Friday, April 23, 2010

AWESOME VIDEO "COULD NUCLEAR POWER SAVE THE PLANET"

In My Personal View This Is One Of The Best Videos In Support Of Nuclear Power Generation I Have Seen, & I'm Sure All That Watch Will Surely Agree.

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

Hosted by Stewart Brand.

* Full Watch Also Available 1.43Hrs*

Be Patient Approx 30sec-1Minute Pre Load Time Required



I Can Highly Recommend Watching The Full 1.43 Hr Video

In the early 1980s Gwyneth Cravens was one of the protesters against the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island, and also participated in ban-the-bomb rallies. After 15 years of deepening familiarity with nuclear power, she says she still would ban the bomb, but she now regrets that the Shoreham reactor was shut down.

Who changed her mind was a nuclear expert at Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, D. Richard Anderson, known as “Rip.” “Here was someone who thinks in thousands of years, about climate, about nuclear waste storage,” she said. “He applies to nuclear issues the same probabilistic risk assessment that helps us understand what we’re facing with climate change.”

One concept that altered Cravens’ perspective was realizing what “baseload” requires. Rip Anderson, on the stage with her, explained that baseload is the fundamental currency of grid power. It is massive power constantly available 24/7. It comes from only three sources— fossil fuels, hydro-electric dams, and nuclear. Hydro is maxed out. Fossil fuels have to be cut back to slow global warming. That leaves only nuclear growth to handle the expected doubling of energy demand in the world by 2030.

Anderson added that his first scientific discipline was oceanography, so one of his greatest concerns about CO2 loading of the atmosphere is that the resulting carbonic acid in the oceans is dissolving the calcifying organisms and could effectively end the crucial carbon sink that oceans provide.

Cravens went into detail about the harm brought by coal, which currently provides 51% of US electricity (while hydro is 7%, nuclear 20%). Estimates are that coal pollution causes 24,000 deaths a year in the US, 400,000 a year in China (not counting the 5,000 who die annually in Chinese coal mines).

She also mentioned the still-incomplete science of the effects of low radiation— the amounts below 10,000 millirems. People encounter much higher levels of natural radiation at higher elevations and in some radon-rich areas, but there is no indication of higher cancer rates in those places. The fears of long-lingering cancer effects in the Chernobyl region have not proven out.

Comparing the environmental footprint of nuclear versus coal was the most persuasive mind-changer for Cravens. Coal involves vast quanities of mine spoil, vast quantities of fuel, vast quantities of pollution (including mercury and uranium), and vast quantities of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere. Nuclear, by contrast, uses the most concentrated form of energy in the world, the plants are small, and the waste amounts to one Coke can per person’s lifetime of energy use.

There is said to be no geological repository for nuclear waste yet, but Rip Anderson pointed out that the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) in a deep salt formation in New Mexico has been operating since 1999. It now handles only military waste, but there is no reason except political that it could not take all of our civilian spent fuel.

Two questions from the audience addressed possible limitations on fast growth of nuclear energy in the world. One was, “Won’t we quickly run out of uranium?” Anderson said that 10% of US electricity currently comes from recycled Soviet nuclear warheads, and we haven’t begun to draw the energy from decommissioned US warheads. The price for uranium ore has been so low in recent decades that mines closed and discovery stopped. Now that the price is rising, mines are reopening and new reserves are being found. (They’re mostly in Canada and Australia, some in the US.) Meanwhile, spent fuel in the US still has 98% of its energy in it. Once we reprocess the spent fuel the way the rest of the world does, we will extract more of that energy, and the final amount of waste will be drastically smaller.

Second question: “Are there enough nuclear engineers in the pipeline to deal with a worldwide nuclear renaissance?” Answer: No. That’s the most limiting resource at this point.

Gwenyth Craven’s new book, The Power to Save the World.



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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

NEWS RE- BLACK RANGE MINERALS Judge Denies Review Of Permit



Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Last Friday, District Judge David Thorson denied a petition for review of the Fremont County Commissioners approval of a conditional use permit for Black Range Minerals to conduct exploration for uranium in the Tallahassee Creek area.

The Tallahassee Area Community, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, along with several residents, filed suit against the county and Black Range seeking review of the final issuance of the CUP in July 2008.


The group claimed the commissioners exceeded their jurisdiction and abused their discretion in issuing the permit by failing to follow the Fremont County Zoning Resolution by not requiring or receiving proof of adequate water for the proposed activity; by not requiring or receiving proof that the proposed activity would not adversely affect surrounding property values; by not requiring or receiving a fire plan; by not properly taking the Fremont County Master Plan into account; and by failing to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents.



In his decision, Thorson addressed each of the plaintiff’s arguments at length and determined that the board’s interpretations of its own zoning regulations and master plan were appropriate.

Black Range initially began exploratory drilling on two large, privately-owned ranches in 2007, without permit. They were required to halt operations in January 2008 by the county and seek the CUP.

Public hearing on the application were held by both the Fremont County Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners prior to the board’s final approval in July 2008.

Thorson said he reviewed the voluminous record of the proceedings and evidence considered by the board in coming to his decision.





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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

AUSTRALIAN URANIUM MINER ENERGY RESOURCES HIT BY LOWER PRODUCTION


ENERGY Resources of Australia says softer market conditions are taking their toll and will influence average sale prices expected during the first half of 2010.

The Darwin-based miner had previously given guidance that average realised sales prices in 2010 were expected to be similar to 2009, but said today that softer market conditions now looked set to have an influence on prices in the first half.

ERA produces about 10 per cent of the world's uranium from its Ranger mine in the Northern Territory.

The miner also said production fell sharply in the first quarter of 2010, after lower grades and weather impacts took their toll. First quarter uranium output was down 27 per cent on year to 888 tonnes.

The Rio Tinto subsidiary said in a statement that average ore grades processed during the quarter of 0.17 per cent uranium were down 41 per cent on the previous corresponding period.

Material mined also fell 60 per cent on year and ERA said this was mainly due to precautionary work on an area of instability on the south wall of the Ranger open pit and seasonal weather impacts.

ERA had previously indicated it was expecting to experience lower grades in the first half of 2010 and the miner said it expects second quarter output to be in line with the first quarter.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Crossland Uranium Drilling Starts At Kalabity Project




Crossland Uranium Mines (ASX: CUX) has commenced drilling at its Kalabity uranium project in the Curnamona Craton province of South Australia.

The Kalabity drilling marks the start of an accelerated 2010 Australian exploration program by Crossland and its Canadian-based joint venture partner, Pancontinental Uranium Corp (TSX: PUC), which includes seven drill programs to be conducted across its SA and Northern Territory projects.

Geoff Eupene, Crossland’s CEO, said the Kalabity drill program - aimed at establishing the grade and distribution of uranium in the project’s Tabita Prospect - consisted of up to 1,500 metres of aircore drilling and excavator trenching.

Approximately 75 shallow holes are expected to be drilled in this program.

The Tabita Prospect at Kalabity represents a quite different style of mineralization in this area, where davidite is usually the main uranium bearing mineral in other nearby prospects.

On current available information, while Tabita appears to contain carnotite, the uranium vanadium mineral that is common in calcrete deposits, the prospect is not a calcrete channel deposit. The region around Tabita is on a slightly elevated area between streams, but the soils there carry gypsum, calcium sulphate.

We delayed our drilling on this SA prospect for a year to focus on our NT properties, so we are anxious to finally test this near-surface opportunity. The program will consist of aircore drilling and trenching and is designed to quickly evaluate the thickness, grade and extent of the mineralization at Tabita.

Crossland Uranium Mines shares rose 27% to 14 cents in trading today.