Utah's Dirty Mining Legacy

Comment: Comment: Utah has an unhealthy uranium mining experience and according to (NIOSH) report concluded that the current radiation exposure standard "does not provide an adequate degree of protection for underground miners.

During the uranium boom of the 1940s and 50s, thousands of uranium mines were claimed in Utah. When the uranium boom went bust in the 1970s, Utah was left with over 5,000 abandoned uranium mines. The cleanup cost of closing those mines is estimated at $125 million taxpayer dollars.

But the impact of the uranium mining industry isn’t limited to our land; it also affected the health of those laboring in the mines. As early as the 1950s, the federal government had secretly studied the health of uranium miners and knew there were significant health impacts. In order to gain access to miners to do the study, the US Public Health Service agreed not to warn uranium miners of the radiation hazards of their work.

They found uranium miners had increased risk for lung cancer, respiratory disease, and diseases of the blood.

Now, the nuclear industry will tell you that we’ve learned from our past and things will be different this time. And to their credit, there have been improvements.

However, the truth is that uranium miner health standards have remained unchanged since 1971, and so there is no question that a new generation of miners will be exposed to some of same health impacts as the last.

In fact, a 1980 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report concluded that the current radiation exposure standard "does not provide an adequate degree of protection for underground miners exposed to radiation when it is evaluated over their exposure lifetime."

Although this information has been conveyed to Congress, the antiquated standard remains in place.