A CALL TO ACTION!

Comment: Remember the NRC is a federal part of gov't and they are there to make money!!!

Articles from 2008: Cameco recently paid $1 million in penalties to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality because of violations related to years-long delays in the restoration of groundwater and a seriously inadequate bond to cover restoration. As the nation's largest uranium producer, and largest in-situ leach uranium mine, it was a major public relations set-back for an industry that hopes to launch dozens of new in-situ mines across the West.

By George Ledbetter, Chadron Record staff

CHADRON, Neb. -- The four-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission has overruled a panel of the federal agency's administrative judges on several key issues raised by opponents of the Crow Butte uranium mine, including a challenge to the legality of licensing a foreign-owned company to extract radioactive material in the United States.

In a May 18 ruling regarding renewal of the license for the Crow Butte in situ leach mining operation near Crawford, the NRC also dismissed an argument that the mine releases low levels of arsenic into drinking water supplies. Critics had claimed that contributed to increased diabetes and pancreatic cancer on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, about 30 miles away.

The NRC called that argument "speculative" and based on a study that doesn't show the mine causes any arsenic contamination.

"There is nothing in the Arsenic Study that tends to show that Crow Butte's operation is likely to, or already has, released arsenic," the ruling said.

A spokesman for Cameco Corp., the Canadian-based owner of the Crow Butte mine, said the company is particularly pleased to have a resolution of the foreign ownership issue.

"We are grateful that our ownership is clearly permitted under U.S. law and has been reported properly," Ken Vaughn said Wednesday from Cameco's office in Casper, Wyo.

The license renewal had been the subject of a September 2008 hearing in Chadron by the administrative law panel, and the foreign ownership issue was to be argued again at a June 11 session in Rapid City, S.D.

Because of the decision by the full NRC, the June hearing will likely be canceled, though further proceedings on other issues are expected next spring, Vaughn said.

The Crow Butte mine has been in operation since 1991. The leaching process used to extract uranium from underground layers of sandstone involves injecting a solution of bicarbonate of soda into the uranium-bearing ore body, then pumping the water out and removing the dissolved material, which is sold as "yellowcake" uranium for use in electric power generation. The Crow Butte mine produces about 800,000 pounds of yellowcake a year. Cameco, which is the world's largest producer of uranium, has also applied for a permit to mine the "North Trend" at a site one mile north of Crawford, about 8 miles from the existing mine.

The company has also said it has longer-range plans for expansions south of Fort Robinson State Park and northeast of Marsland.

Several individuals and organizations have registered objections to renewing the mine's 10-year operating license, and in a separate proceeding, to a permit for the 2,100 acre "North Trend" expansion.

Among the individuals opposing the mine are Debra White Plume of Pine Ridge, S.D., and Thomas Cook of Chadron. The groups include the Western Nebraska Resource Council and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Cameco has owned the Crow Butte mine since 2000, but opponents said the NRC had not properly considered issues involved with a foreign firm producing nuclear materials in the U.S. Uranium exported from the Crow Butte mine might end up in the hands of a nation that does not share America's interests, they said.

Cameco's attorneys countered that the NRC had been fully informed when it took over the mine and that any national security issues are handled when the company applies for export licenses for the material it produces.

In directing the administrative panel to dismiss the foreign ownership objection, the NRC said there is no legal ban on foreign ownership of a "source materials" license and that objections to sending the material to another country can be heard under export license proceedings.

Vaughn said he expects the foreign ownership issue will also be dismissed from consideration in the North Trend expansion permit hearings. "It's a similar issue. We assume it will be resolved similarly," he said.

In its decision, the NRC agreed to let arguments continue on some of the issues raised by the mine opponents, including the potential for contamination of the White River and whether the most recent research on the region's geology has been used in determining the potential for contamination of underground water layers.

Vaughn said that Cameco will continue working with the NRC staff to answer those questions. "We are confident that our operations are safe and environmentally sound," he said.

Although uranium prices have fallen significantly from the peaks they hit in recent years, Cameco is still proceeding with plans for expansion of the Crow Butte mine, according to Vaughn.
"We take a long-term view," he said. "One of our focuses is growth, and that's what we are working towards."

http://rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/05/23/news/local/doc4a16e676d991a183193602.txt
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2008/08/21/news/wyoming/ac2406424d552cca872574ac00086596.txt