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16 million tons of uranium mill tailings moving away from Colorado River site
Crews have taken the first bites out of the old uranium mill-tailings pile in Moab, Utah, beginning a yearslong process of transferring it far from the Colorado River.
Abut 630,000 tons will have been moved from Moab to the disposal cell near Crescent Junction by year’s end, said Wendee Ryan of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Energy Department and its contractor, Energy Solutions Corp., began moving the tailings pile this year.
Moab residents and downstream water providers lobbied for years to have the 16-million-ton pile of mill tailings moved from its spot along the north bank of the Colorado River to a cell up against the Bookcliff Mountains at Crescent Junction that is deemed less likely to contaminate the river.
The pile is being moved by train from Moab to the disposal cell 30 miles north.
Two companies push Uranium mining in region
The uranium industry was born on the west end of Energy Alley, the run from Green River, Utah, to Rifle. It has burst into bloom and sputtered to obscurity more than once.
Like the half-lives by which radiation is judged to decay, though, the industry never has died. Two companies are burrowing into the red bluffs and canyons of western Colorado and eastern Utah to dig out uranium and start the process of generating electricity.
Although the history of the uranium industry in the region goes back to Madame Curie and her discoveries in the late 19th century, the supply is far from played out.
Miners dug out about 250 million pounds of uranium for the World II and Cold War efforts, said George Glasier, president and CEO of Energy Fuels Inc., a Canadian, publicly traded company.
Boom and bust of the area uranium industry
The uranium industry was born on the west end of Energy Alley, the run from Green River, Utah, to Rifle. It has burst into bloom and sputtered to obscurity more than once.
Like the half-lives by which radiation is judged to decay, though, the industry never has died. Two companies are burrowing into the red bluffs and canyons of western Colorado and eastern Utah to dig out uranium and start the process of generating electricity.
Although the history of the uranium industry in the region goes back to Madame Curie and her discoveries in the late 19th Century, the supply is far from played out.
Miners dug out about 250 million pounds of uranium for the World II and Cold War efforts, said George Glasier, president and CEO of Energy Fuels Inc., a Canadian, publicly traded company.
In pushing nuclear power, Udall battling the Homer Simpson factor « Colorado Independent
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.
Residents voice uranium project concerns | The Coloradoan
Speakers at Nunn meeting share opinions about proposed uranium mine and pump test
NUNN - Standing before a crowd of more than 100 people Monday night, Fort Collins resident Diane Marschke said she doesn't think it matters if Powertech USA's proposed Centennial Project uranium mine pollutes the water.
"When people hear there's a uranium mine 10 miles away, they aren't going to come here," she said.
Marschke and about 15 others confronted U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency officials at the Nunn Community Center with their opinions about a proposed water pump test that will tell Powertech if its in situ leaching method of uranium mining is viable in the area.
To conduct the test, the company needs a "Class V" permit from the EPA, which will allow Powertech to pump water out of the uranium-containing Fox Hills aquifer, store it, then reinject the water back into the aquifer. The permit will not allow the company to mine for uranium.
Report: BLM OKs plan to drill near Colorado nuclear-blast site - Denver Business Journal:
The federal Bureau of Land Management has agreed to Noble Energy’s plan to drill 79 natural-gas wells in western Colorado near the site of an underground nuclear blast 40 years ago, according to a news report Monday.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Noble Energy will drill the wells over the next three to five years, and that gas produced by the wells will be tested for radioactivity.
In 1969, a federal test called Project Rulison was conducted to determine if nuclear blasts could be used to retrieve natural gas deep underground. A nuclear device was set off about 8,400 feet underground near Rulison, Colo.
Powertech USA on track for Centennial Project uranium mining northeast of Fort Collins | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan
"Hot Town," a 1971 story in Time Magazine, begins this way:
"Except on the coldest days of the Colorado winter, the doors of the Pomona Elementary School annex, on the outskirts of Grand Junction, are opened during recess. The reason is that the building is radioactive.
"Unless the rooms are aired, radioactive gases and particles seeping through the floors cause radiation in the school rooms to rise dangerously above safe levels."
The school, just like 593 other homes and buildings across the city, was built on radioactive fill from a uranium mill on the south side of Grand Junction.
Radiation-related illnesses began to appear, spurring a massive federal cleanup project that lasted for more than 15 years.
Since cleansed of much of its radioactive waste, Grand Junction's nuclear legacy remains near the heart of Colorado's colorful 139-year uranium mining history, which is full of stories of uranium boom, bust and massive cleanup efforts statewide.
Uranium digs up major players | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan
In situ leach uranium mining has a lot of followers these days.
Also called solution mining, it is the method Powertech USA plans to use in extracting uranium at its Centennial Project site in Weld County, about 15 miles northeast of Fort Collins.
But Powertech isn't the only solution uranium mining player in Weld County. Two other companies, Geovic Mining Corp. and Black Range Minerals, are on the sidelines waiting for the right time to push their in situ leach uranium mining plans forward.
In situ, or "in place," leach mining works this way: Water infused with sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, is pumped underground and into the formation containing uranium.
The uranium is dissolved in the sodium bicarbonate solution as it is pumped through the ore and then to the surface, where the solution is processed and the uranium is recovered.
Proposal for uranium mill moves to next phase
The Pinon Ridge Uranium Mill to be located 12 miles west of Naturita got initial approval Friday on its application to build a mining facility.
But that doesn’t mean the Paradox Valley plant is anywhere near approved to actually be built, said Warren Smith, community involvement manager for the radiation program of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
All Friday’s announcement means is Energy Fuels Resources Corp. had all the pieces it needed to go forward with the next licensing phase, which is far more technical, he said.
Smith said the approval triggers a yearlong comprehensive technical review by the department, which means the company will have to provide detailed information about various aspects of the project’s construction and hold a series of formal public hearings on each.
Activists contest EPA actions on proposed mine - KRDO.com Colorado Springs and Pueblo News, Weather and Sports
ctivists claim that the Environmental Protection Agency is working behind closed doors to draft permit rules for a first-of-its-kind uranium mine in northern Colorado.
An EPA spokesman says the agency has consulted with Powertech USA, which wants to build the mine, but hasn't drafted any policy or rules for the permit.
Attorney Jeff Parsons of the Western Mining Action Project says documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show the EPA is developing rules in violation of federal laws requiring public involvement.
Powertech USA wants to mine uranium about 70 miles north of Denver by injecting a solution underground to dissolve and extract the mineral.
Mine rules still on drawing board | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan
Early next year, proposed rules Powertech USA must play by to open and operate its proposed uranium mine northeast of Fort Collins will be formally ironed out.
For most of this year, the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety has been busy drafting proposed rules for how Powertech must protect the environment and groundwater if and when it constructs its mine, slated for a site in Weld County about 15 miles northeast of Fort Collins.
The proposed rules allow for public input on the mine and set requirements for how the company must clean contaminants from the groundwater.
The rules govern in situ leach uranium mines, which include the Centennial Project and another proposed uranium mine near Grover west of the Pawnee Buttes.
Radioactive mill tailings still an issue | GJFreePress.com
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.
Telluride environmental group sues Montrose County over uranium mill « Colorado Independent
Montrose County commissioners met in secret and had already made up their minds before approving a special use permit for a uranium mill in the Paradox Valley, a lawsuit filed in Montrose County District Court alleges.
The suit, filed by the Telluride-based environment organization Sheep Mountain Alliance, also accuses the commissioners of inadequately weighing the air and water quality impacts of an industrial milling operation in a valley zoned for agriculture.
Paradox Valley
Paradox Valley
The county attorney had not yet seen the suit and therefore couldn’t comment on its merits, according to the Telluride Daily Planet, but a representative of the company proposing the Piñon Ridge Mill, Energy Fuels of Ontario, Canada, said he expected such a delaying tactic.
The Associated Press: Planned uranium mill near Naturita gets local OK
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.
Colorado delegation pens letter to dissuade mercury storage plan
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu could remove Grand Junction from the list of potential mercury-storage sites and he should do just that, Colorado’s senators and a congressman said.
“We believe there is abundant evidence to characterize this proposal as unreasonable and respectfully urge that you eliminate from further review the alternative for storing mercury in Mesa County,” the Colorado officials said.
Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. John Salazar, all Democrats, sent the letter on Thursday.
DOWNLOAD THE LETTER.
Colorado Independent » Colorado officials: Yellowcake uranium trucks ‘can go wherever they want’
State says material 'doesn’t really present that much of a hazard'; plans to truck sulfuric acid into Montrose County site
MONTROSE — Opponents of a proposed uranium mill in southwestern Colorado near the Utah state line may be relieved to hear that state officials in charge of overseeing the transport of incoming ore and outgoing yellowcake don’t actually consider such things “nuclear materials.”
Uranium yellowcake and sulfuric acid would be carted along I-70 in Colorado
By state statute, uranium ore and processed yellowcake, used to make fuel rods for nuclear reactors, are considered mere hazardous materials and therefore not limited to transportation along the state’s designated nuclear materials routes.
“When you’re dealing with yellowcake shipments, they get carried in pretty much a dump truck,” said Capt. Allan Turner of the Colorado State Patrol’s Hazardous Materials Transport Safety and Response (HMTSR) team.
Colorado Independent » Proposed uranium mill deeply divides southwestern Colorado communities
Montrose County commissioners delayed a decision on a controversial uranium mill proposal Wednesday after nearly six hours of public testimony that underscored deep divisions between longtime mining families and residents of neighboring Telluride and San Miguel County.
The Pinon Ridge Mill would be located on the far western edge of Montrose County, in the Paradox Valley near the Utah border, but the uranium and vanadium processing mill — capable of producing enough fuel rods to power a city one and half times the size of Denver — has been meeting with stiff opposition from residents of Telluride and Ridgway.
They argue the mill will re-stigmatize the area once known as the capital of the global uranium industry, irreparably damaging the region’s new reputation as an outdoor recreation mecca and international tourism destination.
Proponents counter the western end of Montrose County has been severely depressed for decades, struggling for jobs and a sustainable economy since the last big uranium boom tapered off in the 1970s and ’80s in the wake of nuclear power-plant disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. They also say technology has changed dramatically since the days when Uravan produced uranium for the first atomic weapons but is now a toxic ghost town.
A dubious decision
There’s no legal problem here, officials with the U.S. Department of Energy say. Storing mercury at a federal site south of Whitewater won’t violate the terms of an agreement the DOE signed with Mesa County more than a decade ago, a top official with the agency said.
Well, that’s a relief, at least to federal officials eager to find a permanent disposal site for thousands of tons of mercury. But it’s not very reassuring to Mesa County residents who believed they had a commitment from the DOE years ago to keep the site near Whitewater free of additional hazardous wastes.
That desert disposal site, originally known as Cheney Reservoir, was created to store millions of tons of low-level radioactive waste in the form of mill tailings from uranium milling that occurred in Grand Junction in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.
40 years later, dust still hasn't settled from Project Rulison nuclear blast
The ground rippled when a nuclear blast shattered the earth beneath Doghead Mountain south of Rulison 40 years ago, witnesses remember.
“It was an ocean wave that came across the valley, and you could see it coming at you clear as a bell,” said Cristy Koeneke, who was a college freshman watching the detonation of Project Rulison from an observation tent set up several miles away, across the Colorado River.
The Project Rulison experiment was conducted Sept. 10, 1969. The federal government and private companies were trying to free natural gas from underground sandstone formations. The experiment continues to cause reverberations today because of the nuclear contamination it left behind.
The gas Project Rulison produced was less than anticipated and too radioactive to use. But hydraulic fracturing subsequently has unlocked the enormous gas reserves in the Rulison area and elsewhere in the Piceance Basin
N. Colo. town passes measure opposing uranium mine - KRDO.com Colorado Springs and Pueblo News, Weather and Sports
The Nunn town board has passed a resolution opposing a planned uranium mine near the northern Colorado town.
The board voted 4-2 Thursday for the measure. One trustee abstained.
The resolution can't prevent Powertech Uranium Corp. from building its mine. But the mine's opponents hope it will affect state decisions on the project.
The Canadian company has proposed a $20 million uranium mine about 70 miles north of Denver. It has bought mineral rights and applied for permits.
Powertech plans to use a process called in-situ mining, which involves pumping treated water into uranium-laced deposits to dissolve the mineral so the uranium can be pumped to the surface.
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