The Moab Museum is now displaying “U92: Moab’s Uranium Legacy,” a new immersive exhibition chronicling the Cold War-era uranium boom, its bust and its lasting effects on the community, economy and environment.
The Moab Museum is set to debut “U92: Moab’s Uranium Legacy,” a new immersive exhibition chronicling the Cold War-era uranium boom, its bust and its lasting effects on the community, economy and environment.
The Moab Museum is now displaying “U92: Moab’s Uranium Legacy,” a new immersive exhibition chronicling the Cold War-era uranium boom, its bust and its lasting effects on the community, economy and environment.
The exhibit, which opened Feb. 15, is transforming the entire gallery space, a departure from past displays that rotated smaller sections.
“We’ve known for years that we wanted to tell this story — that a light needed to be shone on this in the space, and a lot of locals really want to hear that story,” said Tara Beresh, the museum’s curatorial and collections manager.
The exhibit is opening in two phases. The first phase will highlight the Cold War-driven uranium boom, the people who lived through it and the infrastructure that emerged in Moab during its rapid expansion. It will also provide a broader, global context on uranium and mining, which will mostly remain a permanent feature of the exhibit.
The second phase, set to debut in July, will expand the existing exhibition by incorporating additional perspectives on uranium’s long-term environmental, health and cultural consequences, including health effects on miners and their families, ongoing environmental cleanup and its impact on Indigenous communities.
While some elements will be refreshed, much of the first phase will remain intact.
“This is a big one, and it’s also so close to home,” Beresh said. “It hits close for a lot of our legacy families. There’s a lot of folks who … this is their story.”
The exhibit will also provide a broader context on uranium and mining beyond Moab, exploring its global significance, scientific applications and lasting cultural impact.
“We are shining a light on the fact that mining has been central to this area long before the uranium boom,” Beresh said. “We want to set the backdrop, set the context for why there was a national spotlight on Moab.”
A balanced perspective on a complicated legacy
The uranium boom brought economic prosperity to Moab, but it also left behind long-term consequences for workers, families and the environment.
“It’s a big story, and I don’t think that it can all be told in one fell swoop,” Beresh said. “We want to create a space where we show the facts … We let people do their own thinking for themselves, however they want to feel about the content.”
To explore these perspectives, the museum will feature public programming throughout the year, allowing uranium-era workers, scientists and community members to share their experiences.
Rather than relying just on traditional static displays, the exhibit will also feature interactive and immersive elements, such as a suspended installation of 25 Geiger counters, reflecting the uranium rush that once defined Moab.
“If a handful of people leave this museum saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t really think that I was interested in uranium or mining, but dude, they had all these Geiger counters just hanging from the ceiling and it made me feel something or think something or want to learn something,’ then my job’s done,” Beresh said.
Other highlights include a walk-in powder magazine, replicating where miners stored explosives, and a hands-on periodic table game, which challenges visitors to connect everyday objects — such as toothpaste, cell phones and laptops — to the elements that make them possible, reinforcing mining’s ongoing role in daily life.
The exhibit will also explore uranium’s place in pop culture, featuring comic books, board games and memorabilia inspired by the atomic age.
“People might walk into this space and think, ‘Bombs. Miners. That doesn’t really relate to me personally,’” Beresh said. “But the bottom line is, a lot of things in our everyday life are really connected to mining.”
Why uranium still matters today
Beresh explained that part of the urgency to create this exhibit comes from the reality that many uranium miners and workers from Moab’s boom years are now in their 80s and 90s, and their firsthand accounts risk being lost.
“Time’s running out,” she said. “The people who are the closest to this story are passing.”
As the museum collected oral histories, Beresh was surprised by what many former miners shared about their experiences. Rather than focusing on the health risks associated with uranium work, most expressed gratitude for the stability the industry provided.
“It enabled them to live a comfortable life … be able to buy a house for their family and feed them through hard times,” she said.
(Andrew Christiansen | The Times-Independent) The Moab Museum’s new exhibit about Moab’s uranium legacy features a walk-in powder magazine, replicating where miners stored explosives.
Beresh added that some veterans, returning from war, carrying lots of trauma, described the mines as a place of solace — a job that offered them a sense of camaraderie and purpose in a difficult transition back to civilian life.
“They were able to go into a mine environment where it’s quiet, and they don’t have to be social if they don’t want to, and they can process some of their trauma,” she said. “Those are perspectives I had never thought of.”
But uranium’s legacy extends beyond personal experiences — it remains a relevant issue today.
In Moab, the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) project, which has been removing radioactive waste from the banks of the Colorado River, is expected to continue through at least 2029.
Diego Velasquez, marketing and membership coordinator for the museum, said uranium remains a “contemporary story,” pointing to waste transportation concerns, UMTRA’s remediation work and the Navajo Nation’s longstanding ban on uranium mining. The ban, officially named the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act, was enacted in 2005 in response to contamination and health issues caused by past mining operations.
On a national level, policymakers have debated expanding domestic uranium production, with some arguing for increased mining to support energy security, while others raise concerns about its environmental and health effects.
“So not only is it something that we’re seeing in the headlines — uranium mining is being looked at again anew — but we’re losing the community of people who are the miners,” Beresh said. “This was their life.”
A tribute to Moab’s past and future
Beresh sees the exhibit as a way to show the museum’s commitment to Moab’s history and the people who lived it. She hopes the exhibit will resonate with longtime residents, visitors and younger generations, offering a deeper understanding of how uranium shaped the town and its people.
“This was really defining for Moab, and still has these key impacts,” she said. “We’re committed to this community, and we’re committed to elevating diverse stories — not just stories outside of this region, but stories that are very much this region,” she said.
Note to readers • This story was first published by The Times-Independent.
Discover more from World Byte News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
