ARMZ Buys Wyoming Uranium Mines

That is correct. A Russian company named ARMZ has bought two uranium mines in Wyoming.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the license transfer of two Wyoming mines to a Russian company, despite concerns over national security raised by local and national government officials including senior House Republicans.

From the Telegram:

Two uranium mines in Wyoming are on their way to control by a Russian company now that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved transferring the mines’ licenses.

The NRC last week approved the license transfer to a Russian company known as ARMZ which expects to obtain a controlling interest in Canadian-owned Uranium One by year’s end. Uranium One holds the licenses for a proposed uranium mine and an existing uranium mine in northeast Wyoming.

The approval comes despite concerns from local and national lawmakers. Bother groups worry that Wyoming’s uranium could in theory go overseas and serve against U.S. interests.

Clever name ARMZ. Those Russians sure do have a sense of humor. The whole deal kind of makes me think of the scrap iron deal with Japan pre-WW2.

Of course once the war started we sent Japan more scrap iron.

Get the poster: Salvage Scrap To Blast the Jap
I wonder if we should start collecting scrap uranium. Just in case.

H/T Bunkerville who also discusses the sale of two BP refineries.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Munich Is In Germany

Iran's top security guy will be there in a few days as well.

Iran's top security official, Ali Larijani, said Wednesday he would hold negotiations with Western officials over the country's controversial nuclear program during a security conference in Germany this weekend.

His comments suggested Iran may be on a new diplomatic offensive in efforts to stave off sterner measures from the UN Security Council, should it fail to meet a 60-day deadline to suspend uranium enrichment that was imposed Dec. 23.

Larijani, who will for the first time head the Teheran delegation to the Feb. 9-11 gathering in Munich, Germany, unlike earlier gatherings that were attended by lower level Iranian officials, sidestepped questions whether those talks would directly involve US representatives.

One of two things is possible here. Either he is in a big hurry to make a deal or he likes the symbolism.

Some Heavy News

Iran is making progress with a heavy water moderated nuclear plant.

TEHRAN (Reuters) -
Iran has completed a new phase in its Arak heavy-water reactor plant, a presidential official said on Saturday, referring to part of Iran's atomic program which the West fears is aimed at producing bombs.

The official said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would give a speech later in the day "announcing that the heavy-water project has become operational."

Iran is building a heavy-water nuclear reactor at Arak, 120 miles southwest of the capital Tehran. The plant's plutonium by-product could be used to make atomic warheads.

Heavy water is water made with heavy hydrogen. Normal hydrogen has one proton in its nucleus. Heavy hydrogen has one proton and one neutron.

In a nuclear reactor a moderator slows down neutrons to make them easier for U235 and U238 to capture. When the U235 captures a neutron it fissions releasing energy. U238 when it captures a neutron converts to U239 which changes to Pu239 by emitting an electron. Pu239 in high enough concentration is bomb making material. It also represents 30% of the active fuel in an operating reactor.

Now why use heavy water instead of normal water which is used in most US reactors? Normal or light water reactors require enriched uranium to produce enough neutrons to function. Heavy water absorbs 600 times fewer neutrons per collision than light water. Although normal water doesn't absorb many neutrons it is still enough to require enriched fuel. A heavy water plant can operate on natural uranium containing only .7% U235.

This University of California, Berkeley site has the basics about the different reactor designs.

The advantage of a heavy water plant for Iran is that it can save its enriched uranium for a U235 type bomb. Also plutonium production is not dependent on the enrichment program so the two programs can be run in parallel.

Update: 26 Aug '06 2228z

Captain's Quarters discusses the issue at greater length with more politics and fewer technical details. Comes to similar conclusion.