Nuclear testing during the Cold War sent radioactive fallout far away from the actual test sites. Politicians are moving to expand who can be compensated by the government for getting sick after exposure to that fallout.
The tests mostly happened in Nevada but winds sent far and wide. Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo said one detonation in 1952 was particularly memorable to his constituents.
鈥淚dahoans that I鈥檝e spoken to in Emmett and elsewhere have shared their memories of waking to find their pastures and orchards covered with a fine grey-white dust that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It looked like frost, yet it was not cold to touch,鈥� Crapo said in Wednesday.
In 1990 Congress created a program to compensate people who became after radiation exposure.
According to the Department of Justice, since started more than has been given in compensation. People like miners who worked directly with radioactive materials can get $100,000, people who were on site during nuclear tests get $75,000 and people who lived downwind of a major test site in Nevada get $50,000. So-called 鈥渄ownwinders鈥� have to have lived in certain counties within Utah, Nevada and Arizona at the time of testing to be considered eligible.
鈥淯nfortunately, the science at the time failed to recognize that radioactive fallout is not restricted by state lines,鈥� said Crapo.
According to the National Cancer Institute, some of that fallout on fields across the country and especially in the Mountain West. It was consumed by animals like cows and eventually made it into milk cartons. Because of that, people who were milk-drinking children at the time are considered to have a higher risk of thyroid cancer.
Senators, including Crapo, have that would expand the group of eligible 鈥渄ownwinders鈥� to people who lived in parts of Idaho, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Guam at the time that tests were conducted.
The bill would also establish a grant program for further research into the health impacts of uranium mining and would extend the deadline for filing claims from 2022 to the late 2030s.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
