Eunice Next Boomtown? (Hobbs: 2010, rental, how much)

[6 FOOT 3]

Well one thing is for sure and that is it is being built as the US DOE and Gov Richardson signed off for it.

I do wonder about the waste that nuclear energy produces but i also wonder about all the coal Fire plants and the mercuruy waste that has been produced as now i understand the whole earth is coated with it especially in the oceans.

Anyway i'll bank on Nano technologies over the next 10 to 20 years to help solve the nuclear and coal waste problems.

[Zoidberg]

Someone will have to clue me in on what and how "Nano" technologies could fix waste problems. Sounds a lot like a buzz word with little substantive theory behind it.

The interesting thing about Nuclear in particular, is that irrespective of subsidies, regulations, and environmental effects, it is rapidly becoming more expensive. Maintaining plants is far more expensive than it used to be. Mining is far more expensive than it used to be. Like oil, the easy and high-grade Uranium deposits have just about run out. The prices of stainless steel and copper (both consumed in fairly large quantities by nuclear) have both gone through the roof.

The chief reason I wouldn't invest in Nuclear today is that in a few short years it will be more expensive than wind or solar (too bad coal won't be also). Most of the exceptionally wealthy entities in this country with the financial means to build new plants know this, which is why a friendly administration has not been able to shepherd through that many new plants.

[6 FOOT 3]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

Someone will have to clue me in on what and how "Nano" technologies could fix waste problems. Sounds a lot like a buzz word with little substantive theory behind it.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley are using Naotechnology to clean up Nuclear Waste in the lab at this time as are other research institutions.
I'm into science and technology as i've been researching these types of technologies for years so i have an idea whats coming down the pipeline.

Nanotech web sites for research into this field.
http://www.nanoindustries.com/magazines.html

[Brigrat]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

I'd like to know what they're planning on doing with all the depleted Uranium this plant is going to generate.

Since all Uranium is radioactive (yes, depleted Uranium too) and the military supposedly has stopped making rounds out of it, one wonders where they'll store it. Trucking it back to the mine site doesn't seem too likely to me.

Deconversion, and subsequent burial at the mine site or something like it is exactly what they plan on doing with it...There is a huge market for Uranium deconversion right now...with only a couple of facilities doing that kind of work in the US...there are a number of companies in the early stages of building a deconversion plant.

[GregW]

comments later - later

I live in a town that has tripled in population over the last 25 years. This has driven real estate prices and property tax rate through the roof. This is likely to happen to Eunice.

Be that what it may. I think a Fuel processing facility is an ideal industry for rural NM. It is far less disruptive than most anything else and is productive as well. From my limited research Eunice is in the heart of the SWNM oil fields. In my experience the oil industry is just about as messy as coal mining but does not leave huge holes in the ground when the resource runs out. They just leave thier junk and chemicals scattered about.

As an environmentalist with thirty years experience in air and water quality and industrial pollution I a very pleased with the changing energy policy that will use nuclear fission plants for the electrical base load. These facilities have a very small impact on the local, regional and planetary environment. Compared with coal they are virtually nonexistent.

An interesting sidelight to burning massive amounts of coal to produce electricity is the concentration of relatively rare minerals and metals into the cash pit. As an example a 1,000-mega watt coal fired power plant using a coal containing 1 part per million URANIUM (a fairly common concentration) will collect in one year’s operation almost 3,500 TONS of Uranium 238 and 700 Tons of U-235 in the fly ash. This is a nearly mixable concentration and produces far more radiation at the coal plant than would be allowable at any nuclear facility.

I can only hope that a uranium enrichment facility will be accompanied by a used fuel element repressing plant that will recover the U-238 and U-235 from used fuel rods as well as the Plutonium Pu-240 and 241 generated in the reactor during normal operation. The Plutonium can than be missed into new “Mixed Oxide Fuel" rods and reacted in subsequent reactors to make electricity. The PU-240 and 241 created "bread" is not suitable for bombs because of its physical characteristics.

Between fuel recovery from existing coal ash pits and nuclear reprocessing we could supply our civilization with abundant electricity forever without adding significantly to the greenhouse gas concentration and while using the transuranic elements for energy instead of wasting them in some unrealistic long-term storage scheme foisted on us by the coal and oil interests during the 1970’s and 80’s.

Eunice is part of the world’s energy future and should be proud of that situation.

[not a fan]

Originally Posted by 6/3

Good story in todays Las Cruces Sun newspaper about how the town of Eunice (pop 2700) just south of Hobbs is building the 1.5 billion dollar LES Uranium plant as they need about 700 more construction workers which they are having a hard time finding. On top of that they need according to the town Mayor Matt White 400 new houses to be built and also an appartment complex. They are also getting ready to build the new 6 million dollar Waste Water treatment plant and also recieved from Gov. Richardson 1 million dollars for downtown beautification projects. Once the LES plant is built they will have 350 permanent workers and an additional 70 Security Guard workers to protect the plant.

The Democratic Governor (Richardson) has allowed it to proceed although some are opposed because of the radiation storage. Since its happening its good to see a small town of 2700 people get an infusion of jobs. So if your in the construction industry and want to make big bucks then you may want to head down to Eunice where they are begging for construction Workers.

i for one am glad to have left Eunice. It is full of nothing but crooks. From the police dept. all the way to the mayor's office. i filed a lawsuit against the City of Eunice, three of their finest and Lea County' because of the discrimination they show towards women in general. I was railroaded by the judge, the police and the whole city, but i had the guts to stand up to them and won. The LES group does not know what they are in for. I've heard Eunice called everything from "a friendly community" to "an Oasis in the desert." I have one word for that "bull----!! I moved to Texas to get as far away from that town as possible. Everyone wants a piece of the action...believe me it will be the crooks that benefit, not the citizens. You think they actually care if you are doing well?? Wake up and smell the awful gas that lingers over that town...

[Brigrat]

Originally Posted by not a fan

i for one am glad to have left Eunice. It is full of nothing but crooks. From the police dept. all the way to the mayor's office. i filed a lawsuit against the City of Eunice, three of their finest and Lea County' because of the discrimination they show towards women in general. I was railroaded by the judge, the police and the whole city, but i had the guts to stand up to them and won. The LES group does not know what they are in for. I've heard Eunice called everything from "a friendly community" to "an Oasis in the desert." I have one word for that "bull----!! I moved to Texas to get as far away from that town as possible. Everyone wants a piece of the action...believe me it will be the crooks that benefit, not the citizens. You think they actually care if you are doing well?? Wake up and smell the awful gas that lingers over that town...

My guess is...you are full of it. The Chief of the Eunice Police Dept. is one of the finest men I have ever met. He is kind, generous, treats everyone fairly, and is an example for small town chiefs if I have ever seen one.

don't forget...the site is in the county...not the city!

[narvick]

Ran across this Article that I had clipped out of the paper a couple of years back. I found it to be a classic example of complete political idiocy.
Though a little late, I thought I'd pass it on anyhow.

N.M. Desert Town Stakes Future on Uranium
February 16, 2005 5:31 PM EST
Eunice, New Mexico [An example of Political Genius at work!]

Eunice, NM, is a city whose population was 2,562 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Eunice, as of August 2005, is James D. Brown III. Ground was broken for construction of a National Enrichment Facility to enrich uranium in August, 2006. An announced purpose is to make fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Like many others in this former boomtown, Mayor James Brown knows more about isotopes, centrifuges and uranium-235 than your average college student [for all the good it has done him or them].
Brown's recent crash course [A full 3 ½ hours no doubt] in nuclear physics was a prerequisite [unfortunately common sense is not a prerequisite for elected officials]: Many of his constituents are counting on the jobs and economic trickle-down [the only thing that will trickle down is radioactivity] that are being promised if a $1.3 billion uranium enrichment plant that would make fuel for nuclear power plants comes to town. [The entire population of Eunice can also count on being personally radioactively enriched].
Critics say the proposed National Enrichment Facility could pollute the environment, guzzle scarce water and leave this oil-producing town with tons of radioactive waste and nowhere to put it. [How about a portion of everybody’s back yard?]
But the mayor [who flies back and forth from his home in Albuquerque some 337 miles away] warns that without the plant, Eunice faces [financial] extinction [however, Mayor Brown III prefers radioactive extinction].
"We have to have something else in place or communities like Eunice and Jal will just disappear," he said. "The oil industry won't be able to support our economy 20 or 30 years from now."
[Little does this Mayor Brown III realize, that in 20-30 years of local radioactive pollution, there won’t be anyone left to support. And what might remain of Eunice’s population could hire themselves out as Energy-Saving street lights in Albuquerque].

Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII

[rybert]

Does he really live in ABQ?

What a jack-@ss!

[Brigrat]

Originally Posted by narvick

Ran across this Article that I had clipped out of the paper a couple of years back. I found it to be a classic example of complete political idiocy.
Though a little late, I thought I'd pass it on anyhow.

N.M. Desert Town Stakes Future on Uranium
February 16, 2005 5:31 PM EST
Eunice, New Mexico [An example of Political Genius at work!]

Eunice, NM, is a city whose population was 2,562 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Eunice, as of August 2005, is James D. Brown III. Ground was broken for construction of a National Enrichment Facility to enrich uranium in August, 2006. An announced purpose is to make fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Like many others in this former boomtown, Mayor James Brown knows more about isotopes, centrifuges and uranium-235 than your average college student [for all the good it has done him or them].
Brown's recent crash course [A full 3 ½ hours no doubt] in nuclear physics was a prerequisite [unfortunately common sense is not a prerequisite for elected officials]: Many of his constituents are counting on the jobs and economic trickle-down [the only thing that will trickle down is radioactivity] that are being promised if a $1.3 billion uranium enrichment plant that would make fuel for nuclear power plants comes to town. [The entire population of Eunice can also count on being personally radioactively enriched].
Critics say the proposed National Enrichment Facility could pollute the environment, guzzle scarce water and leave this oil-producing town with tons of radioactive waste and nowhere to put it. [How about a portion of everybody’s back yard?]
But the mayor [who flies back and forth from his home in Albuquerque some 337 miles away] warns that without the plant, Eunice faces [financial] extinction [however, Mayor Brown III prefers radioactive extinction].
"We have to have something else in place or communities like Eunice and Jal will just disappear," he said. "The oil industry won't be able to support our economy 20 or 30 years from now."
[Little does this Mayor Brown III realize, that in 20-30 years of local radioactive pollution, there won’t be anyone left to support. And what might remain of Eunice’s population could hire themselves out as Energy-Saving street lights in Albuquerque].

Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII

what a load of garbage...the National Enrichment Facility uses very little water, has to dispose of its waste outside the state of New Mexico per its settlement with the state, and the mayor in this article was voted out of office in 2006. The current Mayor (Jack White) is an even bigger supporter of the facility and lives in town...

I am hard pressed to find one single fact in that article...you people need to go attack some other industry and town for a while.