Before the US approves new uranium mining, consider its toxic legacy

Companies such as have played in lobbying the Trump administration to reduce federal protection for with uranium deposits. The Defense Department's Nuclear Posture Review calls for to expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which could spur new domestic uranium mining. And the Interior Department is advocating more domestic uranium production, along with other materials identified as '.'

What would expanded uranium mining in the U.S. mean at the local level? I have studied the legacies of past uranium mining and milling in Western states for over a decade. My examines dilemmas faced by uranium communities caught between harmful legacies of previous mining booms and the potential promise of new economic development.

These people and places are invisible to most Americans, but they helped make the United States an economic and military superpower. In my view, we owe it to them to learn from past mistakes and make more informed and sustainable decisions about possibly renewing uranium production than our nation made in the past.

Today most of the uranium that powers U.S. nuclear reactors is imported. But many communities still suffer impacts of and milling that occurred for decades to fuel the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race. These include , , abandoned mines, under-addressed and that citizens link to uranium exposure despite federal denials.

As World War II phased into the Cold War, U.S. officials rapidly increased uranium production from the 1940s to the 1960s. Regulations were minimal to nonexistent and largely unenforced, even though the knew that exposure to uranium had caused potentially fatal health effects in , and was monitoring uranium miners and millers for health problems.

Today the industry is subject to regulations that address worker health and safety, environmental protection, treatment of contaminated sites and other . But these regulations , and enforcement responsibilities are spread across multiple agencies.

This creates significant regulatory gaps, which are worsened by a federalist approach to regulation. In the 1970s the newly created Nuclear Regulatory Commission initiated an program, under which states take over regulating many aspects of uranium and nuclear production and waste storage. To qualify, state programs 'adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with the NRC's regulatory program.'

Today have joined this program and two more are applying. Many Agreement States struggle to enforce regulations because of . These problems can lead to piecemeal enforcement and reliance on corporate self-regulation.

For example, budget cuts in Colorado have forced the state to to monitor their own compliance with regulations. In Utah, the – our nation's only currently operating uranium mill – has a record of persistent problems related to permitting, water contamination and environmental health, as well as tribal sacred lands and artifacts.

Uranium still affects the and human health in the West, but its impacts remain woefully under-addressed. Some of the poorest, most isolated and ethnically marginalized communities in the nation are bearing the brunt of these legacies.

There are approximately in Western states. At least 500 are located on land controlled by the . Diné (Navajo) people have consequences of U.S. uranium production, including cancer clusters and water contamination.

found that about 85 percent of Diné homes are still contaminated with uranium, and that tribe members living near uranium mines have more uranium in their bones than 95 percent of the U.S. population. Unsurprisingly, President Donald Trump's decision to reduce the has reinvigorated discussion over across tribal and public land.

Despite legislation such as the of 1990, people who lived near uranium production or contamination sites often became forgotten casualties of the Cold War. For instance, , hosted a federally owned uranium mill from 1942 to 1960. Portions of the town were even left over from uranium milling, which we now know were radioactive. This created two that were not fully remediated until the late 1990s.

Monticello residents have dealt with for decades. Although the community has sought federal recognition and compensation since 1993, its requests have been .

Today tensions over water access and its use for uranium mining are creating conflict between regional tribes and corporate water users around the . Native residents, such as the Havasupai, have had to defend their and fear losing access to this vital resource.

Like any economic activity , uranium production is volatile and unstable. The industry has a . Communities that depend on it can be whipsawed by rapid growth followed by destabilizing population losses.

The occurred during the early Cold War and ended in the 1960s due to oversupply, triggering a bust. A second boom began later in the decade when the federal government authorized private commercial investment in nuclear power. But the (1979) and (1985) disasters ended this second boom.

Uranium prices soared once again from 2007 to 2010. But the 2011 tsunami and meltdown at Japan's sent prices plummeting once again as nations looked for alternatives to nuclear power.

Companies like Energy Fuels maintain – especially in – that new production will lead to . This message is powerful stuff. It boosts support, sometimes in the very communities that have suffered most from past practices.

But I have interviewed Westerners who worry that as production methods become more technologically advanced and mechanized, energy companies may increasingly rely on bringing in out-of-town workers with technical and engineering degrees rather than hiring locals – as has happened in the . And the core tensions of boom-bust economic volatility and instability persist.

Uranium production advocates contend that new and will adequately protect public health and the environment. Yet they offer little evidence to counter White Mesa Mill's poor record.

In my view, there is little evidence that new uranium production would be more reliably regulated or economically stable today than in the past. Instead, I expect that the industry will continue to privatize profits as the public absorbs and subsidizes its risks.

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