There's still time to recommend Beyonder 1's important diary about the July 16, 1979 Church Rock Tailings Spill - the largest release (by volume) of radioactive waste in U.S. history.
Ninety million gallons of liquid radioactive waste, and eleven hundred tons of solid mill wastes, burst through a broken dam wall at the Church Rock uranium mill facility, creating a flood of deadly effluents that permanently contaminated the Puerco River.
The best-kept nuclear secret
by Beyonder 1
Please recommend that diary now
Who knew about the 1979 Church Rock Tailings Spill?
Why is the Church Rock spill – that washed into gullies, contaminated fields and the animals that grazed there, and made drinking water deadly – so anonymous in the annals of our nuclear history? Perhaps the answer lies in where it took place and who it affected.
Church Rock was a small farming community of Native Americans, mainly Navajo, eking out a subsistence living off the arid Southwestern land. Nearby, several hundred million gallons of liquid uranium mill tailings were sitting in a pond waiting for evaporation to leave behind solid tailings for storage. On the morning of July 16, 1979, part of the dam wall collapsed, releasing a roaring flood of radioactivity. It was both a predicted and preventable failing. But steps were never taken to avert the disaster.
Please go to the diary and recommend it now
Predictably, the comment section of Beyonder 1's diary was swarmed by insulting and condescending proponents of nuclear energy - many of whom seem to only show up to comment on nuclear power. Is their aim to make discussion of nuclear power unappealing?
Please go to the diary and recommend it now
Thanks!
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peace