The End of Cheap Uranium

Historic data from many countries demonstrate that on average no more than 50-70% of the uranium in a deposit could be mined. An analysis of more recent data from Canada and Australia leads to a mining model with an average deposit extraction lifetime of 10+- 2 years. This simple model provides an accurate description of the extractable amount of uranium for the recent mining operations. Using this model for all larger existing and planned uranium mines up to 2030, a global uranium mining peak of at most 58 +- 4 ktons around the year 2015 is obtained. Thereafter we predict that uranium mine production will decline to at most 54 +- 5 ktons by 2025 and, with the decline steepening, to at most 41 +- 5 ktons around 2030. This amount will not be sufficient to fuel the existing and planned nuclear power plants during the next 10-20 years. In fact, we find that it will be difficult to avoid supply shortages even under a slow 1%/year worldwide nuclear energy phase-out scenario up to 2025. We thus suggest that a worldwide nuclear energy phase-out is in order. If such a slow global phase-out is not voluntarily effected, the end of the present cheap uranium supply situation will be unavoidable. The result will be that some countries will simply be unable to afford sufficient uranium fuel at that point, which implies involuntary and perhaps chaotic nuclear phase-outs in those countries involving brownouts, blackouts, and worse.Comment: 13 pages, extended version of the contributed paper to the World Resource Forum 2011 in Davo

Do new records of macrofungi indicate warming of their habitats in terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems?

Relatively few macrofungi have been historically described from terrestrial environments of the Antarctic Peninsula and its associated archipelagos which are characterized by a moss-dominated vegetation, most of them preferentially or obligatorily associated with bryophytes. During the study of the influence of penguin rockeries to moss communities on the South Shetland Islands, the bryophilous basidiomycetes Rimbachia bryophila and Arrhenia cf. lilacinicolor were found for the first time on King George Island, growing on carpets of Sanionia uncinata. Other bryophilous fungi previously recorded in the same region are Arrhenia antarctica, Omphalina pyxidata and the rare Simocybe antarctica. The detection of the supposedly parasitic R. bryophila, together with other new observations of macrofungi on different hosts in the Antarctic bryoflora could indicate increased sexual reproduction. The likely increase of reproduction as an effect of warming on the terrestrial antarctic tundra should be proven by follow up field studies

Spartan Daily, February 24, 1969

Volume 56, Issue 70https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/5210/thumbnail.jp

The Bad, the Ugly, and the Horrible: What I Learned about Humanity by Doing Prison Research

Every Canadian academic conducting research with humans must submit an ethics application with their university’s Research Ethics Board. One of the key questions in that application inquired into the level of vulnerability of the interviewees. Filling in that question, I had to check nearly every box: the interviewees were incarcerated, old, under-educated, poor, Indigenous or other racial minorities, and likely had mental and physical disabilities. However, it was not until I met John that I understood what all those boxes actually meant. They were signalling that I was entering a universe of extreme marginalization—the universe of the forgotten. I learned then what we, as a society, look like at our worst, when no one watches, when there is no money to be made and no votes to be gained. Entering this universe has allowed me to identify some broader socio-legal issues, applicable across prison demographics, from gaps in prison health care and punitive carceral responses to health needs, to substantive and procedural access to justice for violations of rights in prisons and the role of health care and access to justice in achieving the rehabilitative and reintegration goals of sentencing

Les migrations populaires des travailleurs autochtones du Nord de la Saskatchewan : symbole et réalité de l’intégration des indigènes.

Les migrations pendulaires constituent un moyen de plus en plus répandu d'intégration de la main-d'oeuvre autochtone aux projets miniers et pétroliers du Nord du Canada. Cet article cherche à comprendre les causes de ce phénomène. L'analyse procède d'une étude du scénario d'implantation d'un tel mode de gestion et, notamment, des intérêts impliqués et des circonstances qui ont favorisé sa mise en place. L'étude se démarque des perspectives dualistes de la géographie humaine du Nord canadien. Elle propose une interprétation qui tient compte de l'interaction entre le capital, l'État et les indigènes dans les cadres d'une société capitaliste occidentale en expansion dans ses zones frontalières.Long distance commuting has been an increasingly widespread vehicle for the integration of native labor to mines and oil ventures in northem Canada. This article attempts an explanation of how this process came about. The analysis proceeds with a study of the scenario of implementation, the analysis of the various interests involved, their motivations and circumstances. It results in an N.D.L.R.: Le titre de cet article était à l'origine: « Le navettage des travailleurs autochtones du Nord de la Saskatchewan : symbole et réalité de l'intégration des indigènes ». Le « néologisme » navettage, utilisé par l'auteur en guise de traduction du mot anglais commuting, n'apparaissait dans aucune des sources consultées. Le terme « migrations pendulaires » lui fut substitué car il représente la traduction française la plus courante du terme commuting. interpretation which contrasts with dualistic interprétations of the human geography of the Canadian north, as it emphasizes the interaction of private interests, the State, and indigenous peoples on the frontier of an expanding western capitalist society

Geochemistry of arsenic in uranium mill tailings, Saskatchewan, Canada

The Rabbit Lake in-pit tailings body consisted of alternating layers of ice, frozen tailings and unfrozen tailings which varied in consistency from a slurry to a firm silty sand. The tailings solids are predominately composed of quartz (16 to 36%), calcium sulphate (0.3 to 54%) and illite (3 and 14%). Arsenic and Ni concentrations in the tailings showed similar patterns with depth, which were strongly related to historical changes in As and Ni concentrations in the mill feed. Mineralogy of the ore bodies indicated that As and Ni in the mill feed occurred primarily as 1:1 molar ratio arsenides such as niccolite and gersdorffite. SEM analysis suggested that solubilized arsenic is precipitated as Ca, Fe and Ni arsenates during the neutralization process. Dissolved arsenic concentrations in rive monitoring wells installed within the tailing body ranged from 9.6 to 71 mg/L. Sequential extraction analyses of tailings samples showed that As above 34 in depth was primarily associated with amorphous iron and metal hydroxides while the As below 34 m depth was primarily amorphous calcium arsenate precipitates. The high Ca/As ratio during tailings neutralization would likely preferentially precipitate Ca4(OH)2(AsO4)2:4H2O. Geochemical modeling suggested that the pore fluid calcium arsenate equilibrium As concentrations would range between 13 and 81 mg/L. The predicted pH and speciation of arsenic in the filter sand was dependent on the redox conditions (oxidizing or reducing) assigned to the regional groundwater. Reducing conditions in the regional groundwater cause As, the dominant species in the tailings, to be reduced to As 34 as arsenic diffuses from the tailings into the filter sand. Under reducing conditions, iron as Fe2+ in the filter sand is oxidized to Fe3+ as the sulphate (S6+) present in the tailings diffuses into the filter sand and is reduced to sulphide (S2). The pH in the tailings will decrease as the high concentrations of protons (lower pH) in the filter sand diffuse into the tailings. As the solubility of calcium arsenate minerals present in the tailings are pH dependent, the decrease in pH in the tailings causes an increase in solubility of the calcium arsenate minerals resulting in the dissolution of calcium arsenate minerals

More than Stone and Iron: Indigenous History and Incarceration in Canada, 1834-1996

This dissertation examines Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, and Inuit) history as played out in Canadian prisons. It argues that in the prison, processes of colonialism, decolonization, and neocolonialism took place simultaneously. In the nineteenth century, the prison was built as part of a network of colonial institutions and polices. It was imagined, designed, and built by representatives of the Canadian state alongside other colonial institutions, drawing on similar intellectual traditions. It maintains the imprint of this colonial origin. Prisons also became arenas for Indigenous cultural exchange and cultural creation, which in most cases subverted the logic of the prison. This was part of a larger effort at decolonizing the prison. In the twentieth century, Indigenous prisoners actively challenged the colonial logic of the prison by affirming their Indigenous cultures and identities. As Indigenous inmates expressed their cultural identities in prisons, they created literary, material, and ceremonial cultural frameworks distinct to the prison yet reflective of the wider Canadian context. Still, colonial practices emerged in new ways, in a process described in this dissertation as neocolonialism. By drawing on oral and archival sources, this dissertation demonstrates the complexity behind these historical processes of colonization, decolonization, and neocolonialism in Canada, while shedding light on the nature of the prison system and Indigenous history

Biogeochemical and oceanographic conditions provide insights about current status of an Antarctic fjord affected by relatively slow glacial retreat

Comprender el origen, el transporte y el carácter de la materia orgánica que ingresa a los fiordos antárticos es esencial, ya que son componentes importantes del ciclo y presupuesto global del carbono. Se analizaron como indicadores de fuente depósitos macromoleculares de materia orgánica particulada, geoquímica orgánica a granel, elementos principales y traza en sedimentos superficiales de la Bahía de Collins. Como factores de control ambiental se consideraron las condiciones oceanográficas, la batimetría (multihaz) y el tamaño de grano. Las muestras de sedimentos fueron tomadas con una cuchara van Veen, durante la XXV expedición peruana ANTAR (febrero 2018), a bordo del B/O “ BAP Carrasco” de la Armada del Perú. La composición biopolimérica reveló el predominio de materia orgánica marina fresca rica en proteínas en el fondo marino de la Bahía de Collins, lo que denota un recurso alimentario de alta calidad para los heterótrofos bentónicos marinos. Según los valores de Igeo (entre 0 y 1), la Bahía de Collins se puede considerar no contaminada con niveles naturales de As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb y Zn. La distribución de la mayoría de estos elementos con un gradiente de disminución desde el fiordo interior poco profundo hacia el fiordo exterior más profundo, sugiere su asociación con la deposición de material detrítico y partículas litogénicas suministradas por la ablación frontal y la escorrentía del glaciar Collins. Esta primera información de referencia integral ayudaría a interpretar las reconstrucciones sedimentarias descendentes y los futuros cambios inducidos por el clima