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Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium radioactively decays by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of this decay varies between 159,200 and 4.5 billion years for different isotopes, making them useful for dating the age of the Earth. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 and uranium-235. Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite.
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons reprocessing. The storage and disposal of radioactive waste is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment.
Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about 3,300 square kilometres (1,300 sq mi) in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s.
The Soviet atomic bomb project was the classified research and development program that was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II.
Charmaine White Face, or Zumila Wobaga, is an Oglala Tetuwan from the Oceti Sakowin in North America.
Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account for 68% of world production. Other countries producing more than 1,000 tons per year included Namibia, Niger, Russia, Uzbekistan, the United States, and China. Nearly all of the world's mined uranium is used to power nuclear power plants. Historically uranium was also used in applications such as uranium glass or ferrouranium but those applications have declined due to the radioactivity of uranium and are nowadays mostly supplied with a plentiful cheap supply of depleted uranium which is also used in uranium ammunition. In addition to being cheaper, depleted uranium is also less radioactive due to a lower content of short-lived 234
U and 235
U than natural uranium.
Uranium in the environment is a global health concern, and comes from both natural and man-made sources. Mining, phosphates in agriculture, weapons manufacturing, and nuclear power are sources of uranium in the environment.
Kevin Buzzacott, often referred to as Uncle Kev as an Aboriginal elder, is an Indigenous Australian from the Arabunna nation in northern South Australia. He has campaigned widely for cultural recognition, justice and land rights for Aboriginal people, and has initiated and led numerous campaigns including against uranium mining at Olympic Dam, South Australia on Kokatha land, and the exploitation of the water from the Great Artesian Basin.
The anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups that oppose nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and/or uranium mining. These have included the Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, Nevada Desert Experience, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Plowshares Movement, Women Strike for Peace, Nukewatch, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Some fringe aspects of the anti-nuclear movement have delayed construction or halted commitments to build some new nuclear plants, and have pressured the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enforce and strengthen the safety regulations for nuclear power plants. Most groups in the movement focus on nuclear weapons.
Nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate over French nuclear testing in the Pacific and the 1976–1977 debate about uranium mining in Australia.
Canada has an active anti-nuclear movement, which includes major campaigning organisations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. Over 300 public interest groups across Canada have endorsed the mandate of the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout (CNP). Some environmental organisations such as Energy Probe, the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR) are reported to have developed considerable expertise on nuclear power and energy issues. There is also a long-standing tradition of indigenous opposition to uranium mining.
The uranium mining debate covers the political and environmental controversies of uranium mining for use in either nuclear power or nuclear weapons.
Thomas Banyacya, Sr. was a Hopi Native American traditional leader.
Nuclear ethics is a cross-disciplinary field of academic and policy-relevant study in which the problems associated with nuclear warfare, nuclear deterrence, nuclear arms control, nuclear disarmament, or nuclear energy are examined through one or more ethical or moral theories or frameworks. In contemporary security studies, the problems of nuclear warfare, deterrence, proliferation, and so forth are often understood strictly in political, strategic, or military terms. In the study of international organizations and law, however, these problems are also understood in legal terms. Nuclear ethics assumes that the very real possibilities of human extinction, mass human destruction, or mass environmental damage which could result from nuclear warfare are deep ethical or moral problems. Specifically, it assumes that the outcomes of human extinction, mass human destruction, or environmental damage count as moral evils. Another area of inquiry concerns future generations and the burden that nuclear waste and pollution imposes on them. Some scholars have concluded that it is therefore morally wrong to act in ways that produce these outcomes, which means it is morally wrong to engage in nuclear warfare.
Katsumi Furitsu has a doctorate in medical genetics and radiation biology from Japan's Osaka University and currently works in the genetics department of the Hyogo College of Medicine. She became involved in peace and anti-nuclear movement activities as a student in 1980, helping radiation victims. From 1986 to 2000, Furitsu was a member of the "Investigation committee of A-bomb survivors" at Osaka's Hannan Chuo Hospital. She visits the Chernobyl disaster area every year and is a founder of Osaka's "Chernobyl Relief Group of Kansai". In 1992, Katsumi Furitsu attended the "World Uranium Hearing" in Salzburg. In 1996, she testified to the Permanent People’s Tribunal, Chernobyl Session in Vienna. Since 2004 Furitsu has been a member of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons.
The International Uranium Film Festival was founded in 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, and has traveled to Germany, Portugal, India and the United States. This educational event merges art, ecology, environmentalism and environmental justice, to inform the public about uranium mining and milling, nuclear power issues, nuclear weapons and the nuclear fuel cycle from "cradle to grave" life-cycle assessment - and the effects of radioactivity on humans and other species. The festival founders and principal organizers are Norbert Suchanek and Marcia Gomes de Oliveira. The legal organizer of the International Uranium Film Festival is the arts and education non-profit "Yellow Archives". The organizers and the festival participants seek to educate and activate the international public on these issues through the dynamic media of film and video.
Eve Andree Laramee is an installation artist whose works explores four primary themes: legacy of the atomic age, history of science, environment and ecology, social conditions. Her interdisciplinary artworks operate at the confluence of art and science. She is currently professor and chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Pace University. Laramee currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is also the founder and director of ART/MEDIA for a Nuclear Free Future.
The nuclear industry in South Australia is focused on uranium mining, milling and the export of uranium oxide concentrate for use in the production of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants. The state is home to the world's largest known single deposit of uranium, which is worked by BHP at the Olympic Dam mine.
The Republic of Kazakhstan, once part as a republic of the Soviet Union, was a primary venue for the Soviet nuclear weapon testing from 1949 until 1989. Following the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, Kazakhstan became the fourth-largest nuclear power in the world and hosted a considerably large weapon support infrastructure due to its reliance on Soviet nuclear program as a means to develop its own local economy. Besides the nuclear program, Kazakhstan was also a prominent site of Soviet programs of biological and chemical weapons.
References
- ↑ O'Neil, John D.; Elias, Brenda D.; Yassi, Annalee (1998). "Situating resistance: women and environmentalism". In Harwood, Alan; Lock, Margaret; Kaufert, Patricia Alice (eds.). Pragmatic Women and Body Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 271. ISBN 9780521629294.
- ↑ Nuclear-Free Future Award. "World Uranium Hearing, a Look Back". Archived from the original on 2013-06-03. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ↑ Nuclear-Free Future Award. "The Declaration of Salzberg". Archived from the original on 2012-09-23. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ↑ Poison fire, sacred earth testimonies, lectures, conclusions. Sibylle Nahr, World Uranium Hearing e.V., World Uranium Hearing Salzburg. München. c. 1993. ISBN 978-3-928505-00-0. OCLC 231577303.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ↑ "Poison fire, sacred earth: testimonies, lectures, conclusions". Index Theologicus: International Bibliography of Theology and Religious Studies. Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ↑ Göcke, K. (2014). "Indigenous Peoples in the Nuclear Age: Uranium Mining on Indigenous' Lands". In Fleck, Dieter; Black-Branch, Jonathan L. (eds.). Nuclear Non-Proliferation in International Law. Vol. 1. T.M.C. Asser Press. p. 204. ISBN 9789462650190.
