美国国家公共电台 NPR--A U.S. uranium mill is near this tribe. A study may reveal if it poses a health risk

A U.S. uranium mill is near this tribe. A study may reveal if it poses a health risk

Transcript¹

A Native American community neighboring the only operating uranium mill in the U.S. is hoping a new study will answer longstanding questions about whether it is affecting their health.

Members of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe living in White Mesa, Utah, say they have seen an alarming increase in health problems in recent years.

"I am aware that there have been increased levels of cancer," says Scott Clow, the tribe's environmental director. "We don't have any evidence tying that to the mill at this point, but we have our concerns."

The Environmental Protection Agency in June gave the approximately 2,000 member tribe a $75,000 grant to design a study that will be conducted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Clow says. It will analyze² tribal³ members' health data and environmental conditions to see if any links can be made to the Energy Fuels uranium mill. Results are expected in 2025.

"We just want to know everything we can know to help the tribe understand the situation, and what the hazards may or may not be," he says.

Energy Fuels' White Mesa facility is also a disposal site for radioactive waste, some of which has been imported from overseas.

The company has plans to expand uranium milling as concerns about climate change are increasing demand for carbon free energy, including nuclear.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is driving demand for domestically produced fuel for U.S. nuclear plants, which have sourced nearly half of their fuel from Russia and former Soviet⁴ republics. In April Energy Fuels got a key permit from the state of Arizona to reopen an old uranium mine there.

The Ute Mountain Utes and their ancestors have called the region around the mill home for thousands of years. Bears Ears National Monument, a sacred site for the area's Indigenous⁵ people, is visible from the mill's property.

Longstanding tribal members oppose the production and storage of radioactive materials nearby

Michael Badback is a tribal member whose family has lived in the community of White Mesa, about five miles from the mill, for generations. But now they're increasingly worried they won't be able to preserve their way of life into the future.

"This is still virgin⁶ land, and we want it to remain that way," says Badback. "That's how our ancestors used to walk on this land. We want to walk on it like that and leave the legacy⁷ up to our grandchildren."

Badback and others are opposed to the production and storage of radioactive materials at the Energy Fuels site.

"We don't know the health issues that come along with this stuff," he says. "A lot of our people mysteriously started getting sick. Kids and other adults started to have asthma⁸ like they never had before."

Contaminants have been confirmed in the local groundwater. The Grand Canyon⁹ Trust, an advocacy group, says samples from the aquifer¹⁰ below the mill have concerning levels of acidity¹¹ and chemicals like chloroform.

But definitively¹² linking health conditions to environmental contamination is notoriously difficult. Energy Fuels says the contaminants in the aquifer are nothing to worry about.

"You will see very big fluctuations¹³ in naturally occurring elements," says company Vice¹⁴ President Curtis Moore. "That's what we're seeing right now."

According to Energy Fuels, the elements are not significant enough to pose a health risk. State regulators agree and have loosened rules, allowing Energy Fuels to store increasingly radioactive waste onsite, including waste imported from overseas.

"It's clearly not natural," counters the tribe's Clow. "Those are orders of magnitude higher than what we would find in there naturally."

Moore says the mill takes precautions. For example, radioactive waste is stored in specially-designed ponds called tailing cells. The cells have liners to prevent material from seeping¹⁵ into the ground.

Some also have leak-detection systems, but the older cells don't because they were built before the technology was standard. The Grand Canyon Trust says that means it's impossible to know if they're leaking or not.

The Ute Mountain Utes are also worried about air pollution.

The water in the tailing cells serves as a barrier that prevents radiation from escaping into the air. But in one 40-acre cell, radioactive material has been left above water for the last two years. The EPA says that's a violation¹⁶ of federal law.

The agency says the exposed cell could be emitting up to ten times more radiation than if it were under water, and requires that the mill's radioactive waste remain submerged at all times. In December, the agency told Energy Fuels it must fill the cell.

Moore says the company is working on it. But he also says filling the cell may take several months because there are limits on how much water at a time can be pumped from wells in the high desert area.

"At the end of the day, the Clean Air Act says that that thing should have liquid on it," Clow says.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

3 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

6 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

7 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

8 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

9 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

10 aquifer   

n.含水土层

参考例句：

• An aquifer is a water-bearing rock stratum such as sandstone and chalk.地下蓄水层是一些有水的岩石层，如沙岩和白垩岩。
• The wine region's first water came from an ancient aquifer.用来灌溉这个地区葡萄园的第一批水来自古老的地下蓄水层。

11 acidity   

n.酸度，酸性

参考例句：

• This plant prefers alkaline soil,though it will readily tolerate some acidity.这种植物在酸性土壤中也能生存，但硷性土壤更加适宜。
• Gastric acidity would not prevent the organism from passing into the gut.胃的酸度不能防止细菌进入肠道。

12 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

13 fluctuations   

波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table. 他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• There were so many unpredictable fluctuations on the Stock Exchange. 股票市场瞬息万变。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

15 seeping   

v.（液体）渗( seep的现在分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• Water had been slowly seeping away from the pond. 池塘里的水一直在慢慢渗漏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chueh-hui could feel the cold seeping into his bones. 觉慧开始觉得寒气透过衣服浸到身上来了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

16 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。