Tex-New Mex. Radioactive Rangers
Committed to stopping the development of a nuclear corridor in West TX and Eastern NM
About us:
The Tex-NewMex Radioactive Rangers is an interstate coalition of non-governmental organizations, community leaders and individuals that are committed to stopping the development of a corridor of nuclear development in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Our primary goal is to halt development of a uranium enrichment facility proposed by Louisiana Energy Services in Lea County, New Mexico in order that the waste produced by the facility will not be stored 1/2 mile over the border at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas.
We pursue legal, regulatory, technical and community organizing options for stopping these facilities and ensuring that the public's voice is represented in discussions of development of a nuclear corridor in this region.
We pursue legal, regulatory, technical and community organizing options for stopping these facilities and ensuring that the public's voice is represented in discussions of development of a nuclear corridor in this region.
Uranium Enrichment
Uranium is a natural ore that is available in trace quantities worldwide, but also mined in large quantities in many places, including western New Mexico. It is composed of uranium-234, uranium-235 and uranium-238.
Uranium enrichment is process by which uranium is separated into its component isotopes. Uranium-235 can be highly enriched or low enriched. Highly enriched uranium is the material that is required to produce a nuclear weapon. Low enriched uranium, which is concentrated to 3% to 5% uranium-235, is used as fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Essentially, the same process is required to produce weapons-grade or fuel-grade uranium.
There are several methods by which uranium can be enriched, including the gas centrifuge process, which is the type that is being proposed by LES. The process includes heating a cylinder of uranium hexafluoride, which will be shipped to New Mexico from either Ontario, Canada or Metropolis, Illinois. The uranium hexafluoride then becomes a gas, which is fed into an enrichment cascade where it is processed to increase the concentration of the uranium-235.
The enrichment process produces uranium-238, or depleted uranium waste, which must be converted in a disposable form and then disposed. Unfortunately, the United States government has recycled this waste into munitions that have been used on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, and has been speculated to be the cause of so-called “Gulf War Syndrome,” which has been afflicting our nation’s veterans since the first Gulf War.
Recent reports indicate that depleted uranium waste is much more dangerous than previously estimated. A report by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), finds that depleted uranium may be mutagenic, tumorigenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, and neurotoxic, including in a manner analogous to exposure to lead. Furthermore, because depleted uranium can be classified as both radioactive and a heavy metal, it may be both tumor inducing and tumor promoting. IEER reports that depleted uranium waste may be three times more radioactive than transuranic waste, which is so dangerous that it requires disposal at the deep geologic repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad.
Uranium-238 is also an extremely long-lived radioisotope, having a half-life of 4.46 billion years. That means that wherever this waste is disposed or recycled will be contaminated with depleted uranium for generations to come.
Uranium enrichment has been performed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio for the Department of Energy. Both of these sites now house hundreds of thousands of tons of depleted uranium waste, much of which is contained in corroded or leaking barrels that may contaminating the ground and surface water nearby.
Uranium enrichment presents a large security risk given that commercial and weapons production are similar processes. Due to the spread of enrichment technologies to so-called rogue nations, Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has proposed a five-year moratorium on uranium enrichment.
(Information gathered from the IEER, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the IAEA)
Uranium enrichment is process by which uranium is separated into its component isotopes. Uranium-235 can be highly enriched or low enriched. Highly enriched uranium is the material that is required to produce a nuclear weapon. Low enriched uranium, which is concentrated to 3% to 5% uranium-235, is used as fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Essentially, the same process is required to produce weapons-grade or fuel-grade uranium.
There are several methods by which uranium can be enriched, including the gas centrifuge process, which is the type that is being proposed by LES. The process includes heating a cylinder of uranium hexafluoride, which will be shipped to New Mexico from either Ontario, Canada or Metropolis, Illinois. The uranium hexafluoride then becomes a gas, which is fed into an enrichment cascade where it is processed to increase the concentration of the uranium-235.
The enrichment process produces uranium-238, or depleted uranium waste, which must be converted in a disposable form and then disposed. Unfortunately, the United States government has recycled this waste into munitions that have been used on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, and has been speculated to be the cause of so-called “Gulf War Syndrome,” which has been afflicting our nation’s veterans since the first Gulf War.
Recent reports indicate that depleted uranium waste is much more dangerous than previously estimated. A report by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), finds that depleted uranium may be mutagenic, tumorigenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, and neurotoxic, including in a manner analogous to exposure to lead. Furthermore, because depleted uranium can be classified as both radioactive and a heavy metal, it may be both tumor inducing and tumor promoting. IEER reports that depleted uranium waste may be three times more radioactive than transuranic waste, which is so dangerous that it requires disposal at the deep geologic repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad.
Uranium-238 is also an extremely long-lived radioisotope, having a half-life of 4.46 billion years. That means that wherever this waste is disposed or recycled will be contaminated with depleted uranium for generations to come.
Uranium enrichment has been performed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio for the Department of Energy. Both of these sites now house hundreds of thousands of tons of depleted uranium waste, much of which is contained in corroded or leaking barrels that may contaminating the ground and surface water nearby.
Uranium enrichment presents a large security risk given that commercial and weapons production are similar processes. Due to the spread of enrichment technologies to so-called rogue nations, Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has proposed a five-year moratorium on uranium enrichment.
(Information gathered from the IEER, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the IAEA)
For more information about uranium enrichment
IEER's Fact Sheet on Uranium and
Uranium Enrichment
Risks of Depleted Uranium Waste/
Uranium Health Risks
Costs and Risks of Management and Disposal of
Depleted Uranium from the NEF Proposed by LES
Eastern Navajo Dine
Against Uranium Mining
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant
K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant at
Oak Ridge, Tennesse
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
Bravenet.com