If government environmental overseers grant a license to build the nation’s first uranium mill since the Cold War in western Colorado, project leaders then would turn their attention to China, Korea and other Asian powers.
That’s where Energy Fuels Inc. would seek financing for its proposed $140 million uranium-processing facility, officials said last week. And yellowcake uranium made in Colorado likely would be sent to fuel Asian power plants.
A lack of action by U.S. Congress and utilities to encourage nuclear energy alternatives “just about requires us to look overseas,” said Gary Steele, Energy Fuels’ vice president for investor relations. “You have to go where the market is. Just pick an Asian country. That’s where all the action is now.”
Energy Fuels has hired a Hong Kong-based agent who is approaching bankers in China and elsewhere. “The product we provide is essentially totally fungible and can be used at any nuclear facility in the world,” said chief executive Steve Antony. “We’d like to see it used here in the United States.”
Currently, 20 percent of U.S. electricity is generated by nuclear plants, which emit less pollution than coal-fired power plants. The problem: waste from mining and milling of uranium. Uranium mills pulverize ore, then extract concentrated uranium using sulfuric acid — leaving heaps of toxic radioactive waste. Government regulatory hurdles are huge.
In Colorado, a Cotter Corp. uranium mill near Cañon City that poisoned groundwater still has not been cleaned up, despite 25 years on the nation’s Superfund list of environmental disasters.
Only one conventional uranium mill operates in the U.S., near Blanding, Utah, forcing nuclear power plants to import most of their fuel from abroad.
Energy Fuels proposes to build its Piñon Ridge mill in Colorado’s Paradox Valley near Naturita, an agricultural area, drawing water from the Dolores River.
Opponents last week unveiled a consultant’s study that concluded “expected positive impacts of the mill and associated mines will be relatively small,” bringing about 116 jobs, “while the economic risks are substantial.”
The study found that, after the collapse of the uranium industry in western Colorado during the 1970s, population growth accelerated.
The opponents have submitted this and another study to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, urging regulators to reject Energy Fuels’ license application.
Even careful planning cannot avert “grave consequences when something goes wrong at a uranium mill,” said Travis Stills, managing attorney with the Durango-based Energy Minerals Law Center, representing the Sheep Mountain Alliance.
State rules prohibit regulators from issuing a license until tens of millions of dollars in bonds are submitted to cover eventual decommissioning and long-term care costs, Stills said.
A state health department radiation unit is expected to rule on the permit application by Jan. 18.
“We can make the decision before that date but have not yet made a decision,” said agency spokesman Mark Salley. “The state is reviewing the materials and will announce the decision in a news release.”
Paradox Valley residents near Naturita mostly have welcomed the prospect of a nuclear renaissance that could bring solid jobs and a broad economic boost.
Relying on Asian bankers to finance the project and far-away customers to buy Colorado yellowcake doesn’t matter, said Wendy Bell, 36, who has shifted from construction to working at Blondie’s Drive-In and Cafe in Naturita.
“If the project doesn’t go through, this whole area will probably be a ghost town,” Bell said.
“As long as (uranium sold abroad) is just used for fuel, it wouldn’t affect my thinking,” she said. “It would give a lot of people jobs.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
