That fungus among us may be the answer to uranium-polluted soils eventually being brought back into use.
Researchers at Dundee Unversity in the UK have determined that fungi can block uranium from finding its way into plants, animals or the water supply.
Scientists have found that what they call free-living and plant fungi can, “colonise depleted uranium surfaces and transform the metal into uranyl phosphate minerals”.
As I stated in an earlier article, the Navajo Nation is challenging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in a Federal appeals court, over proposed in situ leach uranium mining on tribal lands. It’s the first time in history that the NRC will be challenged in court for its approval of a source materials license for an in situ leach uranium mine.
The Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock are represented by the New […]
April 26 marks the 22nd anniversary of the 1986 nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Slavutych, Ukraine. That one incident resulted in hundreds and possibly thousands of deaths, lingering health issues, radioactive contamination of a wide swath of land, property losses and on-going clean-up costs totaling billions of dollars.The Ukranian-American Environmental Association sent out a release reminding everyon of the risks of nuclear power.
I spoke with Kenneth Bossong, co-director of […]
For all the minorities in this country who have raised pluperfect hell about their past or current situations, the American Indian has been the quietist, and I wonder why.
Before you write me nasty emails, I’m not minimizing the concerns of minorities in this country: they have their issues and the right to use their voices, and that’s good.
But think for a moment about the original settlers of this land, the American Indian.
They did just fine for centuries, sustaining their cultures with the fruits of the land, picking fights and having wars, just like we all do.
Then, came the white man (no emails please, because that’s what happened), who invaded the natives’ birthright, confiscated their tribal lands, transferred them to reservations and literally forgot about them. Many of those Native Americans to this very day are without electricity and running water, in some cases, living in dirt poor conditions, and they languish without raising their voices.
How incredibly sad.
A federal judge has blocked a mining company from exploring for any further uranium near the grand Canyon. Several groups had sued the U.S. Forest Service for backing the plan without full environmental reviews. U.S. District Court Judge Mary Murguia of the U.S. District Court in Arizona issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction stopping the drilling late last week.
“The Grand Canyon is too important for the Forest Service to give short shrift to the possible and significant negative impacts of uranium mining exploration,” said Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach director for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. “The Forest Service should take a hard look at the impacts and the public should have an opportunity to review and comment on this mining exploration,” added Bahr.
Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva has introduced legislation to withdraw approximately one million acres near the Grand Canyon from mineral exploration under the 1872 Mining Act.
In a news release, the Congressman was quoted as saying:
“I was pleased to introduce this legislation which will forever protect the magnificence of the Grand Canyon and the people who live near and in the Canyon from damaging uranium mining,” said Rep. Grijalva. “The federal government and mining
[…]
Those steel tanks you see are some of the 177 that contain 53 million gallons of heavy metals, acids and solvents. They also contain plutonium, cesium, strontium and uranium. All are buried underground.
Of those 177, sixty-seven are confirmed leakers, meaning their contents are leaching into the soil and headed toward the Columbia River. Most have exceeded their anticipated 50 year life span, creating fear of a catastrophic tank failure.
Thousands of tons of radioactive and hazardous waste has been buried in unlined landfills and 450 billion gallons of liquid waste has been poured into ponds, ditches and drainfields at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the state of Washington.
I was going through the headlines, just waiting for something to drag me out of my lethargy, and it happened. The New York Times posted a headline reading “Uranium Exploration Near Grand Canyon”, and that excited my first bit of exercise for the day; the hair stood up on the back of my neck.
What an outrage! But, before going on, I must say it isn’t the first time they’ve mined uranium in the Kaibab National Forest, near the Grand Canyon. That stopped when the price of uranium plummeted more than two decades ago.
Now, with the resurgence of interest in building new reactors across the country, the miners and prospectors are out again. Which I find rather interesting since the United States and Russia just signed an agreement allowing Russia to sell uranium to the United States. I gotta think about that one.
How much do we really know about the damage done to lives and property by more than 50 years of uranium mining and milling in the Navajo and Hopi Indian Nations? I didn’t know very much until I read three articles by Marilyn Berlin Snell in the Sierra Club Magazine.
Marilyn was chief editor when she wrote the stories, Power Hungry, Gathering Clouds and Frontier Justice-in a Good Way. Wanting to know more, I picked up the phone and was honored with a few moments of her time.
Here’s the scenario. You’re a young boy living in southern Utah, not far from Nevada’s atomic testing grounds. The mushroom clouds that rose in the sky were fascinating to see, as was the greenish tint that hung in the western sky for weeks. As your family drives from your home along the road to Zion National Park, you notice state troopers warning drivers to roll up their car windows, even when it was quite warm, and you wondered why.
Audio Here: utah-nuclear.mp3
Years later, your father dies of lymphoma, and you realize it may have been the result of breathing that green air from the atomic testing range. And you finally understand why the state troopers warned motorists about the dirty air.
A long time ago, I heard, or read, that the human animal is the only creature on earth that’s content with living in it’s own waste. The analogy being that most animals choose to leave their waste products somewhere outside their nests. Our nest is this beautiful, blue marble, maybe the only one of its kind, and we’ve treated it with careless disrespect.
I’ve created a podcast from this material. If you’d rather listen, the link is here: nuclear-jan-10.mp3
Looking at the current mess we have with nuclear waste, landscapes scarred with huge open-pit mines and tons of unprotected waste from those operations, greenhouse gasses and pollution of our waters, to name a few, I think the old saying is correct.
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