[ RadSafe ] Radioactive coal to Kyrgyzstan transferred to criminal court

[Brent Rogers]

Ash mining.  I heard this occurred in that timeframe, but never heard specifics on it.  I always thought it was urban legend.


Brevity alert: Sent from my iPad

On 28/01/2012, at 5:25, "Miller, Mark L" <mmiller at sandia.gov> wrote:

> As a matter of fact, to add to what Dan said, there were 2 UMTRA (Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action) sites in Bellfield & Bowman, SD, where the U content of the coal was high enough that they simply burned the coal (back in the 50s) to recover the ash and ship it to the Rifle, CO U mill site for U recovery for the U.S. nuclear weapons program.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dan McCarn [mailto:hotgreenchile at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 1:34 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