The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
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Continuing the conversation about racial and social injustice in the nuclear field, the Project on Managing the Atom has the honor to host a discussion about the multigenerational impact of uranium mining on the environment, health, and community life of Indigenous people. One of the lingering legacies of the U.S. nuclear energy and nuclear weapon programs is thousands of abandoned uranium mines in the Southwestern United States. There are over 500 on the lands of the Navajo Nation alone. The panel brings together academic, activist, and community perspectives on life in the vicinity of abandoned and un-remediated uranium mines. Terry Keyanna and Jeff Gaco, representatives of the Navajo community of Red Water Pond Road and of the Pueblo of Laguna, will share their personal experiences and those of their communities in the face of treaty rights abrogation, commercial interests, and government inaction. Dr. Johnnye Lewis of the University of New Mexico and Chris Shuey of the Southwest Research and Information Center will discuss the history of uranium mining in the Indigenous lands and the community–academic collaboration on the Navajo Birth Cohort Study tracing effects on pregnancies and early childhood development from chronic exposure to uranium and other metals.
This webinar is part of the Managing the Atom series on Diversity and Inclusion in the Nuclear Field. Click here to read about and view a recording of the previous event in the series.