ARZM..do you know what it means?

An article in the Salt Lake Tribune (Sunday December 12, 2010) is of great interest, not only to people in Utah, but also those in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Texas; with a much broader ripple effect to the United States security and that of it’s allies. A Canadian company, Uranium One, holds title to 10,000 acres of uranium claims in those states; and in Utah that includes a town (Ticaboo), the Shootaring Canyon mine and uranium mill. While the mill is not in operation at this time, the exploration for uranium has been ongoing, and the mill is kept in a state of readiness until the price of U3O8 increases to approximately $7.50 per pound, (as of December 14, 2010 $6.80 and rising) at which time it becomes economically feasible to re-start the mill, which employees a “crushing and leaching’ method of extraction, where the raw material is mined in conventional fashion and then leached on the surface, as described below.

In Wyoming, their projects include the Willow Creek, Moore Ranch, JAB and Antelope projects. These projects ship “Loaded Resin” to Willow Creek for drying into U3O8 which is Triuranium octoxide, the base material, known commonly as “yellowcake”, for much of the world’s nuclear power plants. It can be converted to use a nuclear material for non-peaceful purposes. Uranium One’s projects and processing mills in Wyoming are in operation at this time. The properties in Texas and South Dakota are not in operation at this time, however, like their sister projects in Wyoming, these will be developed as “wells” into which a leaching solution is pumped, then the leach material and the Triuranium octoxide are pumped to the surface and processed into loaded resin and shipped for drying. This leaching process, known as ISL or in situ leaching, is a relatively “benign” process as far as current studies report. Unlike less developed nations (Kazakhstan) which use an acid as the leach material, the projects in the United States are limited to an alkaline leach, usually a mix of sodium bicarbonate and carbon dioxide. United States protocols demand test wells driven on the perimeter of the sites to monitor ground water affects from the ISL processes. If we make the presumption that the processes are as safe as U.S. government studies say they are, where is the concern?

The first concern is water supply to the mines and wells. In the western United States, water is a valuable commodity, and using it in leaching processes makes it unsuitable for consumption until properly treated, adding costs to the project. The second environmental concern is of the disposal of the overburden, or waste materials produced by conventional shaft mining, as well as “well mining”. The overburden material is radioactive, and a byproduct of the material is Radon Gas. The effects of “small amounts” of Radon Gas dispersed into the atmosphere are not currently known. In situ leaching does affect ground water, and according to Uranium One, the leaching material is maintained to a neutral value, much the value of common vinegar. Ground water monitoring “insures” the PH value of the leaching material.

So, again, what is the concern? Uranium One has been sold to a Russian mining company, Atomredmetzolo (ARZM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosatom, the Russian nuclear agency (similar in form to our NRC). Although four members of Congress petitioned the U.S. Treasury Department to disallow the sale of Uranium One’s assets to ARZM, Treasury has approved Uranium One’s planned sale to ARZM, as have the NRC and the Utah division of Radiation Control. The Utah DRC approval was based on “written documentation that there would be no changes in the operations.” This email –yes email- documentation said, and I quote, “ decisions with regard to the day-to-day operations of the Shootaring Mill will be made by the management of Uranium One Exploration U.S.A. Inc., in coordination with Scott Schierman as the Corporate Radiation Safety Officer for the Shootaring Canyon Mill…”

The problem is with the ultimate parent “company”, which is the Russian nuclear agency, Rosatom, which has been accused, and never cleared, of selling nuclear material (yellowcake) to Iran for its’ nuclear program.

So, we have put one of our national resources, uranium, up for sale to the Russian government, who can use the product for whatever it likes, including selling yellowcake to nations that are working not in the best interests of the United Sates. In the process, we are diverting a scarce national resource, water, into the manufacture of products that could, conceivably, be used against us in warfare.

There is something wrong with this picture!

Sweet Dream

The dream inside of me
Is of people living free
Free from hunger and want
Sheltered from the storm.

The dream inside of me
Is to see the newspaper say
There is no bad news
For us to print today.

The dream inside of me
Is a world united
Neighbors help each other
And night is not feared.

The dream inside of me
Is for streets to be safe
Children playing
No gunfire to be heard.

The dream inside of me
Is of people growing old
Knowing there is food
And warmth around them.

The dream inside of me
Is of teachers being paid
And philosophy and reason
Being the orders of the day.

The dream inside of me
Is the dream of America
As the Lady was meant to be
Why does that alarm clock keep ringing?