Repercussions:

Nuclear Fallout, Environmental Effects, and the Human Cost

Topics

• Home
• Nuclear Science
• The Nevada Test Site
• The Atomic Age
• Retribution
• Images

Nuclear Fallout Zone and Radiation Exposure

Every time a nuclear weapon is detonated, the major chemicals that make up the bomb are released into the atmosphere. In some cases, the chemicals stay in the atmosphere for a long period of time, and then gradually fall to the earth, creating what is called a fallout zone which is characterized as the areas where the nuclear chemicals land. The gradual descent of the radiation particles to the earth makes it so that people experience the effects of radiation poisoning years after atmospheric nuclear testing has stopped. In other cases, a nuclear fallout zone can be created by winds carrying a nuclear cloud across the earth, causing radiation to be deposited in areas far from the original test site.

Chemical Spread

One of the worst effects of the fallout zone is that the chemicals that infect the area often sink into the soil. Once in the soil, these chemicals then contaminate the grass and plants in the area, which causes contamination of the animals that eat the grass and plants. Once the animal is contaminated, the chemicals remain in the animal’s body, and anyone who eats the animal, or anything produced by the animal, is then contaminated as well. For example, if a cow grazes on grass that has been exposed to nuclear chemicals, the chemicals will also be present in the cow’s milk, and these same chemicals will be passed on to the individual drinking the milk.

County Exposure

In the case of the above-ground nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950s, it is estimated that the average county exposure across the United States is fifteen rads, or radiation absorbed doses.^{1See maps of radiation exposure across the United States on the "Images" page.} However, the average exposure to children was estimated at approximately three to seven times the county average because, at the time, children were drinking a large amount of milk. Also, it is believed that children of some counties may have been exposed to 100 rads or more, while adults were most likely only exposed to as little as one-half or one-third the average county amount. This variation in exposure is believed to be a result of differences in dairy consumption between adults and children.^{2Committee on Appropriations. “Radioactive Fallout from Nuclear Testing At Nevada Test Site, 1950-60: Hearing Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress First Session, Special Hearing.” (1997). 8.} At the time, the continuation of the nuclear tests were justified by playing on Cold War insecurities, by saying that advances in nuclear development would help protect the United States from a Soviet attack. However, a Soviet attack never occurred, and as a result it was, and still is, hard for Americans to cope with their own people slowly, and painfully, dying from multiple forms of cancer as a result of these nuclear tests.

Iodine-131 and Thyroid Cancer

One of the most common types of cancer caused by nuclear fallout was thyroid cancer. This cancer is caused by exposure to high amounts of Iodine-131, which is a chemical found in nuclear weapons. Government officials estimate that internal consumption of Iodine-131 through drinking milk could have resulted in anywhere from 7,500 to 75,000 more children developing thyroid cancer throughout their lifetimes than would have normally been expected. "The greatest irony of our atmospheric nuclear testing program is that the only victims of United States nuclear arms since World War II have been our own people." -Congressional investigation team member In the mid-1990s, in order to help warn the public about how high of a risk of developing thyroid cancer each individual faced, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services teamed up with the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council to produce a brochure that listed four basic steps to help determine how much I-131 a person was exposed to in the 1950s. These steps took factors such as age at the time of exposure, milk consumption during the 1950s, milk distributor, location at the time of the testing, and gender into account when helping citizens determine if they were at a higher risk of developing thyroid cancer. This brochure also included information on thyroid cancer itself to inform anyone who believed they were at an elevated risk of developing this ailment.^{3Exposure of the American People to Iodine-131 From Nevada Nuclear-Bomb Tests: Review of the National Cancer Institute Report and Public Health Implications. (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999). 145-151.}

Environmental Effects

The atmospheric nuclear testing that was performed in Nevada not only affected the land of the surrounding area; it also affected the ecosystems of many other areas nationwide. For example, scientists in the Yucca Mountains, which is located within the western borders of the Nevada Test Site, discovered evidence of tritium from underground nuclear testing in the water table in October of 1994. However, the existence of this polluted water was not reported to the surrounding public until the winter of 1996, and the incident was downplayed by officials who stated that the contaminated water was only found in a single location on the mountain.^{4Valerie L. Kuletz. The Tainted Desert: Environmental Ruin in the American West. (New York: Routledge, 1998), 275.} It is difficult for scientists to determine the extent of the damage of this water pollution because there is no way of knowing how long nuclear chemicals and radiation had been contaminating the water source. Nuclear chemicals are particularly harmful to the environment because the plutonium and the uranium that is used in the core of nuclear weapons has a half-life of 24,000 years and 4.5 billion years respectively. The half life of an element is the time it takes for half of the original mass of a radioactive element to decay into another element. The long half-lives of these chemicals means that people will continue to be affected by radiation poisoning for a long time after the testing has stopped.

Animal Testing

In addition to water contamination, the nuclear testing affected the land and all of the life on the land. An eyewitness account from Ken Case, an NTS worker who was in a helicopter that was monitoring the nuclear reaction at ground zero, stated that shortly after a nuclear explosion “the sand, it would be melted just like glass…All the weeds and grass, and if there were trees, they were on fire too. Rabbits would run across there and they would be on fire.”^{5Gallagher, 5.} The damage the nuclear tests inflicted on the flora and the fauna of the Nevada Test Site could not be reversed, thereby completely changing the nature of the environment with every atmospheric nuclear test that was performed.

Government Knowledge

By the mid-1940s, the United States government already knew the effects of radiation poisoning on the human body because of the catastrophic results of the bombs that were dropped in Japan. Around this time, the government conducted tests, on humans and animals, in order to learn more about the nature of radiation and how it affects mammals. In a nuclear plant in Washington State, scientists exposed animals to radiation in doses similar to those received by animals in the fallout zones of Utah and Nevada. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in the mid-1990s that one of the biggest challenges in talking to people about their exposure to Iodine-131 was that :

[t]he aboveground nuclear tests in Nevada were purposive, man-made phenomena that left behind toxic residue. Since the tests ended, governments and residents of areas adjacent to the test sites have engaged in intermittent, often acrimonious, debate about possible health effects and about the release of infromation about the tests. The legacy is a government with a record of poor credibility as an infromation provider, and a subest of the population convinced that the health consequences of the tests are significant and severe.^{6Exposure of the American People to Iodine-131 From Nevada Nuclear-Bomb Tests…, 125.}

There was a large amount of vital information that the government withheld from the public concerning the risks of radiation poisoning. This subset of the population had every right to believe that the health consequences of the testing were both significant and severe.

Ken Case

Ken Case was a worker at the NTS. His primary job was to herd cattle across a nuclear ground zero shortly after the bomb had been detonated in order to see what happened to cattle that were exposed to high levels of radiation. Mr. Case was nicknamed the “Atomic Cowboy” by workers at the NTS because he was one of the men responsible for branding the cattle with the AEC brand, and because of a picture that showed him holding the cattle brand while smoking a cigarette. This picture became well known throughout the AEC because it was placed on the cover of one of the AEC workers’ magazines, creating an image similar to that of the Marlboro man. Even though he was on horseback, Ken Case was exposed to a large amount of the radiation that the animals were exposed to because he breathed in contaminated air particles shortly after the testing had occurred. Also, being in such close proximity to ground zero placed him in the midst of all the radiation that had fallen to the ground. As of 1989, people who worked for the Atomic Energy Commission were still denying the existence of any nuclear radiation animal testing program.

In addition to denying the existence of the animal experiments that Mr. Case was helping with, the government continually told workers at the NTS not to worry about the work-related ailments they experienced. Before Ken Case became the “Atomic Cowboy,” he had an experience in which a two-inch section of his arm came in direct contact with nuclear radiation, and he was burned from his hand to his elbow. When Mr. Case informed his supervisor of what had happened, he was told “Go back to work, nothing to worry about.”^{7Gallagher, 7.} This blatant disregard for Mr. Case’s injury is evidence that the government felt its workers at the NTS were expendable. Sadly, Ken Case died of extensive cancer throughout his body in 1985.

Keith Prescott

Another case of the government not caring about their employees at the NTS can be found in Keith Prescott. Mr. Prescott was a small town man who worked for the underground testing branch of the NTS as an underground construction worker. His job entailed digging tunnels for future underground nuclear tests, clearing out the debris in the tunnel after a test was conducted, and occasionally recovering instruments from areas in the tunnel that were near nuclear detonations. Throughout his time working at the NTS, Mr. Prescott was exposed to significant amounts of radiation. By the time he stopped working in 1969, he had developed multiple myeloma. These cancerous tumors grew to the point where he shattered some of his ribs, and six of his vertebrae were disintegrating. During the year between when Keith Prescott first experienced back pains, and when he was finally diagnosed, the people at the Nevada Test Site were completely apathetic towards his pain and towards the pain of any other workers. When he told his supervisor that he was in pain, Mr. Prescott was told “don’t make any waves, don’t come in here and complain.” It was also known throughout the community of workers that anyone who complained risked the potential of losing their job. In an interview in 1984, Mr. Prescott was asked if he felt that he was expendable, and he answered:

Yes! Very! When I worked down there I never doubted [the government]….When you worked on the job that involved the government, you didn’t have to worry they’d take care of you….They never…checked us over, that’s what got me. One guy said, “This recovery [of instrumentation for measuring the bomb’s size and effects] is so important to the United States government, the consequences don’t mean anything. We’re going to get that stuff out of there regardless.” It wasn’t long until they sent us in to recover.^{8Gallagher, 11.}

When the interview was performed in 1984, about fifteen years after Mr. Prescott stopped working at the Nevada Test Site, his lawsuit against the government and the test site contractors was still being battled in courts.

This layout was created by Kira Cherrix with the help of a QuickDraw MacFly Template.