Where Will the Uranium Tailings Be Stored After Enriching Uranium?

After the uranium is enriched, about 90 percent becomes waste. "Initially, it will be stored on site in the form of depleted UF6 (uranium hexafluoride)," Ferland explained. "Obviously, the majority of the U-235 will be taken out of the tailings at that point. Certainly, there will be a little bit left."

But where will the tailings go? Ferland didn't skip a beat in his answer, "We have two options for disposing of the tails. Where we are headed right this minute, and I would anticipate this is where we will end up, is we will build a private deconversion facility. Or someone else will build one for us, a private entity."

And who would build the deconversion facility? "As far as who builds and operates that plant, it might be us or somebody else," Ferland answered. "We do have a Memorandum of Understanding in place with Areva, which would allow us access to their technology. They have a running deconversion plant in France that we could well choose to copy."

According to Ferland, the plant won't be built in New Mexico, "Part of the settlement agreement with Governor Richardson and (New Mexico) Attorney General Madrid was we agreed to not build a deconversion plant in the state."

Ferland suggested the plant site could be in Texas, but possibly elsewhere. He believes it could take a couple of years to build, and would cost between $100 and $200 million to construct. Ferland added, "It would create between 50 and 80 new jobs." Ferland said LES would begin the licensing process for the deconversion plant over the next couple of years.

"You have to go through the entire NRC licensing process in order to build one of those," he pointed out. "We're looking at two to three years, roughly. And then we would start construction and start operation at that facility. That's where we are headed with deconversion." That meshes with the enrichment facility's operational plan. "I wouldn't be surprised to see the deconversion plant online within a year or two after we reach full capacity (with the enrichment facility)," Ferland said.

Failing to provide us with a more accurate forecast as to how long the tailings will remain in storage in New Mexico, at the LES enrichment facility, Ferland suggested a few possible destinations for the waste, "You simply send that to any of a variety of low-level waste disposal sites that are around the country. The closest one is in Utah. There could someday be one in Texas at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) facility. They are in the process of getting licensed."

Will the deconversion plant be located in Texas? "It could well be," he answered. "The facility is only a few miles from our site. Inherently, it makes some sense. The missing link is obviously that the WCS facility is not licensed today."

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. The entire article can be read at StockInterview's website – http://www.stockinterview.com