Native America Calling: Tribal advocates sound the alarm over radioactive exposure

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Native America Calling: Tribal advocates sound the alarm over radioactive exposure

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

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Tribal advocates sound the alarm over radioactive exposure

The advocacy group, Tewa Women United, is warning nearby Pueblo citizens and other local residents about Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico releasing gas containing the weak radioactive substance, tritium.

The group says, despite assurances by lab experts and regulators that the substance is safe in relatively small doses, it is a dangerous substance and could pose a threat to pregnant women and others.

Tritium is a naturally occurring substance, but is also produced in quantities during nuclear power generation and is a key component in nuclear weapons. LANL says it is forced to release the radioactive gas because the containers they’ve been in for decades pose a risk.

Tune into Native America Calling to discuss what tritium does and whatever threat, if any, it poses.

Guests on Native America Calling

Marissa Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo), deputy director of Sovereign Energy and a board member for Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE)

Pat Moss, deputy manager of National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos field office in New Mexico

Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. in nuclear fusion from the University of California at Berkeley and the president of the Institute of Energy and Environmental Research

Martha Izenson, a tribal attorney for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, played host to the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. The facility is located in Pueblo territory. Photo: John Benner