Editing Uranium (section)

===Contamination and the Cold War legacy===
[[File:US and USSR nuclear stockpiles.svg|thumb|U.S. and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945–2005|alt=A graph showing evolution of number of nuclear weapons in the US and USSR and in the period 1945–2005. US dominates early and USSR later years with and crossover around 1978.]]
Above-ground [[nuclear testing|nuclear tests]] by the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s and by [[France]] <!-- SEE TALK and [[Israel]] -->into the 1970s and 1980s{{sfn|Emsley|2001|p=480}} spread a significant amount of [[nuclear fallout|fallout]] from uranium [[daughter isotope]]s around the world.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Warneke, T. |author2=Croudace, I. W. |author3=Warwick, P. E. |author4=Taylor, R. N. |name-list-style=amp |title=A new ground-level fallout record of uranium and plutonium isotopes for northern temperate latitudes |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters| date=2002 |volume=203 |issue=3–4 |pages=1047–1057 |doi=10.1016/S0012-821X(02)00930-5 |bibcode=2002E&PSL.203.1047W}}</ref> Additional fallout and pollution occurred from several [[nuclear and radiation accidents|nuclear accidents]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1887705,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328130544/http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1887705,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 March 2009 |title=The Worst Nuclear Disasters |magazine=Time |date=25 March 2009 |access-date=24 May 2010}}</ref>

Uranium miners have a higher incidence of [[cancer]]. An excess risk of lung cancer among [[Navajo people|Navajo]] uranium miners, for example, has been documented and linked to their occupation.<ref name="Gilliland et al 2000">{{cite journal |journal=Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine |author=Gilliland, Frank D. |author2=Hunt, William C. |author3=Pardilla, Marla |author4=Key, Charles R. |title=Uranium Mining and Lung Cancer Among Navajo Men in New Mexico and Arizona, 1969 to 1993 |date=March 2000 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=278–283 |pmid=10738707 |doi=10.1097/00043764-200003000-00008}}</ref> The [[Radiation Exposure Compensation Act]], a 1990 law in the US, required $100,000 in "compassion payments" to uranium miners diagnosed with cancer or other respiratory ailments.<ref name="ajph.org">{{cite journal |title=The History of Uranium Mining and the Navajo People |doi=10.2105/AJPH.92.9.1410 |publisher=Ajph.org |pmid=12197966 |date=2002 |last1=Brugge |first1=Doug |last2=Goble |first2=Rob |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=92 |issue=9 |pages=1410–1419 |pmc=3222290}}</ref>

During the [[Cold War]] between the Soviet Union and the United States, huge stockpiles of uranium were amassed and tens of thousands of nuclear weapons were created using enriched uranium and plutonium made from uranium. After the [[Collapse of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)#Dissolution of the USSR|break-up of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, an estimated 600&nbsp;short tons (540&nbsp;metric tons) of highly enriched weapons grade uranium (enough to make 40,000 nuclear warheads) had been stored in often inadequately guarded facilities in the [[Russia|Russian Federation]] and several other former Soviet states.<ref name="EncyIntel" /> Police in [[Asia]], [[Europe]], and [[South America]] on at least 16 occasions from 1993 to 2005 have [[nuclear espionage|intercepted shipments]] of smuggled bomb-grade uranium or plutonium, most of which was from ex-Soviet sources.<ref name="EncyIntel" /> From 1993 to 2005 the [[Material Protection, Control, and Accounting Program]], operated by the [[federal government of the United States]], spent about US$550 million to help safeguard uranium and plutonium stockpiles in Russia. This money was used for improvements and security enhancements at research and storage facilities.<ref name="EncyIntel" />

Safety of nuclear facilities in Russia has been significantly improved since the stabilization of political and economical turmoil of the early 1990s. For example, in 1993 there were 29 incidents ranking above level 1 on the [[International Nuclear Event Scale]], and this number dropped under four per year in 1995–2003. The number of employees receiving annual radiation doses above 20 [[Sievert|mSv]], which is equivalent to a single full-body [[CT scan]],<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=9166072 |year=1997 |last1=Van Unnik |first1=J. G. |last2=Broerse |first2=J. J. |last3=Geleijns |first3=J. |last4=Jansen |first4=J. T. |last5=Zoetelief |first5=J. |last6=Zweers |first6=D. |title=Survey of CT techniques and absorbed dose in various Dutch hospitals |volume=70 |issue=832 |pages=367–371 |journal=The British Journal of Radiology|doi=10.1259/bjr.70.832.9166072 }} (3000 examinations from 18 hospitals)</ref> saw a strong decline around 2000. In November 2015, the Russian government approved a federal program for nuclear and radiation safety for 2016 to 2030 with a budget of 562 billion rubles (ca. 8 billion [[USD]]). Its key issue is "the deferred liabilities accumulated during the 70 years of the nuclear industry, particularly during the time of the Soviet Union". About 73% of the budget will be spent on decommissioning aged and obsolete nuclear reactors and nuclear facilities, especially those involved in state defense programs; 20% will go in processing and disposal of nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, and 5% into monitoring and ensuring of nuclear and radiation safety.<ref>[https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-o-s/russia-nuclear-fuel-cycle.aspx Russia's Nuclear Fuel Cycle]. World Nuclear Association. Updated December 2021.</ref>