LOS ANGELES, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of metric tons of radioactive material from Europe have traveled to a mill in southeast Utah, the United States, drawing resistance from local tribes and environmental groups.
"We are worried about pollution and things that might be in the air when the wind shifts and blows things from the mill towards the White Mesa community," Michael Badback, a Ute Mountain Ute Tribe citizen in the nearby White Mesa community, told Xinhua in an interview Tuesday.
The White Mesa Uranium Mill, located just a few miles south of Blanding in southeast Utah, is the only operating conventional uranium mill in the United States.
For 40 years, the mill has processed uranium ore next to the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation.
About 660 metric tons of radioactive material from Estonia traveled to the White Mesa Uranium Mill last year, according to reports of U.S. television station KSTU in Utah, citing state inspection reports.
The mill is operated by Colorado-based Energy Fuels. It has a contract with an ore processing plant in Estonia, according to the reports.
Recently obtained documents revealed that shipments from Estonia had begun to arrive at the mill by June 2022, and that more than 1.4 million pounds (660 metric tons) of waste packed into nearly 2,000 55-gallon drums had arrived by late July 2022, according to an article posted by Tim Peterson, cultural landscapes director of the Grand Canyon Trust.
The mill faces vehement opposition by the adjacent Ute Mountain Ute Tribe community living just a few miles away.
Local residents worry about pollution of water and air from the mill's toxic containment ponds, radioactive shipping deliveries and smoke stack emissions.
"I really wish they could close the uranium mill down. I just worry about my people's health. It seems like our water have stuff in it," Badback told Xinhua.
The school bus commutes children back and forth right next to the mill. The air smells really bad, Badback said.
Trucks from the mill drive long ways back and forth hauling materials or other stuff. The drivers lacking of sleep sometimes misjudge the roads and can cause accidents, he noted.
"That's a big worry because our community members walk along the side of the road hitchhiking near Blanding," Badback said.
"Our kids are on the school buses to school and back. We all know anything is possible with drivers from the mill on the road," he said.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is in the process of conducting a health evaluation of the community, Badback told Xinhua.
The uranium mill has also drawn strong protests from environmental groups. Tribal members and environmental advocates held an annual protest walk last October to raise attention to the mill's environmental and health threats. ■