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Living with Uranium: The Impact of Uranium Mining on Indigenous Communities

Continuing the conversation about racial and social injustice in the nuclear field, the Project on Managing the Atom has the honor to host a discussion about the multigenerational impact of uranium mining on the environment, health, and community life of Indigenous people. One of the lingering legacies of the U.S. nuclear energy and nuclear weapon programs is thousands of abandoned uranium mines in the Southwestern United States. There are over 500 on the lands of the Navajo Nation alone. The panel brings together academic, activist, and community perspectives on life in the vicinity of abandoned and un-remediated uranium mines. Terry Keyanna and Jeff Gaco, representatives of the Navajo community of Red Water Pond Road and of the Pueblo of Laguna, will share their personal experiences and those of their communities in the face of treaty rights abrogation, commercial interests, and government inaction. Dr. Johnnye Lewis of the University of New Mexico and Chris Shuey of the Southwest Research and Information Center will discuss the history of uranium mining in the Indigenous lands and the community–academic collaboration on the Navajo Birth Cohort Study tracing effects on pregnancies and early childhood development from chronic exposure to uranium and other metals.

Dec 10, 2020 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)