium deposit, near Wiluna, were buried in the area after BHP stopped testing ore-processing there in the 1980s."

"Powertech Uranium Corp. has increased its estimate of how much uranium it might be able to recover at its proposed Centennial Project by more than 1.2 million pounds. The British Columbia-based company now estimates it will be able to recover more than 12.6 million pounds of uranium, up from the 11.5 million pounds it reported last summer, according to a technical report filed in February with the Canadian government. The higher estimate comes after the company purchased more than 3,500 acres from two local landowners last summer, said Powertech President Richard Clement."

"Seeking to alter opaque, unresponsive corporate culture Sharyn Cunningham and her family bought five acres in Cañon City's Lincoln Park neighborhood in 1994, and for eight years they used a drinking water well contaminated by the nearby Cotter uranium mill. Drums of uranium mill concentrate. They only discovered the toxic minerals in their drinking water after Cotter was purchased in 2000 by General Atomics - makers of Predator drones and a major player in the nation's nuclear industry - and promptly announced plans to begin storing radioactive waste from an EPA Superfund site in New Jersey. Cunningham says she and her family suffered various illnesses resulting from the contamination of their well but decided not to sue, even as other area residents fought Cotter in a pair of class-action lawsuits. She refuses to discuss her health problems because she wants to focus on legislatively changing Cotter's corporate culture."

"$10 to $15 million spent on work since 2006 Cotter Corp. continues to make efforts to clean up environmental damage caused by its operations during the last 50 years. John Hamrick, vice president of milling, said the company has spent between $10 and $15 million on clean-up efforts since the mill shut down operations in 2006. However, continuous efforts were taking place at the mill while operations were under way, he said. House Bill 1348, also known as the Uranium Processing Accountability Act is currently working its way through the Colorado General Assembly. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Buffie McFadyen and Sen. Ken Kester and was developed by Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste and Environment Colorado. According to those groups, the bill would "hold the uranium industry accountable for its own mistakes and ensure Colorado does not subsidize those companies through tax dollars or incentive pollution by saying actions do not have consequences." "

"For nearly 20 years, Monticello was a Uranium boomtown. It started in I941 when the government opened a Uranium Mill in town to feed the Manhattan Project. The Vanadium Corporation of America mill produced the "yellowcake" that Robert Oppenheimer and his team would use to create the first atomic bombs. The mill paid good wages and the workers felt patriotic. Fritz Pipkin remembers his dad working in the mill. "I feel like my father was a hero," he said. "It was no different than the soldiers in Germany or Japan. They gave their lives to create this product that was used for the Manhattan project and the bombs that ended the war." Pipkin also remembers playing in the piles of radioactive tailings at the mill. "As kids we'd go on down the canyon right here and we'd camp out and drink from the water that came through the tailings ponds. Nobody knew of any danger. It's a wonder kids in Monticello don't glow in the dark from all the hours we spent down here on these tailings piles.""

"Russia is ready to invest $1 billion in uranium exploration in Namibia, Russia's state nuclear firm said on Thursday as it seeks to compete for projects with global miner Rio Tinto in the African country. "We're ready to start investing already this year," the head of state corporation Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, told journalists. Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba was visiting Moscow to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Kiriyenko said the uranium extracted from Namibia could be used for a nuclear power plant Russia was building in Turkey."