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Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Nuclear power’s other tragedy: Communities living with uranium mining (2011)

Auteur	Earthworks, E.Kamptner
	-
Datum	juni 2011
Classificatie	3.01.5.10/22 (VS - URANIUMMIJNBOUW)
Voorkant

INTRODUCTION

Uranium was first mined in the United States in 1871, but industrial-scale uranium 
mining boomed at the end of World War II and the dawn of the Atomic Age.(1) 
The industry’s history of contaminating streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater 
with radioactive or toxic wastes is just as long, and it persists as abandoned open-pit 
mines from the Cold War era continue to leach pollutants into waterways, mostly on 
public or tribal lands, in 14 Western states. By 2009, 14 uranium mines were in 
operation in the U.S., and four were in situ operations that involve injecting chemical-
laced solutions into the ground to dissolve uranium from ore and then pumping out 
the uranium-containing fluids. But as we will see, modern-day uranium exploration 
and mining are far from being as safe as they claim to be. The legacy and the future 
of uranium mining are threatening communities who, under the lax provisions of the 
1872 Mining Law, have little recourse against the reach of large multinational mining 
companies. The new 21st century push for nuclear power in the U.S. and worldwide 
significantly increases the risk of future uranium development leading to more tragic 
contamination stories like those outlined in this report.

This report tells only some of the stories of communities impacted by uranium 
mining. We highlight the more serious cases of contamination from past and 
present mining. We spotlight the special places threatened by the devastating and 
lasting impacts of exploration and drilling. And we recommend policy changes that 
are urgently needed to protect the public from an industry whose byproducts too 
often include environmental degradation and health hazards. It is long past time 
that regulation of uranium

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