The people negatively affected by the uranium boom included the miners. In her book Uranium Frenzy, Raye Ringholz writes that miners were exposed to extremely high levels of radon concentrations. In the mines, the radon concentrations could be nearly 1,000 times more than what was deemed safe. Due to the radiation in the uranium mines, miners suffered all sorts of deadly diseases, such as cancer.

As for who was responsible for the harm, Ringholz provides a rather intricate account of why miners continued to work in these toxic conditions. One person Ringholz focuses on is Ralph Batie, the chief of Health and Safety for the Colorado Raw Materials Division of the Atomic Energy Commission. Batie tried to procure information about the mines and implement better safety standards. According to Ringholz, Batie faced “bureaucratic buck-passing or a lack of cooperation.” The federal government in Washington and the mine owners didn’t want anything to interfere with uranium production, including news that the mines could hurt the miners.

The miners themselves dismissed the health concerns. Ringholz says that miners were typically “inured to dangers underground.” For them, “hazardous conditions were a part of the mining game.” They accepted the risks in exchange for a decent-paying job.

To talk about another group of people adversely impacted by the uranium boom, consider how Ringholz describes the specific consequences for Indigenous tribes like the Navajo.