OCR Text |
Show j: NEEFS Mining operations being conducted by Union Carbide Corporation's Metals Division in the LaSal, Utah area are expected to increase in the next few months. At the present time approximately twenty parsons are employed in the operations. This work fcjrce is expected to be increased to approximately fifty employees by the end of 1977. Hiring of employees is handled by the Company's Uravan, Colo, office. o Drilling figures compiled by ERDA from data submitted by uranium companies active in 1976 indicate that surface exploration and development drilling totaled an all time high of 34 million feet in 1976. Nineteen million feet was exploration drilling and fifteen million feet was development drilling. These figures do not include approximately one million feet of underground drilling for control of mining operations. The 34 million feet of exploration and development drilling in 1976 represents a substantial increase over the 1975 effort, when 26 million feet were drilled. Exploration drilling involves the search for new deposits and determination whether or not a discovery is commercially attractive. Development drilling ia done subsequently to determine in detail the size, configuration and grade of the deposits. Wyoming led the list of states, with 12 million feet drilled. In Utah, 2 million feet were drilled, representing approximately 6 per cent of the total. o A government report, "Geological Investigations Report of the North Wash Mining District, Henrv Mountains, Utah," has been placed on open file with the Grand Junction office, Energy Research and Development Administration, it was learned this week. The report is the result of early Atomic Energy Commission investigations of the North Wash Mining District and has been placed on open file at this time because of renewed interest in the area. The report, RMO 704 R, consists of eight pages and five maps, and is available on microfiche only. Cost of the report is $3.00, and it can be obtained from Bendix Field Engineering Corp., Technical Library, P.O. Box 1569, Grand Junction, Colo. 81501. o Nuclear power plants in the U.S. last year produced slightly more than 200 billion gross kilowatt-hours of electricity. There are now 64 operable nuclear reactors accounting for 8.8 per cent of total installed capacity and approximately 10 per cent of domestic output. Had the 20 billion kilowatt hours of electricity estimated to have been produced bv nuclear power plants in January not been available, these consequences would have resulted, according to the current monthly production." "More than 257,000 jobs lost in the month Nearly $230 million lost in monthly wages A reduction of some $3.8 billion in the month for the various goods, products and services that make up the Gross National Product Additionally, the 10 million homes; 1 million stores, office buildings and schools; and 60,000 factories, industries and manufacturing plants that could have been served by this nuclear generation would have needed their energy requirements met by other means Filling these demands for electricity by other sources would have required: 32 million barrels of oil, nearly 13 per cent of current monthly domestic production, or 182 billion cubic feet of natural gas, more than 10 per cent of current monthly production, or 9.6 million tons of coal, about 17 per cent of current monthly production." |