Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Blue atoms

Neal and Linden Blue, the La Jolla millionaires who own and operate General Atomics, makers of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, have been getting a lot of good ink of late about their government-sponsored efforts to turn algae into jet fuel. But they also have a substantial interest in uranium: they own South Australia’s Beverley mine, one of the country’s biggest, and the investment has not been without controversy.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Last October, the Age newspaper of Melbourne reported that in the late 1990s the owners of the country’s biggest uranium mines, including General Atomics, retained a former Victoria police officer to infiltrate antinuclear and Aboriginal groups, as well as to provide security to General Atomics executives visiting the country.

More recently, the company has been getting a mixed response to its announcement on March 31 that it wants to reopen an old uranium mill in Cañon City, Colorado, owned by Cotter Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Atomics. “Cotter intends to refurbish the mill, taking the necessary steps to process ore from the Mount Taylor Mine located near Grants, New Mexico,” the firm said in a letter it sent to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The company, founded in 1956 and purchased by General Atomics in 2000, has long had a love-hate relationship with Cañon City residents. Twenty-four years ago, the plant was designated a federal Superfund site due to radioactive contamination in the air and groundwater in the vicinity. Cleanup work is now less than half complete. In October of last year, the federal Health and Human Services Department began a study of possible health effects caused by leakage from the plant. “We’re not saying these [potential health impacts] were caused by the contamination,” environmental scientist Teresa Foster told the Associated Press. “We’re not at the point where we can make that determination. We’re taking the community’s concerns very seriously.” Cañon City resident Marilou Thompson told the Cañon City Daily Record earlier this month, “I’ve never gotten anything from Cotter. People that worked there are the ones that have to worry.”

If the Blue brothers manage to get the mill up and running again, they stand to make a lot of money. The plant is one of only four in the United States that is set up to convert uranium ore into the yellowcake used in the final preparation of fuel for nuclear reactors and weapons. The only one of the mills currently operating is in Utah. Under the current plan, the ore would begin arriving at the mill by train in 2014. Before General Atomics came up with its latest proposal, it tried to turn the mill into a dumpsite for radioactive waste from a Superfund site in Maywood, New Jersey, and later from a uranium plant in Oklahoma. State regulators blocked both schemes.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pie pleasure at Queenstown Public House

A taste of New Zealand brings back happy memories

Neal and Linden Blue, the La Jolla millionaires who own and operate General Atomics, makers of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, have been getting a lot of good ink of late about their government-sponsored efforts to turn algae into jet fuel. But they also have a substantial interest in uranium: they own South Australia’s Beverley mine, one of the country’s biggest, and the investment has not been without controversy.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Last October, the Age newspaper of Melbourne reported that in the late 1990s the owners of the country’s biggest uranium mines, including General Atomics, retained a former Victoria police officer to infiltrate antinuclear and Aboriginal groups, as well as to provide security to General Atomics executives visiting the country.

More recently, the company has been getting a mixed response to its announcement on March 31 that it wants to reopen an old uranium mill in Cañon City, Colorado, owned by Cotter Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Atomics. “Cotter intends to refurbish the mill, taking the necessary steps to process ore from the Mount Taylor Mine located near Grants, New Mexico,” the firm said in a letter it sent to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The company, founded in 1956 and purchased by General Atomics in 2000, has long had a love-hate relationship with Cañon City residents. Twenty-four years ago, the plant was designated a federal Superfund site due to radioactive contamination in the air and groundwater in the vicinity. Cleanup work is now less than half complete. In October of last year, the federal Health and Human Services Department began a study of possible health effects caused by leakage from the plant. “We’re not saying these [potential health impacts] were caused by the contamination,” environmental scientist Teresa Foster told the Associated Press. “We’re not at the point where we can make that determination. We’re taking the community’s concerns very seriously.” Cañon City resident Marilou Thompson told the Cañon City Daily Record earlier this month, “I’ve never gotten anything from Cotter. People that worked there are the ones that have to worry.”

If the Blue brothers manage to get the mill up and running again, they stand to make a lot of money. The plant is one of only four in the United States that is set up to convert uranium ore into the yellowcake used in the final preparation of fuel for nuclear reactors and weapons. The only one of the mills currently operating is in Utah. Under the current plan, the ore would begin arriving at the mill by train in 2014. Before General Atomics came up with its latest proposal, it tried to turn the mill into a dumpsite for radioactive waste from a Superfund site in Maywood, New Jersey, and later from a uranium plant in Oklahoma. State regulators blocked both schemes.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior

Seeking solace, spiritual and otherwise
Next Article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader