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
Uranium nitride and, in particular, it undergoes an (n,p) reaction which produces significant amounts of radioactive C which would need to be carefully contained and sequestered during reprocessing or permanent storage. Each uranium dinitride complex is considered to have three distinct compounds present simultaneously because of decomposing of uranium dinitride (UN) into uranium sesquinitride (UN), and the uranium mononitride (UN). Uranium dinitrides decompose to uranium mononitride by the following sequence of reactions: Decomposition of UN is the most common method for isolating uranium sesquinitride (UN). Uranium mononitride is being considered as a potential fuel for generation IV reactors such as the Hyperion