Originally passed on October 15, 1990, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) established one time lump sum compensation for individuals who contracted specified diseases related to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing in 3 defined populations: uranium miners, millers, and ore transporters; “onsite participants” who worked at the military testing sites; and certain individuals who lived downwind of the Nevada Test Site, known as downwinders. Utah has so many downwinders that the University of Utah, researchers, writers, filmmakers, and activists (including HEAL Utah) have been trying to collect their stories. It is critical that we remember this recent history, and honor those impacted by uranium mining and above ground nuclear testing.

In the 1940’s during World War II, the United States began mining and processing uranium throughout the southwest in order to create nuclear weapons. On July 16, 1945, the US exploded the world’s first nuclear weapon in southern New Mexico. The Trinity test was the first of over 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests conducted by the US over the next few decades. Most of those tests took place in southern Nevada at the Nevada Test Site, adjacent to a number of communities in southeastern Utah, like St. George. The radioactive dust and ash from the explosions were released into the atmosphere and traveled across the nation as nuclear fallout for decades. Unfortunately, Utah was in the direct path of that fallout due to wind patterns that carried radioactive contaminants in the atmosphere. Countless families throughout the state were negatively affected, whether immediately by acute symptoms of radiation sickness like nausea, headaches, and a lost sense of smell, or through long term effects like the development of thyroid cancer or birth defects.  

The stories of these communities accumulated over the years since the Trinity test and  demonstrated a systematic pattern of cancer clusters and other radiation-related illnesses in former military and downwind communities. Finally, through the tireless work of community advocates, in 1990, the US government acknowledged and accepted limited responsibility for some negative public health effects related to atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the southwest. Examination of federal documents has since shown that some decision-makers involved with nuclear testing knew that these tests, and the widespread release of ionizing radiation, could have immediate health consequences for those exposed. They were uncertain about the long-term effects, but chose to move forward with the tests anyway. Information about radioactive exposure was sometimes intentionally withheld from the public, leaving uranium miners, millers, and transporters in the dark about the potential negative health effects associated with their occupation.