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After the end of World War II, the United States encouraged uranium mining production because of the nuclear arms race with the U.S.S.R., its opponent in the Cold War. Large uranium deposits were found on and near the Navajo Reservation in the Southwest, and private companies hired many Navajo employees to work the mines. 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. Studies provided data to show that the Navajo mine workers and numerous families on the reservation have suffered high rates of disease from environmental contamination, but for decades, industry and the government failed to regulate or improve conditions, or inform workers of the dangers. As high rates of illness began to occur, workers were often unsuccessful in court cases seeking compensation, and the states at first did not officially recognize radon illness. In 1990 the US Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, to settle such cases and provide needed compensation. Despite efforts made in cleaning up uranium sites, significant problems stemming from the legacy of uranium development still exist today on the Navajo Nation and in the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Hundreds of abandoned mines have not been cleaned up and present environmental and health risks in many communities. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are 4000 mines with documented uranium production, and another 15,000 locations with uranium occurrences in 14 western states,〔U.S. EPA, Radiation Protection, “Uranium Mining Waste” 30 August 2012 Web.4 December 2012, http://www.epa.gov/radiation/tenorm/uranium.html〕 most found in the Four Corners area and Wyoming.〔Uranium Mining and Extraction Processes in the United States Figure 2.1. Mines and Other Locations with Uranium in the Western U.S. http://www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/tenorm/402-r-08-005-voli/402-r-08-005-v1-ch2.pdf 〕 The ''Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act'' is a United States environmental law that amended the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and gave the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to establish health and environmental standards for the stabilization, restoration, and disposal of uranium mill waste. ==History== In 1948, The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) announced it would be the sole purchaser of any uranium mined in the United States, to cut off dependence on imported uranium. The AEC would not mine the uranium; it contracted with private mining companies for the product.〔Brugge, Doug, Timothy Benally, and Esther Yazzie-Lewis. ''The Navajo People and Uranium Mining, ''Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006〕 The subsequent mining boom following the announcement led to the creation of thousands of mines, with 92% of all western mines located on the Colorado Plateau.〔Dawson, Susan E, and Gary E Madsen. "Uranium Mine Workers, Atomic Downwinders, and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act." In ''Half Lives & Half-Truths: Confronting the Radioactive Legacies of the Cold War,'' pp. 117-143. Santa Fe: School For Advanced Research, 2007)〕 The Navajo Nation encompasses portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, making their reservation a key area for uranium mining; it had more than 1000 mines in the reservation.〔 Between 3,000 and 5,000 Navajo people worked in the uranium mines on their land from 1944 to 1986. As work was scarce on and near the reservation, many Navajo men would travel miles to work in a mine, sometimes taking their families with them.〔 Between 1944 and 1989, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were mined from the mountains and plains. In 1950, the US Public Health service made a massive study of uranium miners, leading to the first publication of a statistical correlation between cancer and uranium mining, released in 1962.〔 The federal government finally regulated the standard amount of radon in mines, setting the level at .3 WL on January 1, 1969.〔 But, environmental regulation could not repair the damage already suffered. Navajo miners contracted lung cancer at much higher rates than the rest of the population, and they have suffered higher rates of other lung diseases caused by breathing in radon.〔 Private companies had resisted regulation through lobbying Congress and state legislatures. In 1990, the United States Congress finally passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), granting reparations for those affected by the radiation. The act was amended in 2000 to address criticisms and problems with the original legislation.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Uranium mining and the Navajo people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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