Conservationists celebrated on August 8, 2023 as the Biden administration designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – the Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona. The monument is home to iconic species like bighorn sheep, bison and bald eagles. Its designation as a national monument was meant to preserve an integral part of the rich ecological, spiritual and cultural landscape of the greater Grand Canyon area.
Unfortunately, two steps forward were quickly followed by one step back. A few short months after the monument was created, an outdated mining law that allows mining on existing claims within national monuments provided cover to reopen a closed uranium mine. The Pinyon Plain Mine, formerly known as the Canyon Uranium Mine, had been closed for decades, but was reopened by Energy Fuels Inc. in 2024.
Mining companies are seeking to open more uranium mines and mills
The reopening of the Pinyon Plain mine may be the start of a new wave of uranium mining and processing throughout the Southwest. Mining companies are eyeing closed uranium mills – the facilities that process uranium ore – and hoping to conduct exploratory drilling to find more uranium underneath our precious wilderness areas, setting the stage for new mines and mills to be built.
In 2024, commissioners In San Miguel County, Colorado, approved exploratory drilling projects on federal land in the Disappointment Valley, on private land in the Big Gypsum Valley and on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) south of the Paradox Valley.
In San Juan County, Utah, Atomic Minerals Corporation and Kraken Energy Corp. have also applied for a permit to conduct exploratory drilling for uranium at 15 new sites at Hart’s Point, just outside the embattled Bear’s Ears National Monument.
Finally, IsoEnergy has applied to restart the Shootaring Mill near Ticaboo, Utah.
Why are companies suddenly so interested in digging up and processing more uranium?
Uranium has applications in industry and medicine, for nuclear weapons manufacturing, and as a fuel source for nuclear power. While the U.S. was a major producer of enriched uranium throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the nation has not produced enriched uranium domestically since 2013. In the decade since, U.S. uranium supply has depended on imports from Russia and Europe. However, following the invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. banned the import of Russian uranium.
To replace the loss of Russian uranium imports – and to meet rising electricity demand – the Biden administration embraced efforts to strengthen U.S. nuclear supply chains, providing more than $3.4 billion to support domestic uranium enrichment capabilities through the Inflation Reduction Act and FY24 spending bill.
After decades of flat or falling growth rates, electricity demand in the U.S. has begun to surge in the last few years. Electricity consumption is projected to grow 24-29% by 2035, and much of that demand is anticipated to come from new energy-intensive computing practices at U.S. data centers such as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency mining.
Wary of their ability to maintain a resilient grid in the face of increasing electricity demand, utilities have begun to pursue a form of electricity production that has been out of favor for decades due to its extremely high costs, blown timelines and environmental and safety concerns: nuclear.
Keying in on this potential nuclear renaissance and a boost in federal support, mining companies are racing to provide fuel for new nuclear reactors and soon-to-be reopened nuclear plants like Three Mile Island – the site of the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history. This fuel is destined to add to the highly radioactive waste currently being stored at 70 sites in 35 states.
Uranium mining harms the environment, wildlife and humans
Mining for and processing uranium ore both present serious risks to our waterways and wildlife. In addition, transporting highly radioactive uranium ore from mines to mills on public roads – many of which cut through native reservations that have long been plagued by the long-term health impacts of uranium mining – is a toxic spill waiting to happen.
Uranium mines produce radioactive water polluted with arsenic, uranium and other toxic substances. This water is typically stored in open air wastewater tanks called impoundments where it is meant to slowly evaporate. But such impoundments are often only protected by a fence. Animals, especially small animals and birds, can easily drink from these highly toxic ponds, exposing them to dangerous levels of radiation.
Uranium mines have also discarded waste rock outside of impoundments. Wind can pick up radioactive dust from these rocks, spreading it far and wide into lakes and streams, animal habitats and human settlements.
Once uranium is mined, uranium mills use chemicals to dissolve and separate uranium from crushed ore. This process leaves behind toxic compounds called tailings that are poured into massive ponds on site.
Transporting uranium from mine to mill poses serious health risks to communities located en route to the destination. The 300-mile route from Pinyon Plain mine to the White Mesa Mill includes segments of highway where fatal traffic accidents are 240%-700% higher than average, and four out of five of the most dangerous stretches of road are in the Navajo Nation.
Past uranium mining and the resulting exposure to radiation has left a “legacy of harm” for the Navajo people – from cancer to respiratory illnesses. Further risks of contamination are simply unacceptable.
Nuclear advocates argue that these problems are a thing of the past because uranium mines and mills are now highly regulated. However, the case of the White Mesa Mill demonstrates that uranium production continues to have long-lasting environmental and health impacts today.
The Denver Post reports that since 1999, the mill has been cited at least 40 times for violations by Utah regulators, including for discharging pollutants into waterways. Testing wells near the site have regularly found levels of uranium, nitrates, cadmium and nickel above Utah state limits; one well had concentrations of uranium more than six times the federal limit for drinking water. Some residents of the nearby town of White Mesa, sensibly, prefer bottled water.
The harms of uranium mining are clear: contamination of the air, water and soil, as well as damage to wildlife and communities. The push for new nuclear power cannot mean expanding the toxic footprint of uranium mining across even more of the West.
