摘要：The Three Mile Island nuclear release exemplifies why there is public and policy interest in the high-technology, highly visible end of the nuclear cycle. The environmental and health consequences of the early steps in the cycle—mining, milling, and processing of uranium ore—may be less appreciated. We examined 2 large unintended acute releases of uranium—at Kerr McGee’s Sequoyah Fuels Corporation in Oklahoma and United Nuclear Corporation’s Church Rock uranium mill in New Mexico, which were incidents with comparable magnitude to the Three Mile Island release. We urge exploration of whether there is limited national interest and concern for the primarily rural, low-income, and American Indian communities affected by these releases. More attention should be given to the early stages of the nuclear cycle and their impacts on health and the environment. WHEN ONE CONSIDERS THE risks of nuclear power, the indidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl (Table 1 ▶ ) come to mind for several reasons. These events have been broadly publicized by the media, studied extensively in the scientific literature, and in the case of Chernobyl, there is clear evidence that the release resulted in substantial health consequences. 1 – 7 1 Comparison of the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Sequoyah Fuels Corporation, and Church Rock Releases Event Location Year Source Released Material Radiation Released Chernobyl Chechnya, USSR 1986 Nuclear power plant Nuclear fission by-products 270 million curies Three Mile Island Pennsylvania, US 1979 Nuclear power plant Nuclear fission by-products 13 curies Sequoyah Fuels Corporation Oklahoma, US 1986 Uranium conversion plant Uranium hexaflouride gas 3 curiesa Church Rock Mill New Mexico, US 1979 Uranium mill Transuranic isotopes and heavy metals 46 curiesb Open in a separate window aCalculation based on 29 500 pounds of uranium hexaflouride released. bCalculation based on report of gross alpha levels and total volume of water released. Nuclear weapons and nuclear power would not be possible without the working-class jobs at the early stages of the nuclear cycle. The occupational toll from uranium mining—many thousands dead worldwide—is well documented in the scientific literature 8 and includes hundreds of American Indian miners. 9 Despite this, the dangers of uranium mining, milling, and processing are not well known in the public and policy arenas. Uranium has been mined worldwide, including in the former Soviet Union, China, Australia, Canada, India, and many countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. The bulk of uranium mining in the United States has been in the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern part of the country. It has been estimated that 10000 people worked in uranium mining in the United States from the late 1940s into the 1980s, with a disproportionate percentage of the workers being American Indians because of the location of the mining areas. 10 , 11 The environmental impact of uranium mining is still being felt as a result of thousands of abandoned mines and dozens of former mill sites. 10 , 12 The main impact of uranium mining on the health of underground miners is caused primarily by inhalation of silica dust of the radioactive decay products of randon. United States Public Health Service studies of uranium miners were deemed unethical. 13 A long and protracted campaign by former miners and their families resulted in a (still contested) federal compensation program. 14 The issue of environmental harm caused by uranium mining and the mining’s possible impact on the health of community residents is still unresolved and pressing. 15 We explored 2 acute incidents that occurred in the early stages of the nuclear cycle within the United States. The nuclear incidents at Kerr McGee’s Sequoyah Fuels Corporation (named for the Cherokee man who invented the Cherokee syllabary in 1812) in Oklahoma and at United Nuclear Corporation’s Church Rock uranium mill in New Mexico, although reported in the gray literature (reports not found in traditional, peer-reviewed publications), have not, with few exceptions, 16 been presented in the peer-reviewed literature. In a search of MEDLINE (August 31, 2006) there were no citations for Sequoyah Fuels Corporation or Church Rock. This is in contrast to Three Mile Island (125 MEDLINE citations) and Chernobyl (3396 MEDLINE citations). We present brief case studies of these 2 unintended releases of uranium to raise interest in these and other effects from the early stages of the nuclear cycle. We also discuss the possible role of how the occurrence of these events in low-income and rural American Indian communities might have affected the attention given to these incidents. We suggest that early nuclear cycle events need to be better studied and brought to greater awareness of the public and policymakers at a time when uranium mining and production is in resurgence. 17 We reviewed written documentation, largely from the gray literature, about Sequoyah Fuels Corporation and Church Rock. We supplemented the literature review with experiential knowledge that D.B. gained during 12 years working with the Navajo uranium mining communities and about 5 years working with communities near Sequoyah Fuels Corporation. Another author ( J.D.) has studied uranium transport in the Church Rock area. We assembled the available information into a narrative description of events and drew lessons based on both the documented history of the events and our personal and professional knowledge and experience.
