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Show ITfT'I ! '"'1 HI ::--- l h: M ''-I I - '"' I. . ; 1 Xr,W" - , y, I. . 1 ' .'' H- 1 i ' 1; It:;:1-." ' '-4 V . I V ,1 .-jp.-Vw " . ' If - ' -L' ' y ! HANDFUL OF IIOPF Uranium prosp-.ctor, Harold P.owen, brings completed com-pleted Location Notice forms to County Coun-ty Recorder Esther Somerville for filing. fil-ing. The activities of tho Recorder's office tell the story of the again thriving thriv-ing iu-anium industry. On her busiest day this month, Mrs. Somerville filed 213 claims. Over 1,000 assessment notices no-tices have been filed. N-Power Plant Construction Delays May Create Power Shortages There is a growing concern con-cern over the nation that delays in completion of scheduled nuclear power plants may create a crisis in supplying power demands, de-mands, according to information infor-mation gleaned recently from the Nuclear Industry magazine. Delays being encountered are credited to labor problems, particularly partic-ularly in thc New York City vicinity, and with problems encountered in getting satisfactory components. com-ponents. Any significant delays or failure to meet required nuclear plant availability could cause a power shortage shor-tage in parts of the nation, na-tion, possibly as critical as failure to meet power demands, de-mands, it was noted. Construction costs of nuclear reactors have risen ris-en from 30 to 50 per cent over the past year due to cost of labor and materials'; mater-ials'; in addition, regulations regula-tions by agencies concerning concern-ing design criteria and engineering en-gineering safeguards for licensing, are increasingly becoming more rigid. Plants Still Compete In spite of the price increase in-crease for nuclear plants, however, manufacturers a-gree a-gree the plants will still compete with coal fired plants, and coal plant prices pric-es are also increasing appreciably. ap-preciably. In the long run, firming up of prices to amore realistic, real-istic, level is a healthy state, it was pointed out. Promise of future rewards for shareholders and financial fin-ancial communities will place needed capital at the disposal of industrialists industrial-ists proposing to invest 'n nuclear plants. The future price of uranium ur-anium to power the plants hinges on many things. There is an uncertainty as to the costs of conforming conform-ing to government regulations regula-tions regarding miner radiation ra-diation exposure, and uncertainty un-certainty as to the cost of replacing present uranium reserves. This will not be known until results of the current exploration program pro-gram are resolved. Prices Stabalizing The price of one U30S bid sent to the Sacramento Sacramen-to Municipal Utility District Dis-trict for its 800 megawatt plant was S8 per pound and up for 1971 to 1978 delivery. They deemed this high, and stated the price now seems to range from $7 to $7.50 per pound. The only bidder was Western Nuclear, Inc. Some nuclear fuel suppliers sup-pliers appear to have made early purchases of U308 at advantageous prices. Kerr-McGee, for one, reportedly re-portedly revealed it had sold ore for an average of 6.19 per pound after 1970 and at 5.88 for deliveries made through 1970. In addition to power plants, other peacetime uses us-es for U308 are under study. One is the prospect of using underground nuclear nu-clear explosives for gas storage and production. Several experimental tests are scheduled by spring of 1968, or sooner. One experiment ex-periment to stimulate natural na-tural gas flow is. planned for late fall in 1968 at the Mesa Verde formation in the Rulison Field, about 45 miles northeast . of Grand Junction. Plans call for firing large enough explosive to cover the major part of the thick, deeply buried gas formation. The Mesa Verde formation contains an estimated 100 billion cubic feet of gas per section, sec-tion, but so tightly held it cannot be profitably recovered re-covered by conventional methods. Release Huge Quantities If the experiment is successful, the fracturing should release about 34 billion cubic feet of gas, half of which could be produced pro-duced within the next 20 years after the shot. Proposing Pro-posing the test is the Aus-ral Aus-ral Oil Co., assisted by CER Geonuclear. Also of Interest to this area is the proposed attempt at-tempt to break up underground under-ground oil shale by nuclear explosions. Known U. S. oil shale reserves have been estimated to contain 400 billion barrels of oil. Rangely, Colorado is one prolific oil shale area and some deposits yet untested untest-ed are known to exist in northern Grand county. As vital to this area, however, as the results of tests for various peacetime peace-time uses of U308 is the supplying of uranium itself. it-self. The Four Corners area ar-ea is known to contain one of the nation's largest deposits de-posits of uranium. A major ma-jor exploration hunt by major companies is now underway, and the industry indus-try is expected to burst . into production efforts by as early as this fall. |