By: Sarah Johnson
This week, we’ll take a closer look at legislation aimed to allow more people exposed to nuclear radiation receive aid for a longer period of time. It has been over 50 years since the last above-ground atomic bomb was detonated at the Nevada Test Site, and in only two short years citizens impacted by these blasts could no longer receive or ever get the chance to receive compensation for illness caused by radiation from these blasts.
What is the history behind the Downwinders?
According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Downwinders” are individuals who lived “downwind” from nuclear production facilities or nuclear test sites. In the continental US, our Downwinder communities exist throughout the Pacific Northwest and between the Cascades and the Rockies. The Northern Mariana Islands is also considered a “Downwinder” location.
The first above-ground nuclear weapon test in the world was performed in southeastern New Mexico on July 16, 1945. For the next two decades, over one thousand of above-ground blasts were preformed around the world — for a dramatic picture and gut level understanding of the scope nuclear testing see this video “1945-1998” by Isao Hashimoto. In the United States many of the above ground tests occurred in an area known as the “Nevada Test Site”. This site is located 65 miles north of Las Vegas, and is one of the most significant nuclear weapons test sites in the United States. The legislation we will be looking at pertains to Nevada Test Site Downwinders.
According to the EPA, detonating nuclear weapons above ground sends radioactive materials as high as 50 miles into the atmosphere. Radionuclides, an atom that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable, are introduced to our atmosphere through these blasts and can be inhaled or ingested by people and other living organisms. Testing done at the Nevada Test Site sent these radionuclides into the atmosphere and dispersed them around the neighboring communities in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. When radionuclides are ingested, they can change the structure of living cells. Exposure to radiation has been linked to most forms of leukaemia, as well as thyroid, lung, and breast cancer. Studies have shown that it can take anywhere from 10 to 40 years after exposure to develop cancer from the radiation exposure.
After years of atmospheric testing around the world and scientists urging the government to halt tests due to the long-lasting health and environmental impacts, the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 was signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. This treaty banned the testing of nuclear weapons in outer space, underwater, and in Earth’s atmosphere. The treaty is recognized as a critical first step toward nuclear weapon control. After the treaty was signed, most of the above-ground blast testing around the world stopped. The degrees of exposure deemed “tolerable” throughout the 1950s to 1960s are now internationally recognized as unacceptable and extremely dangerous.
What happened to the Downwinders?
For an interactive article about Downwinders, check out this article: The Downwinders – A Cascade Story Map by India Young. The people who live in these communities and who worked at the sites are still feeling the impact of exposure over half a century later. Impacted groups ranged from on-site operators (who had to observe and record the explosions), to soldiers (who had to watch blasts for training purposes or enter contaminated areas to clean radioactive test objects), to civilians who “purposely” exposed themselves (going to designated areas to watch the blasts because the public was not aware of the extent of their danger) to civilians exposed simply by living in an area where the radionuclides landed. The soldiers who were stationed at these test sites became known as “atomic veterans.” Nuclear fallout, the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, landed on grasses and vegetation in surrounding areas which were consumed by livestock and people living in the area. Adults and children were exposed to large amounts of radionuclides from eating vegetation and livestock or consuming byproducts from the livestock.
The most famous Nevada Test Site Downwinder cases were tied to the many people who produced the movie The Conqueror in 1956. The crew (and stars: John Wayne, Agnes Moorehead, Susan Hayward, and Pedro Armendáriz) spent many weeks in St. George, Utah, one of the most heavily irradiated towns near the Site, just one year after “Dirty Harry” was detonated. Dirty Harry was the name of the most destructive pure fission weapon designed at the time (a 32 kiloton bomb). Because of a miscalculation and a change in wind, the Dirty Harry test generated more radioactive fallout than any other continental US test. According to this article from the New York Times in 1986,
Frank Butrico, a Public Health Service radiation safety monitor who worked in St. George, Utah, during the 1953 series, testified in a 1982 wrongful death suit filed by 24 cancer victims and their relatives that his ”instruments were off the scales” after a particularly heavy dusting of St. George by fallout from a bomb nicknamed Dirty Harry.
It is reported that of the film’s 220 cast and crew, 91 developed some form of cancer, and 46 ultimately died.
What was done to help Downwinders?
Over the years, Downwinder communities experienced increasing rates of different types of cancers ranging from leukemia in adults to thyroid cancer in children. These communities fought for legal action for many years, and in 1979, Senator Ted Kennedy sponsored the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) of 1979. The RECA would hold the “United States liable for damages to certain individuals, to certain uranium miners, and to certain sheep herds, due to certain nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site.” But this legislation was not signed into law until 1990. The bill, signed by President George H.W. Bush, provided tiered compensation for individuals affected by nuclear testing in various capacities. The lowest level of compensation for a case was set at $50,000 while the upper limit was $100,000. The RECA covered the different impacted groups who experienced leukemia, thyroid cancer, bone cancer, and any other cancer determined by the National Cancer Institute to “develop after exposure to low level radiation.”
According to the Federation of American Scientists, to date, the DOJ has approved more than 36,000 RECA claims for more than $2.3 billion. Currently, the U.S. Department of Justice accepts Downwinder claims from residents of Eureka, Lander, Nye, Lincoln and White Pine counties in Nevada. The trust fund which supports claims filed under the RECA is currently set to expire in 2022.
Last year, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2019 was introduced. This legislation sought to amend the RECA by increasing the defined affected area to all of Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Guam. Not only would the affected area accepted by RECA be increased, but the legislation also aimed increase the maximum amount individuals can receive to $150,000. Recipients are typically awarded the same levels of compensation put forth in the original bill passed in 1990. For context, $50,000 in 1990 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $98,083.01 in 2020 and $100,000 is equivalent to $196,166.03 in 2020 dollars. The bill also provides an official apology to residents of western states and the Northern Mariana Islands who were exposed to radiation. Finally, this bill would allow people to file claims until 2045 (extending the current 2022 deadline) as well as make it easier for Native Americans to file claims. This bill was last referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties in August 2019.
This year, the Downwinders Parity Act of 2020 was proposed. This bill was significantly less ambitious than the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2019 but would expand the affected area to include all of Clark County and Mohave County in Arizona. This legislation would also extend the deadline, but instead of a 23 year extension, it would provide a five year extension (from 2022 to 2027). This bill is also sitting in the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
According to Utah’s public radio station, KUER, RECA claims have only been awarded to first generation survivors within the defined areas. First generation survivors who are outside of the defined areas have not received any claims, and second and third generation Downwinders also struggle to be recognized as part of the impacted community despite living in the same area. I am interested to see if the Downwinders Parity Act of 2020 has more success than the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2019. As time goes by, we know that these types of events have lasting effects on the environment and the people who live in those environments.
Finally, seems worth noting, “Trump officials have talked about resuming nuclear testing” Washington Post, May 30, 2020.
Cover Photo by Ilja Nedilko on Unsplash
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