In Salt Lake City, we already have the existential crisis of the drying #GreatSaltLake. Why not radiate the remaining water, too?

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2026/04/13/pushing-trump-nuclear-plan-doge/

Read the whole article, but here are some of the alarming quotes:

"'They are testing in Utah. … I don’t know, like 70 people live there,' he said.

"'They’ve been downwind before,' another staffer joked.

"Figures like Cohen are forcing a 'move fast and break things' Silicon Valley ethos on one of the country’s most important regulators.

"The Trump administration has been particularly aggressive in its attacks on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission[...]

"During that Idaho meeting, Cohen shot down any notion of NRC independence in the new era.

"'Assume the NRC is going to do whatever we tell the NRC to do,' he said, records reviewed by ProPublica show.

"'We knew regulatory capture led directly to Fukushima and to Chernobyl,' said Kathryn Huff, who was assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy during the Biden administration.

"One nuclear industry insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said many firms are fixating on changing these radiation rules: Their business model requires moving nuclear reactors around the country, often near workers or the general public.

"The DOE has been considering a fivefold increase to the limit for public exposure to radiation, which will allow some nuclear reactor companies to cut costs on these expensive safety shields, internal DOE documents seen by ProPublica show.

"For his part, Cohen has told the nuclear industry that he sees his job as making sure the government 'is no longer a barrier' to them.

"He also suggested that regulators should not fret about preparing for so-called 100-year events — disasters that have roughly a 1% chance of taking place but can be catastrophic for nuclear facilities."

#utpol #Utah #Downwinder #AI #DataCenters #Nuclear

#Billiman matriarch, niece remain strong in face of adverse health conditions caused by #RadiationExposure

By Donovan Quintero | Jan 9, 2025 |

WINDOW ROCK – "Since September, when she traveled to Washington, D.C., to tell House Speaker Mike Johnson to renew the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (#RECA), Maggie Billiman has had her gallbladder removed.

"Now she is awaiting more possibly devastating news about her liver. And if that wasn’t enough bad news, she said she was also told she has three cysts on her pancreas.

"'I just had surgery and I’m still in a lot of pain,' she said on Dec. 26, referring to her gallbladder removal surgery.

"A #downwinder victim, Billiman, and about 30 others from the #NavajoNation, #Laguna, and #AcomaPueblo tribes traveled to Washington, D.C., in September to advocate for the passage of Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s RECA legislation.

"For 17 years, from 1945 and 1962, the U.S. conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons development tests. Atmospheric nuclear tests are when nuclear bombs are exploded in the air, instead of underground or underwater.

"At the heart of the bombs involved #UraniumMining and [#UraniumProcessing], which was performed by tens of thousands of workers, like Maggie’s father.

"Maggie’s father, a member of the legendary Navajo Code Talkers Howard Billiman Sr., worked in the #UraniumMines.

"'My dad had died of stomach cancer, he was one of the #NavajoCodeTalkers, and he passed away,' she said.

"Her father worked at the #KennecottMine in Utah. He also worked at the #KingmanMine in Arizona in the 1950s through the 1960s, Maggie said.

"After the tests ended in 1962, many of the uranium miners and process workers initiated class action lawsuits claiming exposure to known radiation hazards."

Read more:
https://navajotimes.com/reznews/billiman-matriarch-niece-remain-strong-in-face-of-adverse-health-conditions-caused-by-radiation-exposure/
#NoNukes #NoWar #Downwinders #NukingTheNavajo #Dine #LagunaPueblo #Genocide #EnvironmentalRacism #NoUraniumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #HaulNo