tuesday, april 7, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 106, no. 57
uu
Growth a specialty for chancellor Massengale
By Patti Gallagher
Martin Massengale is a man well acquainted with
growth.
Massengale, whose appointment as the new UNL
chancellor is awaiting approval of the NU Board of
Regents, held five positions in IVA years at the Uni
versity of Arizona.
With each move up the ladder, Massengale 's audience
and responsibilities grew.
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Daily Nebraskan Photo
UNL chancellor-designate Martin Massengale
His research at Arizona, too, involved growth. His
specialty in agronomy was water use and food -for-p lan ts
manufacturing.
When he moves two doors down the hall into the
chancellor's office June 1, Massengale will be account
ables to his broadest audience ever.
Growth will be vital then. His immediate task will
be to add the total Lincoln campus perspective to that
of the Institute of Agricluture and Natural Resources,
where he is now vice chancellor.
Monday, just 10 days after his appointment, Massen
gale defined and discussed that new audience.
He said that in addition to students, the university
must serve the needs of at least two other groups.
"In addition to our traditional on-campus students,
we serve adults through continuing education, we serve
people across the state through extension services. I have
to work with all of those."
Transition work
He admits he has a lot of transition work to do in
switching from vice chancellor to chancellor.
"One of the things I hope to do before I officially take
over is familiarize myself with all parts of the university.
I believe if I'm going to represent them I need to know
as I can about them."
But Massengale said he has the advantage of being an
"in-house" appointee. Since he has been at UNL for five
years and he knows most of the the administrators he will
be working with.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to be more right on, and lose
minimum momentum in the change," he said.
Massengale declined to identify the areas of the UNL
campus he believes are most important right now.
"It behooves me to get more information before I
make a decision," he said.
Getting more information is his style of dealing with
problems, the 47-year-old Massengale said.
There are different viewpoints and I think we need to
see all of them before making a decision that's in the best
interest of the university," he said.
According to various deans interviewed last week,
Massengale has .the abilitv to consider all sides of an issue
objectively, but he won't stall when making important
decisions. His assessment of himself is similar.
"I think I'm characterized by an open mind, and ob
jective mind, so I don't think there will be any biases from
my previous experience with the university," he said.
"I've always felt I could work in the position that I was
in.'
An investment
Massengale said he views the university as an invest
ment in the future.
"It is an investment because it's training our future
leaders, investing in research that we will be using in
Nebraska."
He added that the importance of research and re
sources should be conveyed to the citizens of the state.
"Frequently, I think the people don't appreciate the
resource that the university actually is," he said. "If you
want information on any item, whether it be in art,
literature, engineering or agriculture, why you can most
always go to the university and get that."
Although at least one depn reportedly resigned, Mass
engale said it is premature , j worry about resignations.
Those decisions will be mad ? after he assumes his posit
ion. Ned Hedges, vice chancellor for academic affairs, sub
mitted a letter offering to resign, Massengale said. It has
not been finalized.
Massengale was born and raised in Kentucky. He
received his bachelor's degree there, and earned a mast
er's and doctorate degrees from the University of Wis
consin. After two years in the military, Massengale began at
Arizona in 1958. He was an assistant professor of agron
omy, associate professor, head of the agronomy depart
ment, associate dean, and then director of agriculture.
He came to UNL in 1978 as vice chancellor.
Massengale said his salary will be determined by the
regents at their April 18 meeting, along with approval
of his appointment. He currently earns $55,200 a year.
Former chance loor Roy Young made $59,500.
The soon-to-be chancellor and his wife, Ruth, have two
children, Alan 1 5 , and Jennifer, 1 1 .
Crawford uranium site may use 'in-situ 'mining
By Bob Glissmann
Editor's note: This is the second story in a three-part
series on the proposed uranium mining in northwest Ne
braska. Wednesday's Daily Nebraskan will feature a
section on the reactions of people in the Crawford area
that were gathered by Daily Nebraskan reporters.
With about 25 "in-situ" uranium mining sites in opera
tion across the United States, and hardly any of them in
use for 10 years, the "in-situ" method isn't the traditional
method of uranium extraction. But mining company
officials say it may be the preferred nnthod of the future
and the one that will be used in Nebraska.
Amoco Minerals Co. Uranium Exploration Manager
John Squyres said from his Fnglewood, Colo, office that
"in-situ" (Latin for "in place") mining is "a much-favored
technique" over other methods such as strip mining,
strope (horizontal shaft) or vertical shaft mining.
Squyres said the Nebraska uranium deposit, located
near Crawford, would be too expensive to mine under
ground and too deep to mine by strip mining.
Paul Roberts, director of the Nebraska Oil and Gas
Commission, which presently regulates test drilling for
uranium, said the uranium ore bodies vary in depth from
as shallow as 300 feet below ground to more than 1,000
feet.
Cleanest method
Squyres said "in-situ" is by far the cleanest method,
and the method "vastly preferred" by landowners whose
land is used for uranium mining.
The process involves several steps, according to Squyres
and other experts.
After landowners lease the mineral rights to their land
to the uranium companies, the companies may begin test
drilling. At first, the test holes arc usually a mile or two
apart. Roberts said. He said that last year in northwestern
Nebraska more than 200 test holes were drilled by
uranium companies.
The test-drilling process takes about a day, Roberts
said. Three or four company employees on a truck-mounted
rig oversee the drilling, he said, and a company
geologist analyzes the extracted samples in the field.
Samples, or "cuttings." are brought up. from the ground
by a bentonite (soil cement) and water solution that is
forced down the drill pipe, which is four to five inches in
diameter. Robetts said. The solution helps seal the test
hole immediately after it is drilled. Background radiation
levels in and around the test hole are then measured, he
said.
Later, after the cuttings have been analyzed, test holes
might be placed closer together to determine the areas of
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Lincoln -k
highest uranium concentration, Roberts said.
The testing process takes two or three years, Roberts
said, and actual mining won't occur until the testing is
completed.
The commercial mining process takes awhile to
develop. Squyres said.
Three years to prepare
"The full cycle typically takes three years," he said.
After an ion exchange plant is built near the mining
site, wells are dug in a "five spot" pattern, Roberts said.
Wells are placed at the four corners of a 150-200
square foot area, with injector wells placed at the four
corners and a production well at the center of the square.
Water is containing an oxidizing agent and a carbonate is
injected into the four corner wells. The water is pumped
from a production well at a greater rate than it is injected
to insure an overall pumping effect, Squyres said. Other
wise, the solution containing the uranium could leak out
and spread to other levels, possibly contaminating ground
water, he said.
Only 20 to 30 gallons of water per minute are lost,
Squyres said, out of 500 to 600 total gallons per minute
that are circulated.
The carbonate in the solution dissolves the uranium
and the uranium-rich solution is forced up the well. The
solution is then piped to the plant and is run through an
ion exchanger, and the uranium is precipitated out. The
water is then reconditioned and recharged with solution
and sent back to the well site to be used again, Squyres
said.
"The precipitate is dried into yellow cake, or is left in
solution and shipped to a processing plant," Squyres
said.
Drilling site monitored
The minit site is monitored by wells no more than 400
feet from the drilling site, Squyres said.
"If there is an excursion (leak of radioactive solution),
we'll pick it up," Squyres said, explaining that if con
tamination occurs, the site must be abandoned until
uranium traces disappear.
"After it's no loneer economical to mine, we continue
to circulate fresh water from pump (injection) wells until
all traces of uranium are out and restored to original
state," Squyres said.
That process takes from a year to 18 months, Squyres
said. When the process is complete, the hole is plugged
with cement or the same kind of bentonite-water mud
used to plug test drills.
The cement plugs are 50 feet thick at the base of the
hole and 50 feet thick on top of the hole, Squyres said.
Ralph Knode, a geologist for Wyoming Fuel, said it is
to the companies' advantage to properly plug the holes.
"If you don't plug them properly, you have to go back
some day and find all those old holes and plug them.
That will cost you a lot more in four or five years than it
will now."
"We might have 30 or so acres under active leaching
(operation)," Squyres said. "We're also preparing 30 acres
and restoring 30 acres simultaneously," he said.
1 ,000 acres affected
Over the life of the operation one might affect 1,000
acres, he said.
A 1,000-foot test frill costs $1,500 to $2,500, while
a 1.000-foot well, fully equipped with the pipe and the
casing costs $5,000 to $7,000, Squyres said.
"These are ballpark figures, of course," he said. "A
company may drill 200 to 300 of these, so it's a fairly ex
pensive venture," Squyres said.
"I think damage can be minimized," Squyres said.
"The net benefits will greatly exceed the damage done
and if we do (cause damage) we'll be liable."
"We will not pollute such a large area," he said. "There
can be some bad effects (on the site) but not a regional
effect."
"I wouldn't say it's 100 percent bug free," Squyres
said of the "in-situ" method, "But there are very few
difficulties with it."
o
iissday
Postal service blues: Speaker encourages people to write
their congressmen in opposition to President Reagan's
proposed budget cuts to special education programs
Page 2
Lrvin' like a refugee: Despite the release of a new album,
The New Riders of the Purple Sage still see themselves
as survivors of the 60s page 6
Batter Up: Columnist Jeff Goodwin takes a look at the
1981 American League baseball season Page 7