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The Abandoned Uranium Mines on the Navajo Nation were established as a Superfund site in 1994 in response to a Congressional hearing brought by the Navajo Nation on November 4, 1993. This hearing included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
The tailings dam failure that caused the Church Rock uranium mill spill on July 16, 1979, remains the largest release of radioactive material in U.S. history. [18] [19] In May 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would join the Navajo Nation EPA in cleaning up radioactive contamination near the Church Rock mine ...
A Navajo discovered uranium in 1942 in Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona. The first mine in the district opened in 1948. Uranium and uranium-vanadium minerals occur in fluvial channels of the Shinarump Sandstone member of the Triassic Chinle Formation. Ore deposits are associated with carbonized wood in the sandstone. [2]
The tribe in 2005 banned uranium mining across the sprawling reservation, pointing to the painful legacy of contamination, illness and death that was left behind by the extraction of nearly 30 ...
Feb. 17—ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The U.S. nuclear weapons program during the Cold War required a steady supply of uranium. But after 30 million tons of the metal were extracted from Navajo lands ...
From the Navajo Nation to Ute Mountain Ute and Oglala Lakota homelands, tribal communities have deep-seated distrust of uranium companies and the federal government as abandoned mines and related ...
An estimated 1.36 short tons (1.23 t) of uranium and 46 curies of alpha contaminants traveled 80 miles (130 km) downstream [8] to Navajo County, Arizona, and onto the Navajo Nation. [2] In addition to being radioactive and acidic, the spill contained toxic metals and sulfates. [ 9 ]
Disregarding the known health risks imposed by exposure to uranium, the private companies and the United States Atomic Energy Commission failed to inform the Navajo workers about the dangers and to regulate the mining to minimize contamination. As more data was collected, they were slow to take appropriate action for the workers.