Moab Museum expands uranium legacy exhibit with ‘Aftermath’ phase

The Moab Museum will soon open a new phase of its popular uranium exhibit, adding more dimensions to a story that helped build Moab’s identity and continues to shape it today.

“U92: Aftermath,” opening July 19, is the second phase of the museum’s immersive exhibition on the uranium boom, its bust and the far-reaching effects that followed. The new section delves deeper into health, environmental and cultural consequences, while also exploring how communities have responded and recovered, according to the museum.

It also documents how decades of mining left scars on people and landscapes, but also how local efforts have reclaimed damaged areas and sparked wider conversations about stewardship.

“It’s such a big story, with so many different people, issues and places tied up in it,” said Tara Beresh, the museum’s director of curation and exhibits. “We started by laying the foundation — explaining what uranium mining is, why Moab became the uranium capital of the nation — so that visitors have the context. Now we’re ready to explore what happened next.”

Much of the original exhibit, which opened in February and transformed the entire gallery, will stay. Its large installations — from Geiger counters hanging overhead to a walk-in powder magazine and a hands-on periodic table game — continue to anchor the story of Moab’s Cold War-era uranium rush and global mining history.

“Uranium mining history is so multifaceted,” Beresh said. “You can talk about nuclear fallout and atomic testing, the miners themselves, the families of them, what was going on politically and World War II. It’s a really, really big story, and we wanted to make sure we had the time and bandwidth to give it the attention it needed.”

Beresh explained the new phase builds on that by layering in new perspectives and more personal accounts. In the southwest corner, visitors will see displays on the aftermath of mining, including a 3D model on loan from the Department of Energy that shows how radioactive tailings are buried at Crescent Junction as part of the long-running UMTRA cleanup, currently expected to continue through at least 2029.

A bill introduced by Utah’s congressional delegation would eventually transfer the cleanup site to Grand County for future use, though that proposal has not yet been finalized.

A large “quote cloud” installation will feature statements from miners, their families, Navajo community members, politicians and others, all side by side. Beresh said the aim is for visitors to see many different perspectives of this complicated history.

“Anybody walking into the museum is going to look at all of these quotes and maybe see their own perspective in that cloud — and also see the perspectives of people they disagree with, and perspectives they didn’t even know existed yet,” said Beresh.

The new phase also weaves in more local stories and artifacts. Six oral histories from the museum’s collection will be highlighted, adding names and faces from the community who lived through Moab’s uranium years. Other additions came directly from people who visited the first phase and wanted to share more. One donor recently brought in a boy scout sash from the 1950s with an atomic badge earned by building a Geiger counter — something Beresh said is a small reminder of how uranium culture reached into everyday life.

“We won’t just be changing one wall,” she said. “People are going to be able to walk in and see new objects sprinkled throughout.”

Beresh said she’s worked hard throughout the making of the exhibit, which began more than a year and a half ago, not to present a one-sided story. It addresses health risks, nuclear fallout and how mining scarred people and landscapes — alongside accounts from miners who found pride and stability in their work. Many veterans, she learned, found the mines offered calm and purpose after returning from war.

“It’s scary telling stories like this because you want to do everyone justice,” she said. “I’ve talked to over 50 miners. I thought I would hear more of them talk about getting sick, or the things that were dangerous, and I didn’t hear any of that. There was a lot of pride, there was a lot of gratitude.”

Still, the exhibit makes clear that many did suffer from cancers tied to uranium exposure, that contamination from past mining has left groundwater and soils tainted in parts of the region, and that radioactive legacies continue to drive long-term health and environmental concerns.

“I just hope that when people come in, they’ll see something, and they’ll read something that they didn’t expect or they didn’t already know,” she said.

The museum’s uranium exhibit has played a big role in a roughly 70% jump in visitation over the past year. Beresh said it’s been gratifying to see locals engage so deeply, often sharing family histories or bringing in new artifacts tied to Moab’s uranium past.

“Moab wouldn’t be on the map like it is today without uranium, especially not in the capacity that it is,” she said. “It wouldn’t be such a boomtown that it still is now, but with recreation and tourism.”

The timing of “Aftermath” also connects with renewed discussions around uranium in Utah, which have picked up over the past few years — from state incentives passed in 2022 to new projects tied to federal energy priorities. The Velvet-Wood uranium mine in San Juan County is moving ahead under a fast-tracked environmental review by the Bureau of Land Management made possible by President Donald Trump’s executive order that allows shorter timelines under his declared national energy emergency.

Meanwhile, Utah has laid out a broader strategy to become a leader in the domestic nuclear energy supply chain, investing in small modular reactors, uranium enrichment and fuel processing. Supporters point to economic and energy security benefits, while others have raised concerns about environmental risks.

“What I’m noticing is that some people don’t know the very basics of [uranium mining],” Beresh said. “And so before we can really look at the consequences of re-entering another era of uranium mining, it’s important to inform people about the history and how the process has changed.”

This story was first published by The Times-Independent.