NUCLEAR RISK MANAGEMENT FOR NATIVE COMMUNITIES

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NRMNC was organized to strengthen community-based capabilities in managing the environmental health impacts of nuclear contamination in Native American communities affected by serious nuclear contamination. NRMNC seeks funding to support continued work at three sites. These include (1) Cherokee communities surrounding the Sequoyah Fuels nuclear facility, broadening the work of our Oklahoma NRMNC (2) Southern Paiute communities in S.E. Utah, severely affected by nuclear fallout from the Nevada Test Site; expanding the work of the NRMNC in the Great Basin communities and (3) villages surrounding Laguna Pueblo, NM, severely affected by the world's largest open pit uranium mine (now closed); strengthening their school-based curriculum strategies. The major goals for the next four years include: (1) Building and strengthening a long-term community-based environmental health infrastructure including funding and training community-based staff and advisory committees. This has been a successful activity of the Project in both Nevada and Oklahoma. We will expand the NV NRMNC to provide funds and training workshops for new staff and community advisors in S.E. Utah and add to staffing and expand community advisors in Oklahoma. We will assist these communities in developing an increasing sense of control and ownership over the environmental health planning process so that these infrastructures become long-term community-based institutions. (2) Continuing capacity-building at each site by conducting workshops for community staff, representatives and health care providers; conducting community, meetings, and developing educational materials on environmental health and nuclear risks. NRMNC project teams will present two-three two day workshops at each site, stressing radiation basics and health effects, exposure pathways, radionuclide impacts, health risk methodologies, site-specific contamination impacts, community context of contamination, etc. utilizing participatory teaching approaches with Native community members. Clark and site staff will continue to create much-needed community-based educational materials and publications to assist communities in comprehending the complexity of these issues. Laguna Pueblo will continue building a model school curriculum on uranium mining (3) Conducting community-based research with technical research on health impacts of nuclear contamination within each specific community context: and building and strengthening local knowledge programs at each site. In S.E. Utah, NRMNC will conduct technical research on exposures to S. Paiute community members during the 1950's, compiling data from published sources and modeling some doses from Native subsistence activities. Community researchers will conduct community interviews with Native elders in these areas to determine Native exposure scenarios, health concerns and other key local knowledge about contamination impacts. In Oklahoma, technical researchers will monitor and interpret documents produced on decommissioning options and impacts; community research will focus on a broader survey of community environmental health concerns and nuclear site management issues as well as the exploration of a community health survey near the nuclear facility (4) Facilitating community-based strategic-planning on the ongoing environmental health management of nuclear risks. All sites will be conducting strategic-planning for long-term environmental health interventions for their communities. This will take place during community advisory committee meetings and result in community-based hazards management plans. (5) Conducting outreach both to other Native communities and environmental health scientists. Comprehensive evaluation procedures will be implemented.