The Clean Energy Association of New Mexico
243 posts
@Cleanenergy_NM
The Clean Energy Association of New Mexico provides education, awareness, and resources to support a safe nuclear energy sector grounded in In-Situ Recovery.
✨New Blog: Something Old - Something Borrowed No, this is not a wedding announcement, but it is about something old, and something ‘borrowed’, if I may use the term ‘borrowed’ loosely. In-Situ Recovery (ISR) uranium technology replaces conventional mining with wellfield technology, in certain geological settings, and has been in operation globally for 50 years. In fact, it was the oil and gas companies that started ISR, they were finding uranium in their drill cores and set about to find a way to extract the uranium that they were finding. That has led to now over sixty percent of the uranium in the world being extracted using ISR technology. In Latin, “in-situ” means “in place” and operates without open pits, tailings, underground workings, big heavy trucks hauling rocks, dust or exposure to uranium. Instead ISR uses utilizes wellfield technology to remove uranium, that is already naturally occurring in the water, in liquid form from deep sandstone deposits beneath the water table. In the United States this is typically done without the use of harsh chemicals – existing contaminated groundwater combined with oxygen liquifies the uranium which coats sand in the aquifer – uranium likes being liquid. Once I became immersed in the world of ISR, I was convinced. The concept, removing uranium from already contaminated underground water using a system that functions much like a giant water softener, seemed almost too simple to be true. But it’s real, and it took the expertise of many skilled chemical engineers to refine and perfect. Not all uranium can be extracted with ISR technology, ISR only works in certain geological settings. If the deposit is sandstone hosted and below groundwater, ISR can be effective and only used when the contaminated aquifer (due to existing uranium and minerals in the aquifer) is declared, by regulators, to be unsuitable for any present or future use. There is a tremendous amount of oversight in this industry. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the State along with many agencies and regulators operate within what is the most heavily regulated industry in the United States. This oversight is there to ensure the care of the land, water, air and people. I respectfully understand the negative impacts of historical conventional uranium mining in New Mexico and in many parts of this country and the fear of our tainted history. Someone once said, ‘If we don’t remember our history, we are doomed to repeat it’ and I believe it is important to remember our history – but we must not be confined to it. One must consider that, modern nuclear projects create high-wage technical jobs, bring investment to rural communities, and offer economic opportunities to all governments. ISR for uranium extraction is not a new technology it is aged, tested and proven to be safe, efficient and was borrowed from the oil and gas industry. Any choice we make should be based on factual information that is necessary for good decision making. This is why the Nuclear in New Mexico conference is a must attend. From April 20–22, The Clean Energy Association of New Mexico (“CLEAN”) will host its inaugural Nuclear in New Mexico Conference at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa on the Santa Ana Pueblo. We invite you to join industry professionals, government officials, regulators, tribal representatives, companies, community members and academic institutions who will come together for an in-depth look at the evolving role of nuclear energy in the Southwest and the opportunities it presents for New Mexico’s future. We look forward to seeing you there, where you too can be a part of this dynamic conversation that we expect will provide answers and bring to light the issues that have been for far too long creating fear where answers are available. See you there! Read all my blogs here: janetsheriff.com/blog/ #uranium #nuclear #blog #newmexico #conference #cleanenergy #association
