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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

Nuke shield law matters in NWO – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 11, 2013)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Northwestern Ontario residents who could one day have a massive disposal site for used nuclear fuel bundles close to home should have a say in how much they could potentially sue nuclear industries for in the event of an accident, nuke safety advocates say.

The federal government is reviewing the little-known Nuclear Liability Act, which for the past 40 years has capped the amount that a nuclear supplier or vendor might have to pay out at $75 million. Critics say the figure is ridiculously out of date.

Greenpeace and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) are petitioning the government to expand the review of the act so that ongoing consultation includes public input — especially in the wake of the nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima plant two years ago.

“It’s unacceptable that the Harper government wants to continue protecting the nuclear industry without consulting Canadians,” Greenpeace nuclear analyst Shawn-Patrick Stensil said in a news release.

In a statement Wednesday, Natural Resources Canada Minister Joe Oliver said a bill proposing to bring the act up to date will be fully aired before it’s put to a vote in the House of Commons.

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Quebec imposes moratorium on uranium development – by Kevin Dougherty and Monique Beaudin (Montreal Gazette – March 28, 2013)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

QUEBEC — No permits for the exploration or mining of uranium in Quebec will be issued until an independent study on the environmental impact and social acceptance of extracting uranium has been completed, Environment Minister Yves-François Blanchet announced Thursday.

Blanchet has asked Quebec’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement to examine the issue of uranium development and uranium waste in general, with hearings throughout the province.

“Some people fear uranium more than iron or gold,” Blanchet said, explaining the BAPE will have full latitude to recommend all possible scenarios, from a permanent moratorium to determining safe ways to develop the heavy metal, used to fuel nuclear reactors and build nuclear bombs.

“As far as I know, this stuff is radioactive,” Blanchet said, adding he cannot predict the outcome of the study. “It might not be dangerous and it might be. This is the kind of issue that the Bureau will address.”

As a first step Thursday, Blanchet announced he has ordered scientific studies to prepare for the BAPE panel, which would begin its work in the fall, reporting in about a year.

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Quebec imposes moratorium on uranium exploration and mining – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 28, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Quebec-focused uranium explorer Strateco Resources on Thursday denounced an announcement made by Quebec Environment Minister Yves-François Blanchet, effectively placing a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in the province, and ordering an impact study on the exploration and development of the mineral.

The Minister’s announcement followed ongoing legal proceedings aimed at forcing the provincial government to make a decision on the company’s flagship Matoush project, which is located east of James Bay on The James Bay Cree Nation’s Eeyou Istchee reserve.

Last year, after two years of public hearings, the James Bay Cree Nation enacted a permanent moratorium on uranium exploration, mining, milling and waste emplacement on their territory on the east shore of James Bay, known as Eeyou Istchee.

Despite this moratorium, federal regulators, including the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, allowed Strateco’s Matoush uranium project to proceed within this Cree territory. Nevertheless, before this project could proceed, provincial authorisation was also required, for which Strateco had already been waiting for two years.

The company in January filed a court order to force the Quebec government to make a decision on its exploration project in the province’s Otish Mountains.

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Saskatchewan seeks to spur uranium expansion with royalty cut – Rod Nickel (Reuters U.S. – March 22, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 22 (Reuters) – The Western Canadian province of Saskatchewan is cutting its tax on uranium mining in hopes of spurring construction of more mines and boosting its revenues, a top government official said on Friday.

The provincial government is proposing the first changes in 12 years to its system of charging royalties to uranium miners, calling the old formula a barrier to investment. Low uranium prices in the two years since the Fukushima meltdown in Japan have led to delays in some mine projects, but miners see a brighter outlook as new reactors are built.

The adjustments would save the two uranium miners in the province, Cameco Corp and Areva SA, only a combined C$15 million ($14.7 million) in Saskatchewan’s fiscal year 2013-14.

But those savings are set to grow as the formula will reflect the miners’ actual costs in future years, and remove some of their risk from unforeseen events, said Kent Campbell, deputy minister of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of the Economy. “The biggest thing is it helps to de-risk projects,” Campbell said in an interview.

“It was very clear that (miners) felt the economics of future greenfield projects would not work if the system was not changed.”

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RPT-ANALYSIS-Uranium miners press Canada to change Cold War rules – by Rod Nickel (Reuters UK – March 18, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Two of the world’s biggest uranium miners, Rio Tinto PLC and Areva SA , are pressing Canada to change a Cold War era policy that curbs foreign ownership of uranium mines.

The campaign, backed by the Australian government, two Canadian provinces and Western Australia-based uranium producer Paladin Energy Ltd, could unlock some of the world’s highest-grade ore for development just as demand for the radioactive element looks to surge.

Unlike Australia, which has no restrictions on uranium-mine ownership, Canada restricts foreign companies from owning more than 49 percent of any uranium mine. There are no ownership restrictions on foreign participation in exploration.

“It’s such an absurd situation,” John Borshoff, managing director of Paladin, said in an interview. It’s “something that is an anachronism from the Cold War”.

Borshoff said the Australian government, Rio Tinto and Paladin are joining forces to lobby Ottawa, while the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador are also pressing for change.

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NEWS RELEASE: Uranium mines in Quebec: First Nations, municipalities and citizens unite their voices for a moratorium

March 11, 2013

QUEBEC CITY, March 11, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ – Two years to the day following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, First Nations, municipalities and Citizen groups unite their voices, asking the Quebec government to announce a moratorium on uranium mines. They also ask the Government to quickly act on its promise to hold a generic environmental evaluation on uranium in Quebec.

Uranium is a radioactive metal used in the production of nuclear energy and bombs. Its extraction and use pose significant health and environmental risks. Moratoria are already in place in British-Colombia, Nova Scotia and in the Commonwealth of Virginia. “Quebec must follow these examples. Their decisions were based on strong analysis and despite pressure from industry, they wisely decided to shut the door on uranium mining for health, security and environmental reasons,” confirms Ugo Lapointe from Québec meilleure mine.

Many communities are claiming their opposition to uranium mining in Quebec. The Cree Nation of Mistissini (James-Bay / Eeyou Istchee), in Northern Quebec, is one of them. “As protectors of the largest fresh water lake in Quebec, Lake Mistassini, we strongly oppose any uranium development. It goes against our way of life and our beliefs. As opposed to other form of tailings, such as that from the Stornoway mine also on our territory, waste from this type of mine stays radioactive for thousands of years, and that is socially unacceptable. We are all here today to say out loud that uranium should not be mined in Quebec” said the Mistissini Council Chief Richard Shecapio.

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Cigar Lake nears startup as uranium price recovers – by Pav Jordan Globe and Mail – March 6, 2013)

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.

Cameco Corp. is just months away from opening its Cigar Lake uranium project, the world’s second-largest high-grade uranium deposit, more than thirty years after it was discovered and just as global prices for the nuclear fuel show promise of a rebound.

“We’re on track with Cigar Lake. We said we’d be starting the mining in mid-2013 and we will and we’ll have first production from the mill in 2013,” said Tim Gitzel, chief executive officer of the Saskatchewan-based owner of uranium projects in Canada, the United States, Australia and Kazakhstan.

“It’s been a long project. A long time. That ore body was discovered in 1981 and here we are now, not decades or years but mere months away from first production, so we’re pretty excited about it,” he said on the sidelines of the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto.

Cigar Lake will supply uranium for some 20 or 30 years. Cameco, the world’s biggest publicly traded uranium producer, is the 50 per cent owner of the northern Saskatchewan mine, which has ore grades that are among the world’s highest, at 100 times the world average.

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PQ mulls broad consultation on uranium mining – by Kevin Dougherty (Montreal Gazette – February 14, 2013)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

Quebec – Yves-François Blanchet, Quebec’s environment minister, indicated Thursday that the Parti Québécois government wants to order a consultation on uranium mining in the province.

Blanchet said the consultation is still in the “reflection stage,” but hinted it could take the form of a “generic BAPE” consultation.

The BAPE is Quebec’s environmental-impact body, the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement. It usually conducts consultations on the environmental impact of specific projects. A generic BAPE would look at the issue of uranium mining without reference to a specific project.

“We would be irresponsible not to,” Blanchet added.  The issue came up in National Assembly committee hearings on the spending estimates of the environment department. Jacques Marcotte, Liberal MNA for Portneuf riding near Quebec City, accused Blanchet’s department of blocking the Matoush uranium project in the James Bay region.

Located 275 kilometres north of Chibougamau and 210 kilometres northeast of Mistissini, the mine project is in territory covered by the James Bay Northern Quebec Agreement and has not received the approval of the Cree First Nation.

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Uranium miners still struggling to emerge from shadow of Fukushima – by Peter Koven (National Post – December 13, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Following the Fukushima nuclear facility disaster in March 2011, uranium miners were quick to rationalize that the fundamentals of their business were unlikely to change and the world still needed more nuclear power.

They were wrong, to put it kindly.

More than 21 months after Fukushima, the uranium business is still stuck in a rut. Uranium’s spot price has plummeted to nearly US$40 a pound (compared to a high topping US$135 in 2007), and there has been minimal activity in the spot market. Utilities are well-supplied with uranium for the foreseeable future, and, thanks to Fukushima, the outlook for demand growth is not nearly as healthy as it was a couple of years ago.

“The recovery in Japan has been slower than we expected,” Tim Gitzel, chief executive of Cameco Corp., acknowledged in an interview.

Now the question on everyone’s mind is whether things will finally start to turn around in 2013? The market is still waiting for news on Japanese reactor restarts, while digesting Germany’s plans to get out of the nuclear business entirely.

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Quebec Mineral Exploration Association (AEMQ) calls on Quebec to play by the rules – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – October 30, 2012)

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Concern is mounting within the industry as the Quebec government mulls a ban on uranium exploration. This news is creating uncertainty in Quebec’s mining industry, particularly with respect to Strateco Resources’ Matoush project in the Otish Mountains roughly 200 km from Chibougamau and Mistissini.

Strateco has been working at Matoush since 2006, and says it is considered one of the highest grade uranium projects in the world. At Dec. 31, 2011, the deposit had an indicated resource of 453,000 tonnes grading 0.78% U3O8, containing 7.78 million lb of yellowcake. There is also an inferred resource of 2.04 million tonnes grading 0.43% U3O8 and containing 19.22 million lb of U3O8 using a cut-off grade of 0.10%.

Between 2008 and 2012, Strateco conducted rigorous studies into the impact of the Matoush project, which have been independently monitored and verified. Following these studies, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) approved an underground exploration program at Matoush earlier this month. The licence is valid until Oct. 31, 2017.

The alarm is being raised by the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association (AEQM).

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Opposition on uranium mines won’t change: Cree – by Michelle Lalonde (Montreal Gazette – October 23, 2012)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

MONTREAL — The next step in the proposed uranium mine project near Mistissini in northern Quebec got a green light from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission last week, but even the commission acknowledges that the Cree Nation is waving a big red stop sign.

Chief Robert Shecapio flew down to Montreal from his community of Mistissini, north of Chibaugamau, this month to draw attention to his community’s intense opposition to uranium mining. That position is held widely across the nine Cree nations of northern Quebec, not to mention hundreds of municipalities all over the province that have passed resolutions against it.

“We are not opposed to any other kind of development foreseen in our territory … (but as for uranium), our opposition will not change.” Shecapio told The Gazette last week.

The Matoush Project is the most advanced of about 20 proposed uranium mining projects for northern Quebec, and was part of the defeated Liberal government’s much-vaunted Plan Nord. While the Parti Québécois called for a moratorium on uranium mining in 2009, the party was less clear on the issue during the recent election campaign.

Environment Minister Daniel Breton and his aide Danielle Rioux have refused repeated requests for an interview with The Gazette on the issue over the last two weeks.

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PRESS RELEASE: NUCLEAR: DOCTORS SUPPORT THE MORATORIUM ON URANIUM EXPLORATION AND LAUNCH OF A GENERIC BAPE PROCESS FOR URANIUM MINES IN QUEBEC

PHYSICIANS FOR GLOBAL SURVIVAL (CANADA)

2012.10.23

Physicians for Global Survival (Canada) says it is in total agreement with Quebec Environment Minister Daniel Breton’s decision to impose a moratorium on uranium exploration and to launch a generic BAPE process regarding uranium mining in Quebec.

Some Canadian provinces and US States have already enacted a moratorium on uranium exploration and use: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Virginia. We firmly believe that Quebec must follow suit and that it should seriously study the risks associated with this industry.

There are many reasons why PGS opposes the development of uranium exploration and mining. The first one is that this industry spews enormous quantities of toxic and radioactive wastes into the environment (80-85 per cent of the initial ore mass). Some of these substances have half-lives of thousands of years. Others, such as radon gas, can travel far from the mine site and contaminate the environment. The risk of air, land, groundwater and surface water contamination is quite significant.

We wish to underline that the health risks associated with radioactive substances are already well known and that this knowledge is getting better and better. Uranium causes bone and kidney pathologies and is toxic to the neurological system, liver and embryo.

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Queensland makes U-turn on uranium mining ban – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – October 22, 2012)

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page102055?

One miner describes the just-lifted ban on uranium mines in Queensland “an ideological relic from a previous time.”

HALIFAX, NS (MINEWEB) – Queensland’s state government has decided to drop a decades-long ban on uranium mining, opening up the prospect for development of long held-back uranium projects in the U3O8-rich state.

Paladin Energy, a uranium producer that holds more than 100 million pounds in global U3O8 resources in Queensland, called the outgoing-ban “an ideological relic from a previous time” in a statement lauding the state government’s decision on the uranium mining issue.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman focused much on potential jobs and framed the de-banning in the context of lost economic growth. “It’s been 30 years since there was uranium mining in this State (of Queensland), and in that time Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia have carved out successful uranium industries that deliver jobs and prosperity to their regions,” Newman said in a prepared statement.

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After Fukushima: Canada’s nuclear ambitions – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – October 12, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Canada has emerged as one of the few bright spots in the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report, which cast a looming, Fukushima-shaped shadow on the wider industry.

The country’s nuclear-energy sector raised capacity by 35 megawatts last year and increased its contribution to total electricity to 15.3% from 14.8% in 2010, says the IAEA report, published late last month.

These improvements may seem incremental but they come at a time of great hardship for the global industry. An earthquake, followed by a tsunami, in 2011 left the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan — and the global industry — in a perilous state.

Nuclear power plants have always wrestled with a public relations problem, but the twin Japanese blows shook the industry. Japan, the second-largest producer of nuclear energy in the world and seen as a model for many energy-poor states, retired 12 nuclear power plants in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

“The Fukushima Daiichi accident resulted in a slowing of the expansion of nuclear power but did not reverse it,” says the IAEA in its latest report. Still, the agency’s post-accident projections of global nuclear power capacity in 2030 were 7–8% lower than its previous estimates.

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Canada gears up for China uranium exports – by Carolynne Wheeler (Globe and Mail – September 22, 2012)

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.

BEIJING — Canada’s vision to ship large quantities of oil and natural gas to China will be preceded by another key energy export: uranium.

Shipments of Canadian uranium concentrate are expected to arrive on Chinese shores within a year under a new agreement, once Parliament ratifies a new protocol for trade, says Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

“I just don’t see a lot of roadblocks” to an arrangement that is expected to open the door to some $3-billion in sales over the next decade, possibly starting as soon as six months from now, Mr. Wall said in an interview in Beijing this week. “It’s very significant.”

Saskatchewan-based uranium miner Cameco Corp. joined a major Canadian trade delegation here this month, encouraged by a supplementary protocol to the Canada-China Nuclear Co-operation Agreement negotiated earlier this year by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and signed by Foreign Minister John Baird this summer. The agreement will govern exports of uranium, used to fuel nuclear reactors.

China has 14 reactors now on line, 26 more under construction and several dozen more believed to be in the planning stages, part of its drive to move away from polluting fossil fuels in supplying its energy-hungry industries and population of 1.3 billion.

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