Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock That Shaped the World

Recently I finished reading a good book titled Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock That Shaped the World. It was a fascinating read.

See, I was born in Elliot Lake, a so-called uranium capital, back in 1981—when the Cold War was still in full swing resulting in a sort of boom for the mineral—and I remember a lot from this era.

This was before Communism was dissolved in the Soviet Union and all the rest of that jazz. Mind you, I do remember the tail end of this Cold War phenomenon. Certain images have a way of burning their way into your memory: like mushroom clouds on T.V. or black and white video of kids hiding under their desks—silly kids, I remember thinking. Hiding under your desk won’t prevent your skin from peeling off with radiation sickness. Yep, I am a product of my generation.

Then there was the exhaust fan that ran continuously in our basement to prevent radon gas from building up. That town was hot.

There was even a statue of an atom at the centre of town, basically commemorating nuclear power and all that it signified.

So you can imagine that I was pretty stoked when I heard there would be a whole book devoted to the subject of Uranium.

My father was also a Uranium miner—hence the reason I was born in Elliot Lake—and I look at him and see someone who has prematurely aged and I wonder about the health repercussions of living in such an environment.

I was disappointed when Elliot Lake was not mentioned, even fleetingly, within the pages of this book.

It was an important place at one time…honest!

The book does mention health-related issues that miners encountered in the early years of mining uranium, but nothing later than the 1960s.

My dad started in the 1970s, so there was no information on later developments (either pro or against the health of a Canadian uranium miner). Another disappointment.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy reading this book.

A lot of the back story on uranium was covered and so I now have a better understanding of why the city I was born in (which only came into existence in 1957 and afterward) actually came into existence.

I also enjoyed the figurative and metaphorical language that Tom Zoellner, the author, uses in the narrative.

It’s apocalyptic, but also scientific: the language is refreshing and it works, bringing this radioactive rock to life in a way that has not been attempted before