Church Rock: America's Forgotten Nuclear Disaster

Church Rock: America's Forgotten Nuclear Disaster

From Lawless Planet by Audible

April 20, 2026 · 37 min · Episode 40

About this episode

The episode discusses the Church Rock nuclear disaster and its impact on the Navajo community, highlighting corporate and governmental negligence.

In July 1979, just months after a nuclear accident at Three Mile Island gripped the nation, the largest radioactive spill in U.S. history quietly unfolded on a Navajo reservation in Church Rock, New Mexico — and almost no one noticed. A dam at a uranium mine tailings pond burst, causing 94 million gallons of toxic waste to flood a nearby river, poisoning the water, livestock, and people. Through the eyes of an activist who worked at the mine, we reveal how decades of corporate cover-ups and government indifference turned the ‘yellow dirt’ on America's largest Native reservation into something dangerous. Featured in this episode:  Larry King Sources: Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed by Judy Pasternak The River that Harms documentary Marley Shebala’s Navajo Times article “Poison in the earth” https://navajotimes.com/news/2009/0709/072309uranium.php  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Topics covered

  • nuclear disaster
  • environmental issues
  • corporate cover-ups
  • Native American history
  • radioactive spill

Keywords

  • Church Rock
  • nuclear disaster
  • radioactive spill
  • Navajo reservation
  • environmental activism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Navajo Times

Books & works: Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed, The River that Harms

Places: Church Rock, New Mexico, Navajo reservation

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