The Grand Canyon is working to reassure the public regarding the danger of potential uranium exposure in the park's Museum Collection building. Earlier this month, news broke that containers with uranium ore had been in the building frequented by employees and guests for a number of years.
The building is safe, says Emily Davis, a Grand Canyon representative. The information they have points to background levels of radiation: an amount naturally occurring in the environment at any time, Davis says.
The National Park Service has been assisting health and workplace safety officials with the investigation into the uranium situation. A team will review the contents of the storage containers that held the uranium rock samples originally placed in the Museum Collection facility between 1999 and 2000. The containers have since been removed.