The reason for the 'Pop'.....
Senators Hatch And Reid Introduce New Energy Legislation Important To Thorium Future
nuclearstreet.com
“Now that the failed Yucca Mountain project is behind us, it’s important that our country finds ways to reduce the volume of nuclear waste coming from nuclear plants, and develop safe and secure solutions for managing waste.”
- By Linton Levy -
Senators Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Harry Reid (D-Nevada) this week introduced the Thorium Energy Security Act of 2010 to accelerate the use of thorium-based nuclear fuel in existing and future reactors.
Their legislation establishes a regulatory framework and a development program to facilitate the introduction of thorium-based nuclear fuel in nuclear power plants across the nation. The U.S. relies on foreign sources for approximately 90 percent of its uranium fuel needs. However, the most recent U.S. Geological Survey’s (U.S.G.S.) Thorium Mineral Commodity capital summary confirms that the United States has the largest thorium deposits in the world.
The well-documented Idaho-Montana Lemhi Pass thorium holdings of U.S. Rare Earths, Inc. have officially been recognized by the U.S.G.S. in their Jan. 2010 Mineral Commodity Summary, pushing the U.S. to number one in the world (for the first time ever) with 440,000 metric tons of reserves.
“We have abundant domestic supplies of thorium, and when used in a nuclear reactor, thorium is non-proliferative, it produces much less volume of high-level waste, and it can be used to dispose of existing plutonium stockpiles. We certainly want to make sure it is a viable option in our nation’s energy mix,” Hatch said.
Senator Reid further emphasized thorium’s significance by saying, “Now that the failed Yucca Mountain project is behind us, it’s important that our country finds ways to reduce the volume of nuclear waste coming from nuclear plants, and develop safe and secure solutions for managing waste.”
In addition to U.S. Rare Earths, Inc.’s thorium reserves, the company recently announced that its rare earth element deposits in Idaho and Montana were listed as among the nation’s most important and largest domestic deposits in the annual listing of the worldwide distribution of rare earth element deposits, produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.).
Edward Cowle, U.S. Rare Earths, Inc. CEO, said: “Rare earths are essential raw materials used in nearly all sustainable energy technologies and a wide spectrum of defense applications. Our rare earth deposits could help supply the projected demand of the United States military and civilian green industries and would assist in eliminating the dependence the United States currently has on Chinese sources.”
U.S. Rare Earths, Inc.’s data, accepted by the U.S.G.S. in a study released last September, confirms that U.S. Rare Earths, Inc.’s holdings show high concentrations of individual rare earths of both the yttrium-heavy rare earths group and the cerium-light rare earths group. They include concentrations of yttrium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium and dysprosium.
According to James Hedrick, former U.S.G.S. rare earths commodity specialist, “U.S. Rare Earths, Inc. analytical data indicates that it is the only domestic resource that has significant heavy rare earths.”
The U.S.G.S. now recognizes U.S. Rare Earths, Inc.’s REE deposits in the Lemhi Pass district of Idaho and Montana and in Diamond Creek, Idaho as one of only five proven substantial deposits of rare earths in the world, outside of mainland China and/or Chinese control.
Published Mar 05 2010, 08:16 AM by steveheiser |
