Laboratory to meet with leaders of Navajo Nation

Contact: David Lyons, (505) 665 9198 (00-033)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., March 14, 2000 -- The Bioscience Division at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory is hosting a meeting March 15 with leaders of the Navajo Nation to discuss a range of health, economic and educational issues facing the reservation today.

Also expected to participate in the meeting, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Los Alamos' Health Research Laboratory Auditorium, are representatives from the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Army.

In presentations followed by a round table discussion, participants will examine such topics as:

• how to clean up uranium mill tailings caused by decades of mining;
• radon releases associated with uranium decay;
• characterizing uranium-contaminated water aquifer systems;
• how to increase access to telemedicine; and
• strategies to boost education in science, nuclear science, mathematics and technology for students in grades kindergarten through high school.

Los Alamos participants will include Bill Press, deputy Laboratory director for Science, Technology and Programs; Bioscience Division Deputy Director Scott Cram; Donald Peterson, also of the Bioscience Division; Dave Forslund of the Advanced Computing Laboratory; and Carolyn Mason of the Nuclear Materials and Technology Division.

Expected Navajo Nation participants include Vice President Dr. Taylor McKenzie; Natural Resources Division Director Arvin Trujillo; Health Division Director Marlene Jasperse; and Economic Development Director Tony Skrelunas.

Fred Begay of Los Alamos' Community Relations Office, a Navajo physicist, said the meeting provides an excellent venue for participants to share ideas and collaborate on potential solutions.

"The Navajo Nation spans 17 1/2 million acres across three states, about the size of West Virginia," said Begay. "There are 110 communities on the reservation, many of which still don't have electricity or running water, much less clean water. In socioeconomic terms, much of the reservation still lives under Third World conditions."

Begay added, "We have an opportunity to pool our resources, better educate the Navajo people and raise their quality of life. We especially hope to see more doctoral and postdoctoral students from the reservation get involved in the problem-solving process."

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