Bush's nuclear renaissance has taken a huge hit since
the election of Obama. There is a major legislative battle in the US
congress to give nuclear power a blank check. The outcome is still unclear.
However, the nuclear industry's attempt to push through new reactors
and the Yucca Mountain n-waste repository have been slowed. Prior to
the economic downturn the industry was boasting plans to build up to
35 new reactors. If they fail to get their heavily lobbied free lunch,
they'll be lucky if 4 reactors get built. The price of uranium has taken
a large fall over the last year taking much of the wind out of the international
push for uranium mining. The
Enron Waiver was used to artificially jack up the price of uranium
around the world.
The Bush administration's attempt to launch a new the
cold war with Russia has been closed down. The US gets nearly 90% of
its uranium fuel from outside the country, with much of it coming from
Russia. Russia was recently given direct access to the U.S. uranium
market. Attempts to open a new uranium mine in Dineh land has been slowed
although attempts to open up mines across the west continue from South
Dakota to Arizona.
The US will never be able to become energy dependent using
uranium. At best it is a 2nd rate country in terms of uranium resources.
Other countries like Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan or Namibia have far
greater resources and can produce uranium cheaper. Today, there are
still thousands of uranium abandoned uranium mines, mostly on tribal
lands that have yet to be cleaned up. See the other sections of this
report for details. Furthermore, the last time this industry got into
trouble, it was bailed out by congress with over $8 billion, only to
still collapse. Where did all that money go to?
In-situ
leaching (ISL), also called in-situ recovery (ISR) or solution mining,
is a process of recovering minerals such as copper and uranium through
boreholes drilled into the deposit. The process initially involves drilling
of holes into the ore deposit. Explosive or hydraulic fracturing may
be used to create open pathways in the deposit for solution to penetrate.
Leaching solution is pumped into the deposit where it makes contact
with the ore. The solution bearing the dissolved ore content is then
pumped to the surface and processed. This process allows the extraction
of metals and salts from an ore body without the need for conventional
mining involving drill-and-blast, open-cut or underground mining.
For a detailed video news story about ISL uranium mining,
go to this news site and click on the video media links just below the
title. You will see an extensive Australian investigative report on
ISL mining.
Uranium mining in the United States declined drastically
in the 1980s, but has revived since 2001 due to higher uranium prices.
The average spot price of uranium oxide (U3O8) increased from $7.92
per pound in 2001 to $39.48 per pound in 2006. This page has a state
by state review of uranium mining in the U.S.
A
modern day land rush is sweeping the West, with mining interests and
speculators staking thousands of claims that are encroaching on American
treasures including the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Arches, and Yosemite
National Parks. The United States' outdated mining law written in 1872
leaves these lands vulnerable to severe impacts.A new Environmental
Working Group analysis of government records shows that in 12 Western
states, the total number of active mining claims has increased from
207,540 in January 2003 to 376,493 in July 2007-a rise of more than
80 percent. Between September 2006 and May 2007 alone, companies and
individuals staked more than 50,000 claims (BLM 2007).
Check
out the report here Uranium prices are climbing, CPS wants new nukes, and
prospectors are scrambling. So why isn’t Goliad County happy?GOLIAD
COUNTY– Twenty-six years ago, a man in a Cadillac pulled into Elder
Abrameit’s drive. From the porch, the visitor said he had found
the rancher through the land office, that he wanted to drill for uranium
on his land.“I told him he was in the wrong business,” said
Abrameit. “I said, you need to go out and drill [for oil] and you’ll
be paid off in two years.”The visitor restated his interest in
uranium. He said his company was ready to spend $3 million to find it.
That got him in the door.
According to the Navajos, a monster is something that
gets in the way of a successful life. These monsters were born when
an evil act was committed, when people transgressed. In ancient times,
Navajos were destroyed by monsters which roamed their traditional lands.
The Hero Twins gained the wisdom and skills to slay these monsters.
Teddy Nez, a Navajo rancher and Vietnam War veteran, lives
practically in the shadow of a 40-foot-high pile of radioactive waste
abutting his small home outside of Gallup, N.M. Nez has colon cancer,
which he treats with herbs — but not with ones growing near his
house, because those could be contaminated with uranium.
Based on the arguments presented above, it is my expert
opinion that ISL mining in the Crawford, Nebraska area should not be
allowed to continue until the potential contaminant pathways of the
White River alluvium and the SW-NE and NW-SE trending fault zones are
examined and monitored.
This is WISE's official uranium mining status page on
all operations in the U.S. its up to date.
controversy brews up as Powertech gets hit with $1 million
fine. NRC is hiring hundreds of employees as it opens up the west to
ISL mining...
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission will receive comments
until October 7 on a generic draft environmental impact statement for
in-situ leach uranium recovery operations. NRC said it developed the
draft EIS jointly with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.
The draft EIS would apply to at least four western states -- Wyoming,
South Dakota, Nebraska and New Mexico -- where NRC said uranium milling
companies have indicated an interest in seekingNRC licenses.
The
Energy Net 
