Bill Clinton goes nuclear

Former prez helped a rich guy get uranium-mining rights in Kazakhstan

Posted by Tom Philpott at 3:31 PM on 31 Jan 2008

Read more about: Bill Clinton | energy | nuclear power | mining | Kazakhstan

Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.

Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

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4 Comments | Post a Comment

What?

No Borat puns?

by GreyFlcn at 5:16 PM on 31 Jan 2008

How unfortunate

Bill is going to have to cool the wheeling and dealing for charity if he is going to be first gentleman. Even for a good cause, it is going too far.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 6:44 PM on 31 Jan 2008

fallout factor

The article in NYT was too long and detailed to be stuffed into a sound bite. Therefore, it won't matter in the campaign. Unfortunate.

by danielbell at 9:59 AM on 01 Feb 2008

Kazakh uranium production increases 26%

... says http://www.uic.com.au/wns0125.htm. In thermal megawatts, from 98,500 to 124,000. (Saudi Arabia produces, IIRC, 600,000, but at a very much higher unit cost.)

How shall the car gain nuclear cachet?

by GRLCowan at 11:46 AM on 01 Feb 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

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