Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

CHURCHROCK — On July 16, 1979, an earthen dam at United Nuclear Corp.’s uranium mill tailings facility collapsed, releasing 1,100 tons of radioactive tailings and 94 million gallons of toxic wastewater down the Puerco River. It was the largest release of radioactive waste, by volume, in U.S. history.

The release happened four months after a near meltdown at Three Mile Island and ranked second only to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. It also occurred on the anniversary date of the first above-ground atomic test in 1945 at Alamagordo, known as Trinity.

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