11) Commercial Uranium Production (back to top)
While the presence of uranium decay-products makes gypsum a tough sell for the phosphate industry, the uranium has, at various times, presented the industry with a business opportunity of its own.
One of the lesser-known-facts about the phosphate industry is that its processing facilities have produced and sold sizeable quantities of uranium.
In 1997, just two phosphate plants in Louisiana produced 950,000 pounds of commercial uranium, which amounted to roughly 16% of the domestically produced uranium in the US.
In 1998, the same two plants produced another 950,000 pounds, but due to declining market prices for uranium, both plants have since ceased production.
If market prices improve, however, 4 US phosphate plants (2 in Louisiana & 2 in Florida) would have the capacity to produce a combined 2.75 million pounds of uranium per year, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE has termed these 4 facilities "Nonconventional Uranium Plants."
12) Cold War Secrets & Worker Health (back to top)
The Department of Energy has not always been so open about the uranium-making potential of the phosphate industry. During the Cold War, its predecessor institution, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), kept this fact closely under wraps - even to the workers who were, unknowingly, handling large quantities of the radioactive material.
In Joliet, Illinois, it has only recently come to light that the local phosphate plant had secretly produced some 2 million pounds of uranium for the US government in the years 1952 to 1962. According to local newspaper reports, the cancer rates of people who worked at the plant, especially "Building 55" where the uranium was processed, are unusually high.
"We used to kind of joke that if you worked for Blockson, you got cancer," quipped Vince Driscoll, the son of a cancer-stricken worker.
... was frisst dann die Bio-teuer-Fraktion nebenbei: Insekten ? ![[smilie_happy]](https://goldseiten-forum.com/wcf/images/smilies/smilie_happy_058.gif "smilie_happy"){kind=small}
![[smilie_blume]](https://goldseiten-forum.com/wcf/images/smilies/smilie_blume1.gif "smilie_blume"){kind=small}
![[smilie_denk]](https://goldseiten-forum.com/wcf/images/smilies/smilie_denk_44.gif "smilie_denk"){kind=small}
... nix fuer SchwachKoepfe ... 
AtomBomben an der Luft gezuendet ... bevor man sich auf unterirdische Versuche verlegte ... 
