Uranium in the environment resulting in workers exposed to high levels of radiation. Conventional uranium ore treatment mills create radioactive waste in the form of tailings, which contain uranium, radium, and polonium. Consequently, uranium mining results in "the unavoidable radioactive contamination of the environment by solid, liquid and gaseous wastes". Inhalation of radon gas caused sharp increases in lung cancers among underground uranium miners employed in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1940s and 1950s, uranium mill tailings were released with impunity into water sources, and the radium leached from these tailings contaminated thousands of miles of the Colorado River system. Between 1966 and
Naturally occurring radioactive material UK regulation is via the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales)Regulations 2010. This defines two types of NORM activity: (a)the production and use of thorium, or thorium compounds, and the production of products where thorium is deliberately added; or (b)the production and use of uranium or uranium compounds, and the production of products where uranium is deliberately added (a)the extraction, production and use of rare earth elements and rare earth element alloys; (b)the mining and processing of ores other than uranium ore; (c)the production of oil and gas; (d)the removal and management of radioactive scales and precipitates from equipment associated with