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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

Udall, Heinrich propose bill requiring hard-rock miners to help pay cleanup costs – by Justin Horwath (Santa Fe New Mexican – September 16, 2015)

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/

New Mexico’s two U.S. senators say they will introduce legislation that would require companies digging for hard-rock minerals on public lands to pay royalties to help cover the cost of cleaning up tens of thousands of mines across the nation abandoned by the industry decades ago.

Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, are proposing the legislation because of the Aug. 5 Gold King Mine spill that turned sections the Animas River orange and yellow from heavy metal waste that had been sitting in the abandoned mine since the 1920s.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admits to causing the spill while cleanup crews were working at the site. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy once again defended the agency during a hearing Wednesday before Congress.

Defenders of the agency say the root of the problem that caused 3 million gallons of waste to contaminate the Animas River from Silverton, Colo., to Farmington is a lack of money to clean up waste rock piles that sit in old mines.

Udall said in a statement Wednesday that the legislation “would reform the nation’s antiquated mining laws, which date back to 1872, to ensure mining companies pay a royalty for the minerals they take from public lands.”

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Iran says finds unexpectedly high uranium reserve (Reuters U.S. – September 12, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

DUBAI – Iran has discovered an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium and will soon begin extracting the radioactive element at a new mine, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Saturday.

The comments cast doubt on previous assessments from some Western analysts who said the country had a low supply and sooner or later would need to import uranium, the raw material needed for its nuclear program.

Any indication Iran could become more self-sufficient will be closely watched by world powers, which reached a landmark deal with Tehran in July over its program. They had feared the nuclear activities were aimed at acquiring the capability to produce atomic weapons – something denied by Tehran.

“I cannot announce (the level of) Iran’s uranium mine reserves. The important thing is that before aerial prospecting for uranium ores we were not too optimistic, but the new discoveries have made us confident about our reserves,” Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Salehi said uranium exploration had covered almost two-thirds of Iran and would be complete in the next four years.

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NDP wouldn’t reverse historic uranium mine decision, Mulcair says – Rod Nickel (Reuters/Globe and Mail – September 10, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Reuters – The New Democratic Party views Canada’s uranium as a “strategic asset,” and would not reverse a rare government decision to allow foreign ownership of a proposed mine, leader Thomas Mulcair said on Thursday.

The uranium industry is unpopular in Quebec, the NDP’s stronghold heading into next month’s election. But it is a key part of the economy in Saskatchewan, where the party hopes to add support.

The governing Conservatives in June made an exception to the country’s longstanding policy requiring uranium mines to be majority-owned by Canadian companies, and approved an application by Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd.

If the left-wing NDP forms government after the Oct. 19 election, it would not change that decision, Mulcair said during a Winnipeg campaign stop.

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Public fears put uranium mining on same path as shale gas in Quebec – by Ross Marowits (Canadian Press/CTV News – September 8, 2015)

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

MONTREAL — Fears about radioactive contamination may close the door to uranium mining in Quebec just as public angst shelved shale gas extraction in the province in 2011. “Like shale gas, it touches a sensitive chord in Quebec,” says Ugo Lapointe of MiningWatch Canada, which opposes mining of the metal that fuels nuclear power plants.

Hundreds of municipalities have joined First Nations to oppose uranium mining, worried that it could threaten their health, harm natural environments and ruin traditional hunting and fishing.

Quebec’s environmental regulation agency (BAPE) has concluded there is no “social acceptability” for uranium mining to proceed at this time. After a year of study, a three-person panel said that it would be premature to authorize development of Quebec’s uranium industry.

While uranium mining has made substantial progress, especially in containing waste, there are still many uncertainties and “significant gaps in scientific knowledge of the impacts of uranium mining on the environment and public health,” it said in a lengthy report.

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Fission’s uranium price – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – September 4, 2015)

http://www.mineweb.com/

There is a big gap between the company’s assumptions and reality.

HALIFAX – First let me say Canadian-junior Fission Uranium has its hands on a delightful discovery with the Triple R deposit. It’s already pretty big, high grade, and set to grow.

It and predecessor companies made the find a few years back in the Athabasca Basin, where the cream of the world’s uranium resides – at least in terms of grade. They recently calculated a 79.6 million pound uranium resource, indicated, at 1.58% U3O8. That’s quite sizeable and high grade by the industry’s standards.

Fission has released an early stage economic analysis (preliminary economic assessment or PEA in Canadian parlance) that puts the price tag at $1.1 billion to get it into production, with a 14-year mine life. It also anticipates pretty low operating costs per tonne – in the mid-teens per pound uranium.

But here’s my beef on the PEA and I’m not alone in having it. Fission (and RPA as the consultant) use $65/lb uranium as the base case in the PEA, giving it a catchy 35% IRR, post-tax. Yet current uranium prices are a lot lower in spot and contract markets and have been so for years.

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Quebec uranium report muddies science with sociology – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – August 28, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

MONTREAL — Brad Wall won’t be happy about this.

The Saskatchewan Premier has recently been complaining about have-not provinces sticking spokes in the wheels of wealth-creating energy projects, all while they clamour for more generous equalization payments paid for out of taxes from wealthier provinces such as his. Now, Quebec has given him one more reason to gripe.

Quebec’s environmental assessment agency has recommended a ban on uranium mining in a 626-page report that one critic lambasted as a “veritable collage of science and mysticism” regarding the mineral, used mainly as fuel for nuclear reactors.

Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard’s government is still “studying” the report. But after saying no to the shale gas industry and its potential jobs and royalties, Quebec appears headed for another de facto moratorium on resource development, despite collecting $9.5-billion in equalization payments this year.

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Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission slams Quebec uranium mining report – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – August 26, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

MONTREAL — Tempers in some quarters of Quebec are flaring after the head of Canada’s nuclear safety commission slammed a report by the province’s environmental regulation agency for allegedly “misleading Quebecers and Canadians” on the safety of uranium mining.

In a damning letter to Quebec Environment Minister David Heurtel, the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission – Michael Binder – says it “is very troubling to have the [provincial agency] present your government with conclusions and recommendations that lack scientific basis and rigour.”

Quebec’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) recently released a 626-page report recommending to the environment minister that it would be premature at this time to authorize development of a uranium mining industry in the province.

There are many uncertainties and unanswered questions about the environmental, health, social and other risks and concerns involved, the three-person BAPE panel, headed by former Le Devoir environment reporter Louis-Gilles Francoeur, cautions.

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Stalin and the Atomic Gulag – by Zhores A. Medvedev

The birth of the uranium gulag

The main raw material of the atomic industry, uranium ore, was mined nowhere in the Soviet Union until 1942. It is therefore possible to date the beginning of the atomic era in the USSR to 27th November 1942, to the State Committee for Defence (GKO) top secret decision no.2542 ‘On mining uranium’.

The location of uranium ore in the Tabosharsky region of Tadjikistan had been known since the beginning of the century. It was thus decided to build the first uranium mine there. The work was allocated to the State Commissariat of Non-ferrous Metals which already had enterprises in Central Asia.

As a result, one of these factories was reequipped and, already by May 1943, was producing at the rate of four tonnes of 40 per cent uranium concentrate a year. By the end of 1943, this level was expected to triple.1 On 30th July 1943, having noticed the lack of real progress in mining and enriching uranium ore, GKO order no.3834ss enrolled several more commissariats and departments to help solve the problem.

They included the committee on geological affairs and the commissariats of ferrous metals, machine construction, coal, ammunition, and others, to ensure that the uranium mine in Taboshar received the necessary equipment and cadres.

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South African nuclear power plan stirs fears of secrecy and graft – by Joe Brock (Reuters U.S. – August 14, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Fears are growing in South Africa that agreements to build nuclear power plants that could be the most expensive procurement in the country’s history will be made behind closed doors, without the necessary public scrutiny.

Among those voicing concern, two government sources say the Treasury is not being included in procurement discussions, despite the massive budgetary implications of a project that experts say may cost as much as $100 billion.

Construction on the first plant is due to start next year, breakneck speed compared with the years of regulatory and environmental checks for nuclear projects in countries such as Britain and the United States.

The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, believes the pace of the deal will prevent proper analysis before contracts are signed and huge sums of money change hands.

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Nuclear Revival Sparks Cameco Rally as Uranium Demand Is Growing – by Christopher Donville (Bloomberg News – August 13, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Cameco Corp., the world’s second-largest producer of uranium, is emerging as a rare bright spot among Canada’s largest mining companies on signs nuclear power is shaking off its post-Fukushima slump.

Shares of Cameco have climbed 12 percent in Toronto in the past month. By comparison, Teck Resources Ltd., the world’s second-largest exporter of seaborne metallurgical coal, fell 16 percent and Barrick Gold Corp., No. 1 for bullion production, slid 18 percent.

A U.S. plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants may support new reactors and the restart of a Kyushu Electric Power Co. plant this week is highlighting a drive to get more atomic stations online in Japan. The improved prospect for uranium, the raw material in reactor fuel, is in contrast to slowing demand and ample supply for metals such as aluminum and zinc, which sent the Bloomberg World Mining Index to a six-year low in July.

“What we’re seeing is the U.S. and Japan really renewing their commitment to nuclear power,” Rob Chang, a Toronto-based analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald LP, said Aug. 11 in a phone interview. “You’ve also got India and China pushing ahead with their nuclear expansion.”

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IN DEPTH: Nunavut hunters want feds to stay out of uranium mine decision – by Sima Sahar Zerehi (CBC News North – August 11, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

‘This would be a political disaster for Nunavut, and for Canada,’ Kivalliq Wildlife Board

Hunters in Nunavut say if the federal government overrides a recent uranium mining decision from the Nunavut Impact Review Board if will seriously erode the confidence of the Inuit in the regulatory system.

“This would be a political disaster for Nunavut, and for Canada,” states the Kivalliq Wildlife Board in a letter they sent to the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development yesterday.

“Residents and institutions of Nunavut have spent considerable time and resources participating in the NIRB screening and review of Areva’s proposal,” states the letter, “If you reject the NIRB report and recommendation, residents of Nunavut will question what the point of their participation in this process was.”

This spring, the Nunavut Impact Review Board issued its final report on a proposed uranium mine near Baker Lake. The report rejected Areva’s proposed Kiggavik mine on the grounds that it lacks a definite start date and a development schedule. The review board concluded that without this information it was impossible to assess the environmental and social impacts of the uranium mine.

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Editorial: [Virginia, U.S.A.] Uranium mining debate resurfaces again (Richmond Times-Dispatch – August 9, 2015)

http://www.richmond.com/

For decades, the commonwealth has been having an on-again, off-again debate over uranium mining. With the filing of a federal lawsuit by Virginia Uranium Inc., the debate is officially back on.

The lawsuit makes a straightforward claim: The Atomic Energy Act vests all authority for radiation-related regulation in the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Virginia can write rules for a uranium mine on any number of grounds, such as hours of operation or surety bonds.

But it cannot regulate radiation safety matters, which are the exclusive province of the feds. And yet, the plaintiffs claim, Virginia’s ban on uranium mining is based almost exclusively on concerns about the hazards presented by radioactive tailings from the mining process.

That much will ring true to anyone who has followed the debate over the moratorium. In its resolution in support of keeping the ban, the Danville-Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce cited “significant questions around whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the commonwealth.”

Gov. Terry McAuliffe said he opposed uranium mining because “my job is to make sure that our communities and our citizenry are safe.”

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Hiroshima Commemorates 70th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing – by Jonathan Sobleaug (New York Times – August 6, 2015)

http://www.nytimes.com/

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Every year on Aug. 6, Hiroshima becomes a city of mourning. And one full of reminders — some delivered politely, some pointedly — of the most extreme dangers of modern warfare.

Seventy years ago, the city was incinerated by an atomic bomb, its population halved by the new and terrifying American weapon nicknamed Little Boy.

On Thursday, political leaders, aging survivors and ordinary citizens gathered at 8:15 a.m. to mourn the moment when the city unwillingly became part of the world’s introduction to the nuclear age. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima, together with another that hit Nagasaki three days later, killed more than 200,000 people, most of them civilians.

At a ceremony near the onetime industrial exhibition hall that has been preserved as a skeletal monument to the attack, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe renewed a longstanding Japanese pledge to seek worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons. The mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, accused “selfish” nuclear powers, including the United States, of standing in the way of that goal.

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Birthplace of the A-bomb: Nuclear New Mexico: Past and future – by Tom Vaughn (Desert Exposure – August 2015)

http://www.desertexposure.com/

The atomic genie was let out of the bottle 70 years ago here in New Mexico. It can’t be put back in; nobody wants it to go away. Nuclear medicine, nuclear power, atomic clocks, nuclear propulsion in submarines and spacecraft … the technological advances made possible by atomic research are not to be given up. Yet the genie is still capable of destroying worlds, or at least wreaking havoc locally. The challenge today is to keep it corralled.

The earliest uses of uranium ores in New Mexico had nothing to do with radioactivity. Ground to a powder, the yellowish minerals were used by Native Americans to color designs on deerskin cradle-board coverings.

In the 1920s, low-grade uranium ores (autunite and torbernite) were recovered from old silver mines in the White Signal and Black Hawk mining districts west of Silver City for use in glazes and to color glass. Significant uranium deposits in these areas were identified during the uranium boom of the 1950s.

World War II gave birth to the Manhattan Project — a search for a super-weapon that could give its wielder a decisive victory. Building on earlier research into radioactivity and atomic physics, both Germany and the United States raced to produce an atomic bomb.

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Canadian regulator dismisses Québec uranium report (World Nuclear News – July 30, 2015)

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

The head of the Canadian nuclear regulator has written to Québec’s minister for sustainable development, environment and climate change questioning the recommendations made by a public consultation on uranium mining in the province.

The report by Québec’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) was published on 17 July by the province’s minister for sustainable development, environment and climate change David Heurtel.

It was the culmination of one year’s work by the commission set up by BAPE in May 2014 to study the environmental and social impacts of uranium exploration and mining, following a moratorium on new uranium exploration and mining permits imposed by the province in April that year.

The 626-page report concludes that uranium mining operations at present in the province are “counterindicated” because of “limitations and uncertainties” in the current state of knowledge over mining technology and environmental management strategies.

Michael Binder, president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), wrote to Heurtel on 27 July saying BAPE’s report has conclusions and recommendations that “lack scientific basis and rigour”.

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