Supermassive Black Hole A Star

Author notes

Ep. 37, Page 19

smbhax

on June 10, 2019

The 1979 Church Rock uranium mill spill in New Mexico "remains the largest release of radioactive material in U.S. history." Much of the spilled 1,000 tons of radioactive mill waste and 94 million gallons of radioactive uranium mining tailings solution traveled downstream into the nearby Navajo Nation, contaminating groundwater and rendering the river unusable. "Burns acquired by some of those who came into contact with the contaminated water developed serious infections and required amputations."

Cleanup at the time was woefully inadequate; the company behind the spill, United Nuclear Corporation, only collected about 1% of the spilled solid waste; the site remains a problem to this day, with the EPA listing the groundwater situation as "not under control."