[ RadSafe ] Radioactive coal to Kyrgyzstan transferred to criminal court

[Dan McCarn]

Hi Stewart:

To make it crystal clear, the difference between a uraniferous lignite and
a typical bituminous coal is significant in terms of uranium concentration.
 Typical coals have from 1 to 10 mg/kg (ppm) uranium whereas uraniferous
lignites range from 100 to several hundred mg/kg U. When burned, this
concentrates the uranium, which is, in turn, leaches into groundwater.

Again, if I am ordering coal for a power plant, I would absolutely include
language that specifies the quality and quantity of coal to be delivered at
a given cost. If I suddenly started receiving material that was 1-2 orders
of magnitude more radioactive than the contract allows, I'd be pretty upset
and would direct the firm's lawyers to insure through the courts that the
power plant was getting what was in the contract.  The reason is simple:
The plant is run under a supervising governmental agency's environmental
guidelines. If I am the Environmental Officer, Operations VP or CEO of the
company, I could/would be held criminally liable for disregarding those
guidelines, regardless of the dose to the public and rightfully so!

Best,

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 2:18 PM, Stewart Farber <SAFarber at optonline.net>wrote:

> 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
> e-than-nuclear-waste<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactiv%0d%0ae-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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