State law calls for the license applicant to hold two meetings and record the transcripts. The company held an initial public hearing Jan. 21 in Nucla, and another Feb. 17 in Montrose.
Four more public hearings will be conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said spokesman Warren Smith. They’re not required by law, “but these are our opportunity to gather local input on the mill.”
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A decision on the state license could be made by Feb. 14, 2011, said Marilyn Null, spokeswoman for the department’s Hazardous Material Waste Management Division.The department will be accepting written comment from the public throughout the licensing procedure.
The state’s radiation licensing law must equal or exceed requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Some state standards are even stronger than the NRC’s, Smith said.
“For example, when assessing factors such as the socioeconomic impact or transportation impact of the mill, the NRC might say there are problems, and Energy Fuels will need to mitigate them,” he said. “In our case, if we decided the socioeconomic impacts of the mill have risen to a certain threshold, we could reject the application.”
The proposal is “the first new conventional mill application in the last approximately 25 years,” Null said. “In 2005, we did reject Cotter’s (Cañon City mill) proposal to receive material for direct disposal in their tailings impoundment; we did approve their license renewal for conventional milling.”
Cotter Corp. processed uranium near Lincoln Park in Cañon City from the 1950s into the 1980s, and area residents were awarded millions in damages from two federal juries for effects of radiation poisoning they suffered, including cancer, infertility, birth defects and learning disabilities.
The Cotter site ultimately was declared a Superfund Cleanup site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The company’s executives have noted that technology has changed radically since, and they want the Energy Fuels project in Montrose County to be approved so it can process uranium from nearby mines that Cotter still owns and operates in the area.
Energy Fuels, a Canadian company, applied Nov. 18, 2009 to the Health Department to process uranium ore in far western Montrose County, in the Paradox Valley between Bedrock and Naturita. Its proposed Piñon Ridge mill would be 12 miles east of Paradox.
The company’s application was deemed complete Dec. 18, but that finding is being hotly disputed.
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Jack wrote on Mar 2, 2010 10:11 AM: