englishdeutsch
  • » Donate
  • » Contact & Privacy
NUCLEAR-RISKS
Stop Jabiluka Uranmine
Tokaimura
Sellafield
Atomkraft
Tschernobyl
Uranmunitioneinsatz Balkan
Uranmunition Panzerreste im Irak
Trinity
Atommüll
Gorleben
NUCLEAR-RISKS
  • Home
  • Uranium Mining
  • Uranium Weapons
  • Nuclear Energy
  • » Health effects
  • » Affected regions
  • » Resources
  • » Events
  • » Action

Germany: A historic Legacy

Mine shaft in Paitzdorf uranium mine, Wismut Company, Germany. Photo courtesy of Andreas Köhler

Uranium mining in East Germany for Soviet nuclear weapons by the Wismut company caused thousands of cancers and destroyed the environment in the region. More than 20 years after mining ended, its effects can still be seen.

The mountain range of the Erzgebirge and the adjacent Vogtland was home to one of the world’s largest uranium mining conglomerates, run by the Wismut company in
the years 1946–1990. While by 1990, 5,275 cases of lung cancers were officially recognized as a result of work in the uranium mines, new cases of lung cancer in former uranium miners are not recognized as occupational diseases.

In 2006, the British Journal of Cancer published a study on former uranium miners of
the Wismut company which demonstrated a rate of 50%-70% increase in the rate of lung cancer, leading to a staggering 7,000 radiation-induced deaths amongst the
59,000 subjects surveyed [1].

The effects of uranium extraction and processing do not stop with the consequences
for miners and mill workers: uranium can be transferred through the food chain from soil to plants, animals and humans. The concentration of uranium is still high,  compared with natural background levels, in the farmed river floodplains which drain former uranium mining and milling areas in Saxony.

Namibia: Environmental Toxicity

Namibia is the world’s fifth largest uranium producer. The mine, run by the company
Rio Tinto, is a human rights concern because of working conditions as well as a health risk to workers.

The Rössing uranium mine, commissioned in 1976, has been a cause for environmental, humanitarian and health concerns for more than 30 years through unsafe working conditions, radioactive effluent and tailings. It is now the world‘s largest openpit uranium mine. Miners at Rössing are exposed to dust and inhale radon gas on a daily basis: although vast quantities of water are used to keep uranium dust on the ground, the use of explosives in open-pit mining cause
large clouds of radioactive dust. This dust is carried to the fields and settlements
of the nearby town of Arandis and to the region‘s waterways. Elevated levels of
uranium have been detected in groundwater. A study performed by the Charité
University Clinic of Berlin demonstrated a six-fold increase in uranium excretion amongst uranium miners as well as elevated rates of chromosomal aberrations,
and significantly reduced white blood cell counts [2].

South Africa

Monitoring data confirms uranium contamination from abandoned mines

This paper explores the impacts mining over the past decade had on U-pollution of water resources in the Wonderfonteinspruit catchment. The analysis is mainly based on close to 3400, mostly unpublished, values on U-concentrations of water samples gathered between 1997 and 2008. Results indicate that U-levels in water resources of the whole catchment increased markedly since 1997 even though U-loads emitted by some large gold mines in the Far West Rand were reduced. This apparent contradiction is explained by the contribution of highly polluted water decanting from the flooded mine void in the West Rand. Over the reference period, an average of some 3.5 t of dissolved U have been released into the fluvial system from monitored discharge points alone. However, since Wonderfonteinspruit dries up well before it joins the Mooi River this U-load does not usually impact on the water supply system of downstream Potchefstroom directly. It may, however, indirectly reach Potchefstroom since much of the water from the Wonderfonteinspruit recharges the underlying karst aquifer of the Boskop Turffontein Compartment as the single most important water resource for Potchefstroom.

Uranium Pollution of Water Ressources in Mined-Out ad Active Goldfields of South Africa - Written by Frank Winde
USA | Navajo

The History of Uranium Mining and the Navajo People

Written by Doug Brugge, PhD, MS, and Rob Goble, PhD

From World War II until 1971, the government was the sole purchaser of uranium ore in the United States. Uranium mining occurred mostly in the southwestern United States and drew many Native Americans and others into work in the mines and mills. Despite a long and well-developed understanding,based on the European experience earlier in the century, that uranium mining led to high rates of lung cancer, few protections were provided for US miners before 1962 and their adoption after that time was slow and incomplete. The resulting high rates of illness among miners led in 1990 to passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

on www.uranium-network.org

"Hibakusha worldwide" exhibition

Ausstellung Hibakusha weltweit

An IPPNW poster exhibition about 50 places in the world where the nuclear industry has harmed the environment and people's health.

Posters on uranium mining

 

  • Arlit und Akokan (Niger)
  • Black Hills/Paha Sapa (USA)
  • Church Rock/Kinłitsosinil (USA)
  • Elliot Lake (Canada)
  • Jáchymov (Czech Republic)
  • Jadugoda (India)
  • Mailuu-Suu (Kyrgistan)
  • Mounana (Gabun)
  • Olympic Dam (Australia)
  • Radium Hill (Australia)
  • Ranger Mine (Australia)
  • Rössing (Namibia)
  • Saskatchewan (Canada)
  • Shiprock/Tsé Bit'a'í (USA)
  • Spokane Reservation (USA)
  • Têwo/Diebu (China)
  • Wismut Region (Germany)
  • Witwatersrand (South Africa)

 

» All posters in the Hibakusha worldwide exhibition

Germany | Wismut

Lung cancer risk among German male uranium miners: a cohort study, 1946–1998

From 1946 to 1990 extensive uranium mining was conducted in the southern parts of the former German Democratic Republic. Theoverall workforce included several 100 000 individuals. A cohort of 59 001 former male employees of the Wismut Company wasestablished, forming a large retrospective uranium miners’ cohort for the time period 1946–1998.

full text on ippnw.de
Namibia | Rössing

Hazards of Uranium

Inge Lindemann

Comprehensive compilation of the basics and the latest findings in regard to the health hazards of uranium, the diseases it may cause, the effects on environment, water, air etc., with links to the relevant scientific studies.

article on www.uranium-network.org