Gov.: Don’t transfer uranium - WY

By STEVE MCMANAMEN, News-Record Writer smcmanamen@gillettenewsrecord.net
Published: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 12:25 PM MDT

Gov. Dave Freudenthal is trying to stop the transfer of $150 to $200 million worth of excess government uranium to the United States Enrichment Corp. that he says will hurt Wyoming’s resurgent uranium mining industry.

Freudenthal wrote a letter to the U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday. “There is no question that the non-competitive introduction of such a large quantity of uranium will adversely impact the uranium producing industry in my state,” he wrote There also would be an extra $450 million of excess government uranium transferred in the next three years, according to the letter.

“The loss of mining and mining-related jobs in Wyoming and elsewhere will be a direct outcome of the Department’s present course,” Freudenthal wrote.

Several uranium mines in Campbell and Sweetwater counties plan to re-open under new ownership in the next year. Uranium One Inc., one of the largest uranium mining operations in the world, plans to make Wyoming the center of its U.S. operations.

The company bought the Irigaray in-situ recovery central processing plant in Johnson County, the Christensen Ranch processing facility in southwest Campbell County and several uranium resources in the Powder River Basin for $35 million. Both processing facilities already are permitted and licensed, and the company hopes to start production next year.

The governor said the company’s plans will be a boost to Wyoming, and these transfers will take away jobs.

“Planned expansions and future operations that will provide long-term, high-paying jobs to Wyoming miners will be postponed or lost if the department continues to drive down the price of uranium through the releases that have been announced,” Freudenthal wrote, adding that the spot market price of uranium has fallen by about 20 percent since the department’s first announcement.

The argument is that federal law requires any Department of Energy sale or transfer to not impact the domestic fuel cycle.

“Given the already softening commercial market, I find it hard to envision that a determination of ‘no adverse material impact’ can be achieved relative to these transfers,” Freudenthal wrote.

The $200 million worth of uranium is more than Uranium One plans to produce annually and could cause a re-play of what happened in Campbell County in the 1990s.

A flood of uranium into the domestic market in the 1990s from decommissioned Soviet nuclear weapons drove down uranium prices to about $8 a pound. The mining operations in Campbell County shut down in 1999 because of the low price.

http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2009/10/06/news/today/news01.txt