Nuclear wasteland: The explosive boom and long, painful bust of American uranium mining

Government incentives and trade barriers once sparked a gold rush for uranium, leading to a boom in mining for the nuclear fuel. Uranium miners are now asking the Trump administration to erect trade barriers torn down more than 30 years ago to preserve the industry. At the dawn of the atomic age, U.S. government incentives and trade barriers sparked a gold rush for uranium, the chemical element that was fueling the nuclear arms race at the time.