Victory! Virginia keeps the ban on uranium mining!

A proposal to end Virginia’s 31-year ban on uranium mining suffered a major defeat on January 31 before a state Senate panel. Lacking the votes to win, Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, withdrew his bill in the Agriculture Committee. That killed the measure for the 2013 session. Mining opponents claimed victory, saying any effort to lift the mining ban is probably dead this year — and maybe well beyond. The Keep the Ban movement brought together environmental organizations, the Virginia Farm Bureau, the Virginia chapter of the NAACP and, most recently, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors. Virginia has a 30-year ban on uranium mining. The uranium industry made making a well-financed push to repeal the ban in order to mine and process uranium, starting in Southside Virginia. Drinking water, human health, farmland, property values, wildlife and tourism across Virginia were at risk. Virginia Uranium, the company that planned to mine the Coles Hill site, will not likely go quietly, but the proposal is once again stymied for the time being.

Utah uranium mining operations suspended

Reports Uranium Watch: It has taken only 5 years for the most recent uranium mining boom in Utah to hit bottom.  In 2012, Energy Fuels Inc. acquired the Denison Mines Corporation’s United States uranium interests through a buyout/merger process.  These interest include the White Mesa Mill, the operating La Sal Mines Complex and Daneros Mine in San Juan County and other mines and mining claims in Utah, Colorado, and Arizona.  Subsequently, Energy Fuels announced they would place their operating Utah mines on standby and would concentrate on operating their mines on the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon.  Energy Fuels’ US subsidiary, Energy Fuels Resources Inc. (EFR), has suspended operations at the La Sal/Beaver Shaft and Daneros Mine.  Originally EFR announced that they would reclaim the Pandora Mine, but later stated they would also temporarily suspend the Pandora Mine operations. 

The Moab office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is still reviewing the Plan of Operations Amendment (POA) for the La Sal Mines Complex and completing the Environmental Assessment.  The POA includes the updated provisions for the reclamation of the La Sal, Snowball, Beaver Shaft, and Pandora Mines.  These must be approved by the BLM.

Energy Fuels will now have 9 uranium mines in Utah that are permitted but not operating: Beaver Shaft/La Sal/Snowball, Daneros, Energy Queen, Pandora, Pine Ridge, Redd Block No. 4, Rim, Sage, and Tony M Mines.  The BLM and the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining have specific regulations that apply to the long-term suspension of mining operations.  The regulations are inadequate and have not been fully implemented and enforced.

The decisions to suspend mining operations in Utah are decisions based on the economic viability of the Energy Fuels.  It is not know when, or if, these mines will resume operation.  Some of these mines have been kept on standby for over 10 years without the required approval of the Oil, Gas, and Mining Board.

Uranium Watch is following the recent suspension uranium mine operations and the status of other mines that are non-operational but have not been remediated.

VICTORY! No radioactive waste dump in Cumbria, UK

The land of Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and friends has thankfully been reprieved. From the BBC: Plans to look for a site for a £12bn ($19 billion) underground nuclear waste store in Cumbria have been rejected. Cumbria County Council vetoed an advanced "stage four" search for a site for the radioactive waste facility. The stage included detailed geological investigations and discussions over the social and economic implications. The Department for Energy and Climate Change said it was "disappointed" but the no vote would not "undermine" the long-term disposal of nuclear waste.

There were huge cheers from environmental campaigners outside the council chamber in Carlisle when the decision was announced. 

The land of Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and friends has thankfully been reprieved. From the BBC: Plans to look for a site for a £12bn ($19 billion) underground nuclear waste store in Cumbria have been rejected. Cumbria County Council vetoed an advanced "stage four" search for a site for the radioactive waste facility. The stage included detailed geological investigations and discussions over the social and economic implications. The Department for Energy and Climate Change said it was "disappointed" but the no vote would not "undermine" the long-term disposal of nuclear waste.There were huge cheers from environmental campaigners outside the council chamber in Carlisle when the decision was announced. 

Arnie Gundersen: "REPAIRS AT FOUR NUCLEAR REACTORS ARE SO EXPENSIVE THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE RESTARTED"

Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds' nuclear engineerIn the most recent Fairewinds Energy Education weekly podcast, "REPAIRS AT FOUR NUCLEAR REACTORS ARE SO EXPENSIVE THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE RESTARTED," Fairewinds' nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen (photo, left) lays out the case as to why the atomic reactors at Fort Calhoun, Nebraska on the Missouri River, Crystal River in Florida, and San Onofre Units 2 & 3 in southern California should all be permanently shutdown.

In the second half of the program, Arnie also discusses a recent letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and an accompanying press release, from U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), which expressed strong opposition to U.S. Department of Energy plans to "recycle" radioactive metals and other materials from its nuclear facilities (such as nuclear weapons complex sites, uranium enrichment facilities, national labs, etc.) into consumer products.

Rating agencies: cracked Crystal River 3 may be down for the count

The magnitude of Crystal River's containment cracksAs reported by SNL, Fitch and UBS have indepenently cast doubt on the likelihood, given the cost (into the billions of dollars), that Duke/Progress Energy's Crystal River Unit 3 in Citrus County, Florida will ever be repaired and returned to operations. Crystal River has been shutdown ever since severe cracking (see photo, left) was discovered in its concrete containment shell, nearly three and a half years ago. The utility accidentally cracked the containment itself, while attempting an in-house steam generator replacement.

The article reports that ratepayers will not be charged $388 million for replacement power, but "a settlement agreement with the Florida Office of Public Counsel and several interest groups...stipulates the parties will not oppose Duke's full recovery of all plant investment should it decide to retire the plant," meaning that the public could still get stuck with the bill for a disastrous engineering mistake the nuclear utility itself made.

Duke/Progress Energy has variously attempted to foist repair or cost recovery bills on its insurance provider, its ratepayers via the Florida Public Service Commission, and even the rest of the nuclear power industry.

Beyond Nuclear has helped lead environmental coalition efforts to block Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension, due to severe cracking in its concrete Shield Building.