Three paint buckets filled with uranium ore were stored in the Grand Canyon’s Museum Collection building since 2000. The five-gallon containers were discovered next to a taxidermy exhibit last year by federal officers. Park safety manager Elston Stephenson brought the situation to attention,
stating that nothing had been done
to alert the public. Although the ores were disposed
of in a nearby mine, the contaminated
buckets were brought back to the park
and only recently removed as well. More than five million people
visit the Grand Canyon yearly. The spot where the uranium was found
is a primary stop on tour routes and the extent of exposure is unknown. The radiation emitted by the uranium was 400 times the health limit of adults and 4,000 times the limit for children. An investigation is being launched by the Arizona Department of Health Services to address the possible cover-up.