Uranium Mining and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program

Uranium Mining and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program
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From 1942 to 1971, the United States nuclear weapons program purchased about 250,000 metric tons of uranium concentrated from more than 100 million tons of ore. Although more than half came from other nations, the uranium industry heavily depended on Indian miners in the Colorado Plateau. Until recently, their importance remained overlooked by historians of the atomic age, but Navajos dug up nearly 4 million tons of uranium ore while being sent into harm’s way without their knowledge, becoming the most severely exposed group of workers to ionizing radiation in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.  By Robert Alvarez.http://blogs.fas.org/pir/2013/11/uranium-mining-u-s-nuclear-weapons-program/