[ RadSafe ] Radioactive coal to Kyrgyzstan transferred to criminal court

Thu Jan 26 15:18:45 CST 2012

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your informative post. However, I would suggest that whether the
coal supplied has "average" levels of Uranium and Radium or levels 8x - 10x
higher, it is still a trivial source of elevated dose to the public from
radioactivity released during operations or  waste disposal.

We all can appreciate the need for sulphur limits in coal or oil to limit
Sulphur dioxide [leading to sulphuric acid formation ] releases during
fossil fuel combustion,  and limits on elements like mercury found at quite
variable levels in some coals and oil vs. others, which leads to stack
releases of Hg, now recognized as a contributor to the problem or organic
mercurials in biota.

Stewart Farber

SAFarber at optonline.net

203-441-8433

From: Dan McCarn [mailto:hotgreenchile at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:34 PM
To: SAFarber at optonline.net; The International Radiation Protection (Health
Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive coal to Kyrgyzstan transferred to
criminal court

Hi Stewart:

The case may very well have merit if the contract for the coal specified
limits to uranium / radium. Most contracts for coal do specify sulfur as
well as radionuclides and heavy metals.

As a geologist, I assessed the uranium potential of a uraniferous lignite in
the Great Divide Basin, Wyoming back in 1980 including drilling of several
boreholes and calculating the uranium endowment.  The lignite averaged about
100 mg/kg U.  Uraniferous lignites are not uncommon and are distributed
worldwide, especially in but not limited to basins that co-host sandstone
uranium deposits.  Always the radioactive nature is known for these deposits
because they are so distinctive with a characteristic SP & resistivity
response from borehole geophysical logging, and for uraniferous lignites, a
high gamma response.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c891/geophysical.htm

If  the contract in Kyrgyzstan specified limits to the amount of uranium /
radium that Kazakhstan supplied (and if I had written a contract for coal it
certainly would have expressed those limits as well as limits for sulfur)
then they have a very good case.

Uraniferous lignites are considered sources of uranium and thermal energy.
By using fluidized-bed combustion technology, the uranium remains
recoverable rather than vitrified in the ash.

China is currently processing large piles of lignite ash for uranium in
order to dispose of the material and recover uranium. A number of other
countries have reviewed the technology and cost / benefits of uranium
recovery from lignites.

Dan ii

Dan W McCarn, Geologist

108 Sherwood Blvd

Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425

+1-505-672-2014 (Home - New Mexico)

+1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)

HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com

On  Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 11:37 AM, Stewart Farber <SAFarber at optonline.net>
wrote:

Perhaps the AG in Kazakhstan should be filing a lawsuit against God for
"abuse of power" in allowing the Big Bang to occur, creating long-lived
heavier elements like Uranium and Thorium. From the citation [
http://en.trend.az/capital/business/1983973.html ]
Cited earlier:

"Kazakhstan supplied 8,576 tons of coal from Kulan field to Kyrgyzstan in
September. Later, the radiation background of the Kulan field was estimated
at 8-10 times higher than the norm. Kyrgyz Attorney General's Office filed a
criminal case against officials of the Kyrgyz Railway and Energo Customs
Procedures Department under the articles "illegal handling of radioactive
materials" and "abuse of power"."

This article should also be forwarded to US environmental groups like the
NRDC [Natural Resources Defense Council], Greenpeace, Sierra Club, and the
so-called anti-nuclear "Nuclear Information and Resource Service"  so they
can begin to file lawsuits against coal mining and coal-fired power plants.

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health [Air Pollution Control]
Acting President of the newly formed group COAL [Curmudgeons Of America Ltd
] :-)
==========================

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Rees, Brian G
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 10:15 AM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive coal to Kyrgyzstan transferred to
criminal court

Hmmm... maybe they should be paying better attention:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactiv
<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioacti
v%0d%0ae-than-nuclear-waste> 
e-than-nuclear-waste

Not that it's news to most of "us".

Brian Rees

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Lawrence Jacobi
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 11:46 AM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive coal to Kyrgyzstan transferred to criminal
court

An interesting story re: radioactive coal:

http://en.trend.az/capital/business/1983973.html
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