Navajo uranium miners died of radiation, and their widows had to prove marriages made by Navajo custom to collect $100,000

From 1944 to 1986 nearly 30 million tons of uranium ore were mined on Navajo land under leases with the Navajo Nation. The mines left 523 abandoned sites. On 15 October 1990 President George H. W. Bush signed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, in which Congress apologised on behalf of the nation to people exposed to radiation. A uranium miner with a listed disease could claim $100,000. If the miner had died, the money went to a surviving spouse; if there was none, in equal shares to the children, then to parents, grandchildren and grandparents. A spouse had to have been married to the miner for at least a year before his death. Many miners were Native American, and many of their widows had no marriage licence. The Act says that in deciding who is a spouse or relative, the government must give effect to the established law, tradition and custom of the affected tribe. In 2004 a Justice Department official told the Senate that Native American traditions often do not create such documents, and that the programme worked with tribal record offices. By July 2024 the programme had paid $2.69 billion on 41,900 approved claims. The Act lapsed in July 2024. Congress revived it in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 4 July 2025, and all claims must be filed by 31 December 2027. EPA settlements of more than $1.7 billion fund cleanup at 230 of the 523 mines.