Nuclear Fallout from the Nevada Test Site 1951-1970 in Florida

The Nevada Test Site, located about km northwest of Las Vegas, was the which caused radioactive fallout to rain down on the test site personnel for many hours. Arizona Daily Sun, April 5, leondumoulin.nl aglive/fl.
Table of contents

• Access Check
• Nevada Test Site
• “The Catcher in the Rye” author J.D. Salinger dies
• First atomic detonation at the Nevada test site
• NUCLEAR-RISKS | Nevada Test Site

Access Check

Predawn atomic fireballs and billowing mushroom clouds — plus the radioactive and political fallout accompanying them — are all part of Nevada's long-time association with nuclear weapons testing. The government's nuclear testing, which was at one time capitalized on by Las Vegas businesses as a super fireworks spectacle for tourists, began six years after the first atomic bomb, Trinity, exploded on July 16, , in New Mexico.

At that time, the government wanted a nuclear proving ground on the continent to save money after it conducted expensive atomic tests in the Pacific Ocean. It also wanted federal scientists to be able to continue their secret work far from the Korean War. That lead to President Harry Truman approving on Dec.

The barren testing range carved out of the Mojave desert would be home for the next several decades to of the 1, above- and below-ground nuclear experiments conducted by the U. The testing finally ended in September when a moratorium went into effect.

Over the years, up to , people have worked at the Test Site, with more than 12, employed there during the peak years of the late s and early s. The first nuclear experiment in Nevada lit up the desert sky on Jan. The fallout even wiped out film at Kodak headquarters in Rochester, N.

Government agents washed cars and brushed with whisk brooms the clothes of residents of St. The government assured those residents everything was safe, but at least 4, sheep grazing in Utah died from radiation sickness. The government admitted nothing.

• Health and environmental effects.
• Test Site employed thousands, put many more at risk;
• Las Vegas Sun - History.
• The Cheating Game: The Signs and Reasons People Cheat and What to Do About It!;
• Nevada Test Site - Wikipedia.
• Outlaws Bride (The Western Sky Series).

Since the beginning of the Test Site, protesters have demonstrated against the tests. Included in the numerous groups were homemakers who showed up in the s, wearing shirtwaist dresses and carrying parasols. The largest protest occurred in the s when more than 3, demonstrators made their feelings known. In a federal judge in Salt Lake City ruled the government had been negligent by exposing thousands of downwinders to radioactive fallout. Utah, Nevada and Arizona residents described the cancers and other radioactive illnesses they or their families suffered.

“The Catcher in the Rye” author J.D. Salinger dies

Radioactive particles such as iodine can enter the body through contaminated air, food or drink and can lead to cancer once incorporated. Children in the small town of St. George, Utah may have received thyroid doses of up to 1. Subsequent epidemiological studies have shown a significant rise in the incidence of leukemia and thyroid cancer in the populations living downwind from the nuclear testing site.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the U. A study published in estimated that the expected cases of thyroid cancer due to the Nevada nuclear weapons tests amount to 10,—75, Another report, published in , found that 1, radiation-related leukemia deaths could be expected in the U.

Despite these alarming findings, no routine thyroid cancer screenings are undertaken in the affected regions. In , the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was passed in order to compensate Downwinders for diseases that could be traced back to radiation exposure.

Due to bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of large-scale scientific research, many of the casualties of nuclear weapons testing are finding it difficult to actually receive compensation. The Hibakusha of Nevada feel left alone with the legacy of nuclear testing. Download poster as PDF for printing.

Health and environmental effects In the s, people living close to the test site were encouraged to watch the nuclear tests from their porches.