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Gov. Dave Freudenthal is trying to stop the transfer of $150 to $200 million worth of excess government uranium to the United States Enrichment Corp. that he says will hurt Wyoming's resurgent uranium mining industry. Freudenthal wrote a letter to the U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday. "There is no question that the non-competitive introduction of such a large quantity of uranium will adversely impact the uranium producing industry in my state," he wrote There also would be an extra $450 million of excess government uranium transferred in the next three years, according to the letter. "The loss of mining and mining-related jobs in Wyoming and elsewhere will be a direct outcome of the Department's present course," Freudenthal wrote. Several uranium mines in Campbell and Sweetwater counties plan to re-open under new ownership in the next year. Uranium One Inc., one of the largest uranium mining operations in the world, plans to make Wyoming the center of its U.S. operations. The company bought the Irigaray in-situ recovery central processing plant in Johnson County, the Christensen Ranch processing facility in southwest Campbell County and several uranium resources in the Powder River Basin for $35 million. Both processing facilities already are permitted and licensed, and the company hopes to start production next year.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal is trying to stop the transfer of $150 to $200 million worth of excess government uranium to the United States Enrichment Corp. that he says will hurt Wyoming's resurgent uranium mining industry. Freudenthal wrote a letter to the U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday. "There is no question that the non-competitive introduction of such a large quantity of uranium will adversely impact the uranium producing industry in my state," he wrote There also would be an extra $450 million of excess government uranium transferred in the next three years, according to the letter. "The loss of mining and mining-related jobs in Wyoming and elsewhere will be a direct outcome of the Department's present course," Freudenthal wrote. Several uranium mines in Campbell and Sweetwater counties plan to re-open under new ownership in the next year. Uranium One Inc., one of the largest uranium mining operations in the world, plans to make Wyoming the center of its U.S. operations. The company bought the Irigaray in-situ recovery central processing plant in Johnson County, the Christensen Ranch processing facility in southwest Campbell County and several uranium resources in the Powder River Basin for $35 million. Both processing facilities already are permitted and licensed, and the company hopes to start production next year.

The job of moving 16 million tons of radioactive waste from the shores of the Colorado River in southern Utah is picking up steam. The U.S. Department of Energy says more than 330,000 tons of uranium tailings have been hauled away from a huge pile near Moab and deposited in disposal pits 30 miles to the north. Crews began running two trainloads a day in August, doubling the amount of waste shipped to Crescent Junction each day. Project manager Donald Metzler says the pace will pick up even more next month with longer trains and more container cars. The work is part of a $1 billion project to clear away a 130-acre heap of waste left behind after the closure of a uranium mill in 1984. The project could be completed by 2022 or earlier if additional funds are secured.

The job of moving 16 million tons of radioactive waste from the shores of the Colorado River in southern Utah is picking up steam. The U.S. Department of Energy says more than 330,000 tons of uranium tailings have been hauled away from a huge pile near Moab and deposited in disposal pits 30 miles to the north. Crews began running two trainloads a day in August, doubling the amount of waste shipped to Crescent Junction each day. Project manager Donald Metzler says the pace will pick up even more next month with longer trains and more container cars. The work is part of a $1 billion project to clear away a 130-acre heap of waste left behind after the closure of a uranium mill in 1984. The project could be completed by 2022 or earlier if additional funds are secured.

A compensation program for ill nuclear workers won key approval Tuesday to offer automatic $150,000 payments to potentially hundreds more Hanford workers or their survivors. An advisory committee to the federal government meeting in New York voted unanimously to further ease compensation requirements for Hanford workers who may have developed any of a wide range of cancers due to radiation exposure on the job. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, now is expected to recommend the eased rules, called a special exposure cohort, to Congress. If Congress does not object, the special exposure cohort would be formed. Under the special exposure cohort, automatic $150,000 compensation and medical coverage would be extended to any Hanford worker who was employed for at least 250 days from Oct. 1, 1943, through June 30, 1972. That's more inclusive than previous decisions to ease rules only for workers assigned to specific Hanford areas for certain of those years.

A compensation program for ill nuclear workers won key approval Tuesday to offer automatic $150,000 payments to potentially hundreds more Hanford workers or their survivors. An advisory committee to the federal government meeting in New York voted unanimously to further ease compensation requirements for Hanford workers who may have developed any of a wide range of cancers due to radiation exposure on the job. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, now is expected to recommend the eased rules, called a special exposure cohort, to Congress. If Congress does not object, the special exposure cohort would be formed. Under the special exposure cohort, automatic $150,000 compensation and medical coverage would be extended to any Hanford worker who was employed for at least 250 days from Oct. 1, 1943, through June 30, 1972. That's more inclusive than previous decisions to ease rules only for workers assigned to specific Hanford areas for certain of those years.

It's one of the biggest cleanup jobs the United States has ever undertaken, and it's a long way from being done. Near the Columbia River in Hanford, Washington, contractors are decontaminating a nuclear fuel processing site that has 177 underground tanks holding 53 million gallons of nuclear waste, some of which has already leaked into the soil and groundwater. And the cleanup crew has learned that the known hazards are just the beginning. [S]loppy work by the contractors running the site saw all kinds of chemical and radioactive waste indiscriminately buried in pits underground over the 40 years Hanford was operational, earning it the accolade of the dirtiest place on Earth. In 2004, clean-up work uncovered a battered, rusted, and broken old safe containing a glass jug inside which was 400 millilitres of plutonium [New Scientist].

It's one of the biggest cleanup jobs the United States has ever undertaken, and it's a long way from being done. Near the Columbia River in Hanford, Washington, contractors are decontaminating a nuclear fuel processing site that has 177 underground tanks holding 53 million gallons of nuclear waste, some of which has already leaked into the soil and groundwater. And the cleanup crew has learned that the known hazards are just the beginning. [S]loppy work by the contractors running the site saw all kinds of chemical and radioactive waste indiscriminately buried in pits underground over the 40 years Hanford was operational, earning it the accolade of the dirtiest place on Earth. In 2004, clean-up work uncovered a battered, rusted, and broken old safe containing a glass jug inside which was 400 millilitres of plutonium [New Scientist].

A company that wants to build one of the first new U.S. uranium mills since the Cold War has won local approval and now needs state approval. The Montrose County commissioners last month issued a permit to Toronto-based Energy Fuels Inc. for its proposed Pinon Ridge mill 12 miles west of Naturita (nat-yur'-EE'-tah) and about 340 miles southwest of Denver. The company is preparing to submit a 12-volume application to state health regulators, triggering a technical review. Many area residents welcome the possible return of high-paying mining jobs. Several uranium mills operated in western Colorado until the uranium market crashed in 1981 after the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island.

A company that wants to build one of the first new U.S. uranium mills since the Cold War has won local approval and now needs state approval. The Montrose County commissioners last month issued a permit to Toronto-based Energy Fuels Inc. for its proposed Pinon Ridge mill 12 miles west of Naturita (nat-yur'-EE'-tah) and about 340 miles southwest of Denver. The company is preparing to submit a 12-volume application to state health regulators, triggering a technical review. Many area residents welcome the possible return of high-paying mining jobs. Several uranium mills operated in western Colorado until the uranium market crashed in 1981 after the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island.

Abstract: America needs a clean, safe, and sustainable energy source. Nuclear power could be part of the solution -- with the right set of free-market reforms. Congress, the nuclear industry, and many Americans agree that reform of U.S. nuclear policies is necessary, but cannot agree on what those reforms should look like. The nuclear provision in the Senate's new Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act is a nice nod to nuclear power, but leaves the waters muddied. Heritage Foundation energy experts Jack Spencer and Nicolas Loris provide some clarity.

Abstract: America needs a clean, safe, and sustainable energy source. Nuclear power could be part of the solution -- with the right set of free-market reforms. Congress, the nuclear industry, and many Americans agree that reform of U.S. nuclear policies is necessary, but cannot agree on what those reforms should look like. The nuclear provision in the Senate's new Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act is a nice nod to nuclear power, but leaves the waters muddied. Heritage Foundation energy experts Jack Spencer and Nicolas Loris provide some clarity.

Aiken-area business leaders say the Savannah River Site may become the nation's high-level nuclear waste dumping ground if the federal government drops plans for a disposal site in Nevada. But the SRS Community Reuse Organization says shelving the Yucca Mountain site is a bad idea, and it says the nation now needs to figure out how to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. The group's mission supports job creation in the five counties around SRS, a 300-square mile nuclear weapons site. Aiken, Augusta and surrounding communities could suffer a bad image if the waste is left at SRS, making it harder to recruit industry, the reuse organization said in a statement Monday. It is calling for a special blue-ribbon panel to study options for disposing of waste.

Aiken-area business leaders say the Savannah River Site may become the nation's high-level nuclear waste dumping ground if the federal government drops plans for a disposal site in Nevada. But the SRS Community Reuse Organization says shelving the Yucca Mountain site is a bad idea, and it says the nation now needs to figure out how to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. The group's mission supports job creation in the five counties around SRS, a 300-square mile nuclear weapons site. Aiken, Augusta and surrounding communities could suffer a bad image if the waste is left at SRS, making it harder to recruit industry, the reuse organization said in a statement Monday. It is calling for a special blue-ribbon panel to study options for disposing of waste.

Japanese high-tech giant Hitachi Ltd., reeling from massive losses, said Monday that it planned to raise 415.7 billion yen (4.6 billion dollars) from investors to shore up its shaky finances. Hitachi, which makes everything from refrigerators to nuclear power systems, aims to drum up the cash by selling convertible bonds and new shares. The sprawling conglomerate has been hit hard by the global economic downturn. It is restructuring with measures including 7,000 job cuts, after losing 787.3 billion yen in the year to March 2009 -- the biggest ever loss for a Japanese manufacturer. Other cash-strapped Japanese companies are also going cap in hand to investors to bolster their capital, including electronics giant NEC.

Japanese high-tech giant Hitachi Ltd., reeling from massive losses, said Monday that it planned to raise 415.7 billion yen (4.6 billion dollars) from investors to shore up its shaky finances. Hitachi, which makes everything from refrigerators to nuclear power systems, aims to drum up the cash by selling convertible bonds and new shares. The sprawling conglomerate has been hit hard by the global economic downturn. It is restructuring with measures including 7,000 job cuts, after losing 787.3 billion yen in the year to March 2009 -- the biggest ever loss for a Japanese manufacturer. Other cash-strapped Japanese companies are also going cap in hand to investors to bolster their capital, including electronics giant NEC.

"The long and drawn-out process of gathering environmental and regulatory information for a building permit occupy plans for a nuclear power plant that could be in the future at the site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant at Piketon. The plant shut down in 2001 after nearly 50 years of turning out weapons-grade uranium. The loss of 900 jobs was felt throughout the southern Ohio communities surrounding the plant. It's been just over a year now since officials from four of the nation's biggest energy companies came together and announced formation of an alliance to pursue the development of America's first clean energy park at the site, owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. "

"Utah's radiation programs have new leaders. The new director of the Radiation Control Division is Rusty Lundberg, who has worked in the state's solid waste and sustainability programs. Lundberg replaces Dane Finerfrock, who has led radiation programs for the past seven years and retires at the month's end. "Rusty has excellent management and leadership skills," said Utah Department of Environmental Quality Director Amanda Smith, "and will do an outstanding job in the Division of Radiation Control." Lundberg has been with DEQ for 25 years, serving for more than 15 years as the branch manager overseeing solid waste for the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste."

"Cracks in support for $36 billion in new US Department of Energy loan guarantee authority for nuclear projects appeared on Thursday, after a House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee postponed a meeting scheduled to discuss a draft 2011 appropriations bill because the bill did not contain provisions for that authority. The Obama administration requested the additional authority in its 2011 budget, and that request has the support of most members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, an aide to Representative Chet Edwards said Friday. The Texas Democrat is the vice chairman of the subcommittee. "To eliminate or dramatically cut the President's $36 billion request for nuclear loans in fiscal year 2011 would be devastating for the jobs and economic growth our country desperately needs," Edwards said in a statement. "I believe a clear majority of House members favor the expansion of nuclear power in America, and I will do everything I can to work in partnership with business and labor, which are united in support of this effort," he added. "

"An Idaho company is moving closer in its effort to build a nuclear power plant in Payette County. Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc. officially filed a rezone application on Tuesday, June 22, asking that 5,000 acres of land near New Plymouth be converted from agriculture to industrial use. In April, Payette County Commissioners unanimously approved a change to their county's comprehensive plan, opening the door for a rezone application. A slate of hearings are expected to attract opponents and proponents of the plant, which Alternate Energy claims will create 5,000 jobs. Dates have yet to be announced, but check back to Citydesk for updates."

"A public hearing on Duke Energy Carolinas' plan for a third cooling water pond at its proposed Lee Nuclear Station quickly devolved into pro- and anti-plant factions talking past each other. Not that the people did not have important things to say. But in the two-hour hearing Thursday night in Gaffney, S.C., only a few of the presentations involved the proposed pond and the plant's impact on the Broad River, which will provide the cooling water. Instead, the discussion tended to be about the pros and cons of nuclear energy. Supporters contended Duke has a strong nuclear safety record and the plant is needed to provide power and jobs for the Carolinas."

"The weaknesses of federal regulatory agencies have been exposed by recent high-profile accidents. Guest columnist Tom Carpenter fears the Department of Energy will reduce its oversight of cleanup at the nation's nuclear waste sites.\n\nBy Tom Carpenter\n\nSpecial to The Times\n\nPREV of NEXT\n\n \n\nRelated\n\nMillions of gallons of oil gush continue to rush unabated from BP's mile-deep well in the Gulf of Mexico, and 11 workers are dead from the massive explosion that caused the biggest oil spill in decades. Weeks before this event, the news was dominated by the preventable explosion that killed 29 West Virginia coal miners.\n\nIn both cases, the not-so surprising news was that the mine and the oil rig had abysmal records of safety violations before the explosions yet were still allowed to operate by the captive regulatory agencies.\n\nWhere is the government accountability? It is the government's job to assure that ultra-hazardous industries operate safely and responsibly.\n\nIs nuclear next? The Department of Energy sits on the nation's biggest nuclear nightmare. Its inventories of highly radioactive and toxic wastes defy comprehension. Washingtonians are familiar with the DOE's No. 1 accomplishment, the Hanford nuclear site, which holds the lion's share of the nation's radioactive detritus. Suffice it to say that the escape of even a small fraction of such material into the environment would constitute a Chernobyl-sized catastrophe."

"As the recent national news headlines make clear every day, finding and developing new sources of energy has been and will continue to be a national priority and will encompass both traditional and new energy sources for the foreseeable future. Regrettably, as the headlines from the Gulf of Mexico also make clear, energy development activities are not free either from risk or environmental consequence, particularly if they are pursued without adequate attention to safety. As a regulator, whose job it is to enable commercial energy activities to proceed, provided that safety, environmental, security or other applicable requirements are met, I can assure you that this regulatory role is neither easy nor at times popular, but it is a necessary and vital role that contributes to the ultimate success of energy development activities and, if performed well, diminishes the likelihood of adverse consequences."

"The United States must cut military spending dramatically to allow the government to fund other necessary programs, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Friday. Frank released a report by a panel he created that recommends almost $1 trillion in cuts during the next 10 years, The Hill reported. The Sustainable Defense Task Force includes members from left-liberal groups and from libertarian ones like the Cato Institute. Frank heads the House Financial Services Committee. He acknowledged many of the task force proposals will have trouble passing Congress, especially weapons systems that provide jobs for constituents."

"Residents worried about environmental damage from nuclear waste and those eager for a way to bring jobs to the region spoke Saturday to a commission considering a plan to bury nuclear material from 36 other states in West Texas. Rose Gardner, who lives just over the state line in Eunice, N.M., told the commission she found the plan "very scary." Gardner lives about 5 miles from where material from nuclear power plants, hospitals, universities and research labs could be buried. She told the commission she worried about her water well and pointed to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as the kind of disaster that could happen. "We all know it's the human error" that can't be predicted, said Gardner, 52. "I want you to remember, I'm just across the state line.""

"One of my happiest memories as a young boy was going duck hunting with Dad. On the way to the hunt, even in the dark, by the moonlight you could see the beauty of the West Tennessee countryside. We would drive by small communities and through towns where business owners soon would be getting ready for a day of commerce. If you had told me then that the day would come that an outside company and nameless, faceless federal bureaucrats would threaten that beauty and our communities by trying to make West Tennessee a nuclear waste dump I would have thought you were crazy. Today, that nightmare is on the verge of reality as plans are being laid to move hundreds of jobs from Milan, Tenn., to Middletown, Iowa, and to convert the Milan facility to the demilitarization and storage of depleted uranium."

"The formidable Anne Lauvergeon, the CEO of French nuclear giant AREVA, has been doing interviews. She's always worth paying attention to, as much for what she doesn't say as what she does. Take this for example, from her interview with the UK's Financial Times… What is the smartest business idea you have ever had? Setting up Areva and creating the 'CO2-free' strategy. Really? Considering Anne's 'CO2-free strategy' (and it's proper that the term is in quotation marks because AREVA's 'CO2-free strategy' is anything but) is currently eating the company's profits thanks to the botched construction of the Olkiluoto-3 EPR reactor in Finland, we're not sure we'd describe it as the 'smartest' business idea. How about… What do you like most about your job?"

Article Highlights Energy Secretary-designate Steven Chu's most daunting challenge may be reforming the department. Energy's existing structure isn't well-suited to ushering in a new energy future for the country. Only by completely restructuring the department can real change in this area be made. As a Nobel laureate in physics and a respected advocate for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for energy secretary, appears to be well suited to carrying out Obama's pledge to generate new green energy jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But among Chu's most daunting challenges will be reforming the Energy Department itself. Created in 1977 in response to oil disruptions, Energy has done little since to stem the country's burgeoning energy problems. With about 5.5 percent of the world's population, the United States consumes more oil than any other nation, three-fourths of which comes from foreign sources. And as U.S. energy dependence has worsened, its greenhouse gas emissions have grown worse as well--increasing by 17 percent since 1990--accelerating potentially disastrous climate change.