SRIC Programs

Nuclear Waste Program — Provides technical assistance to community groups and information to the public and policymakers regarding nuclear weapons production facilities, including Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico, and nuclear waste facilities, especially WIPP in New Mexico and sites that ship to WIPP. The program ensures effective citizen involvement in decisions about the future of the nuclear weapons complex relative to stopping approval of new production facilities and promoting disarmament and safer waste management and disposal at Department of Energy (DOE) sites and proposed new sites.

Uranium Impact Assessment — Provides information on mining and community health, the legacy of uranium development, regulatory and policy issues related to remediation of contaminated sites, and current and proposed uranium development. SRIC’s work dates from the late 1970s when Navajo uranium miners and their families asked for help to show that their lung diseases had been caused by their work in underground uranium mines in the 1940s–1960s.

Energy and Natural Resources — Focuses on hard rock and coal mining, oil and gas production, landfill development, and ground water protection. As the assault on land and people associated with the development of these resources continues, the public's demand for the experienced, in-depth analysis of resource extraction and waste disposal projects has grown enormously. SRIC staff conduct detailed technical analyses, develop alternative plans, provide legislative and regulatory analyses, and train community members and decision-makers.

Mining — Provides technical services which include training, education, mine and mill plan review, legislative analysis and expert witness services for communities facing mining and other resource development problems. Committed to providing timely and accurate information to support community-based initiatives, our work has focused on mines and mills affecting low-income and indigenous communities in the U.S., and around the globe.

Environmental Information and Education — Has played an essential role in fulfilling SRIC's mission to provided timely and accurate information on matters that effect the environment and human health. Since SRIC's inception, reaching the broadest possible audience has been the primary focus of this program. Major means to provide information are the extensive library, the web site, media contacts, and speaking engagements.

Navajo Birth Cohort Study — This is a collaborative effort to better understand the relationship between uranium exposures and early developmental delays on the Navajo Nation. The five-year Study is funded by Congress at the request of the Navajo Nation and in response to concerns expressed by women about health impacts of living near abandoned uranium mines. Partners in the Study include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Navajo Area Indian Health Service, Navajo Nation Division of Health, University of New Mexico Community Environmental Health Program, UNM Pediatrics Department Center for Development and Disability, and Southwest Research and Information Center. Eligible women are between the ages of 14 and 45 who have lived on the Navajo Nation for five years, are pregnant, and will deliver at the designated hospitals in Chinle, Gallup, Shiprock, Ft. Defiance, and Tuba City.

U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialog: Ecological Damage and Health — An international program, a Health Risk Research Dialogue, was conducted by Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) and The Buryat Regional Organization on Baikal. The program was funded by the U.S. State Department. The project, titled "Project on Sharing Best Practices for Human Health Research in Communities Affected by Ecological Damage in Russia and the USA: A Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Engaging Scientists, Civil Society Organizations, and Affected Community Residents," included a series of webinars to provide for discussion among the participants, and exchange trips to the U.S. and Russia to allow face-to-face conversations and meetings with people in the communities of concern. The project focused on development of research methods to address human health risk in areas of environmental contamination in the Southwest U.S. and Buryat Republic of Russia south of Lake Baikal with the intention of developing methods that are applicable at many sites.

U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialog: Mine Water Control — A new international program, a U.S.-Russia Research Dialogue, was conducted by Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) and The Buryat Regional Organization on Baikal starting in mid-2014. This second year project is entitled "Mine Water Control Dialogue" andis funded by the U.S. State Department. The problem of uncontrolled water drainage from mine sites has plagued both Russia and America for many decades. The major goal of the project is to broaden and deepen the knowledge of technical specialists and NGOs in order to promote effective control and treatment of mine drainage waters. Achievement of this goal should, in the long-term, result in more durable and effective mine drainage water treatment projects in both Russia and the U.S. The key activities will be a series of webinars, face-to-face technical workshops and a U.S. field expedition to at least three existing mine sites where drainage control and treatment technologies have been implemented in New Mexico and California.