Colorado approves the first new US uranium mill in 25 years

New York Times : Before being processed into fuel rods for nuclear power stations, uranium ore is ground to a powder and treated with chemicals to create yellowcake, a form of uranium oxide. That step is undertaken at uranium mills. Now, for the first time in 25 years, a new uranium mill looks set to be built in the US. Yesterday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment granted a license to the Canadian company Energy Fuels for the $175-million Piñon Ridge mill, whose site lies in western Colorado. As the New York Times‘s Kirk Johnson reports, local residents favor the mill; the Sheep Mountain Alliance, an environmental group in southwestern Colorado, opposes it.