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1957 photo of a federal uranium mill at Monticello, Utah

1957 photo of a federal uranium mill at Monticello, Utah

Uranium/Nuclear

EBOOK

URANIUM MINING AND MILLING

GREEN RIVER NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

NEWS CLIPS

Securities Corruption by Financial Partner of Blue Castle Holdings
  • Click here to read this story by Judy Fahys and Steven Oberbeck in the Salt Lake Tribune about a fraud case involving a financial partner of BLue Castle Holdings, LeadDog Capital.
  • Click here for the archived press release of Blue Castle Holdings' partnership agreement with LeadDog Capital that has since been removed from the web page of Blue Castle Holdings.
  • Click here to read this story by Judy Fahys and Steven Oberbeck in the Salt Lake Tribune, which includes the administrative record of the State Engineer's review.

Emery County Economic Development Director Resigns

Willow Creek Pipeline Company and Acquisition by Blue Castle Holdings

Dominate utility in Utah not interested in developing nuclear power

Op Eds About Nuclear Power

Other News

Legal (Administrative)

Legal (Judicial)

Water Rights

Since the water rights are bifurcated, and nearly half of the combined water supply has a junior water right, the operations of the proposed nuclear powerplant are likely to be curtailed during a water shortage in the Colorado River basin. The Bureau of Reclamation is anticipating a 50/50 chance of shortages occurring in the lower basin by the end of the current decade, and the Department of Energy anticipates power generation at Glen Canyon Dam to be curtailed.

National Academy of Sciences
Description of Green River Nuclear Power Plant (as of 2010)
  • The developer is Blue Castle Holdings (BCH)
  • The CEO of BCH is Aaron Tilton; energy lobbyist.
  • The electricity from the nuclear facility is targeted for the Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City) with surplus for Wyoming, California, Nevada and Arizona.
  • Electricity may be targeted to develop oil shale and tar sands in the Uinta Basin of the Colorado Plateau.
  • The total low ball cost is projected to be 16 billion dollars (decommissioning costs not included).
  • Original projected completion date of Unit One was 2020.
  • Green River has zero housing available staff and construction workers
  • Green River City does not have a hospital.
  • Located on 1,627 acres of School Institutional Trust Lands (SITLA) near the Intersection of Hwy 6 and Interstate 70 (photo).
  • Water intake would be near the I-70 bridge crossing of the Green River with a high-security pipeline corridor to the power plant (layout).
  • Total annual amount of water consumption is 54,000 acre-feet; there are no return flows to the Green River.
  • There is no contract with the federal government to supply water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the project in times of shortages
  • The decision before Utah Division of Water Rights is about approving the transfer of two water rights to Emery County, one from San Juan County and the other from Kane County (lease agreement).
  • The original points of diversion (POD) are the San Juan River and Lake Powell. The two counties would lease their water rights to Blue Castle Holdings and then use those funds to develop surface water projects in their perspective counties. For example, Kane County would develop the Lake Powell Pipeline.
  • This proposed transfer will increase the overall consumption of surface water in three Utah counties.
  • The problems are two-fold: Surplus water does not exist in the Colorado River basin and the endangered species problem does.
  • The water agencies are not thrilled about the proposal of Blue Castle Holdings. The Bureau of Reclamation is concerned that water for the Central Utah Project is at risk. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is concerned about the recovery of endangered fish, as is Utah Division of Water Resources. See also Dr. Holden's comments on this proposed project.
 
 
There is compelling information for the State Engineer of the Utah Division of Water Rights to deny this water transfer application, but Blue Castle Holdings has the ear of the state legislature, which finds the time to pass dubious resolutions like denying climate change (cached), scolding professors at Brigham Young University, and challenging the public ownership of federal lands in the court system with the legal fees paid for by the SITLA sleaze fund.
 
Additional Information
Read letter by Heal Utah about speculation by BCH here.

Read letter by Utah Division of Water Rights that denies application by Mancos Resources for a uranium mill at proposed Green River Industrial Park here.

USGS daily stream data for Green River gage: Plots; Raw data;

 

 

 

 

 




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