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Terrestrial Ecological Risk Analysis Via Dietary Exposure At Uranium Mine Sites In The Grand Canyon Watershed (Arizona, Usa), Jo Ellen Hinck, Danielle Cleveland, Bradley E. Sample

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The U.S. Department of the Interior recently included uranium (U) on a list of mineral commodities that are considered critical to economic and national security. The uses of U for commercial and residential energy production, defense applications, medical device technologies, and energy generation for space vehicles and satellites are known, but the environmental impacts of uranium extraction are not always well quantified. We conducted a screening-level ecological risk analysis based on exposure to miningrelated elements via diets and incidental soil ingestion for terrestrial biota to provide context to chemical characterization and exposures at breccia pipe U mines in northern Arizona. …