Uranium Mining Disaster – Church Rock Uranium Tailings Pond Breach – 40th Anniversary SPECIAL, Pt. 2

Uranium mining marks the start of the nuclear fuel chain and the deadly journey that element takes to become atomic weapons, nuclear reactors, and tons of highly radioactive waste that we do not know how to store safely for tens of thousands of years.

On July 13 and 14, Nuclear Hotseat attended commemorative events for the 1979 Church Rock uranium tailings pond breach and spill, which dumped more than 94 million gallons of highly acidic radioactive water into the adjacent Puerco River. The contamination reached Sanders, Arizona, and was recorded at least 80 miles away. The spill has never been cleaned up, and even now, while it has been declared a Superfund site, it will take at least two years before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission finishes its review of the EPA’s clean-up plan – and clean-up can’t even begin until and unless the plan is approved.. And even that plan has come in for criticism by activists and community members.

This very special Nuclear Hotseat is an audio montage of interviews with community leaders from Navajo Nation – most specifically the Red Water Pond Road Community, located adjacent to the spill site; commemoration event attendees; government officials; and activists from as far away as Japan. We spoke with:

Former uranium miner Larry J. King, who was on-site at the United Nuclear Corporation mine the day of the tailings pond spill

Redwater Pond Road Community members Jackie Bell, Edith Hood, Terracita Keyanna, Anna Benally, who live next to the spill site.
Navajo Nation president Jonathan Nez
New Mexico state senator George Muñoz
Southwest Research and Information Center Research Director Paul Robinson and Director of the Uranium Impact Assessment Program, Chris Shuey
Environmental Protection Agency District 9 (San Francisco) rep Sean Hogan
Journalist and Nuclear Nation Film Festival producer Mervyn Tilden