Consequences of US nuclear tests in the 50s and 60s - "I am a victim of my own government"

Created: 04/12/2022, 06:25

By: Bettina Menzel

A mushroom cloud rises above the test site in the Nevada desert after a nuclear bomb exploded.

(undated) © picture alliance / dpa |

dpa

In addition to casinos, Nevada had another "attraction" in the 1950s: atomic bombs exploding in the desert.

With serious consequences for the population.

Nevada - Today it seems unimaginable, in the 50s and 60s it was normal for many residents.

About 100 kilometers away from the famous “Strip” in Las Vegas, the US Army conducted nuclear weapons tests in the Nevada desert.

The radioactive radiation was often carried hundreds or even thousands of kilometers by the wind.

They only found out how dangerous this was for local residents and tourists when it was already too late.

Cold War: US military builds nuclear bomb test site

There was a Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union.

The US military therefore wanted to investigate the effects of the atomic bomb on civilian facilities more closely and began testing nuclear weapons in the Nevada desert in 1951.

Above-ground tests were carried out there until 1962, and long after that underground atomic bomb tests were also carried out.

A witness of this time is today the so-called "Doom Town", which stands in the middle of the desert as a memorial for one of the worst experiments in history.

US military left population in the dark about the dangers of the nuclear tests

At that time, the long-term consequences of radioactive radiation were not as well researched as they are today.

But the US government already knew how dangerous the bomb was.

However, the authorities left the population in the dark about these dangers.

Tourists and locals alike threw so-called “bomb parties” and drove into the desert or up surrounding hills or mountains to get a better view of the tests.

"It was a big event," recalls Bill Reynolds, who now has terminal cancer and grew up near the test site in Idaho.

"There wasn't much else here in Emmett," Reynolds told

.

The government did not warn them of the dangers, Reynolds continues.

Radioactive fallout fell on them, as well as on fruits of the region, which he ate carelessly, and on cows in the meadow, whose milk he drank.

Today, Reynolds has terminal multiple cancer.

In his region, Gem County in Idaho, there is an above-average incidence of cancer.

Reynolds has already lost many friends and family members to the disease.

The US Army itself even brought soldiers within a few miles of the blast without protective clothing or warnings.

Gail Andress, a Las Vegas resident, told

indicated that he had been assured that it was completely safe.

So he drove into the desert early in the morning and watched the event.

"It looked like the sun was coming up again," says Andress.

It was an attraction.

Victim about nuclear tests: "In the end it was our own people who killed us"

Gem County in Idaho is one of the most documented regions in the United States.

Reynolds, like many others, has not yet received any compensation from the US government.

"I'm a victim of my own government," Reynolds told

: "When I was a kid, we were so worried during the Cold War that the Russians could wipe us out with nuclear weapons.

In the end it was our own people who killed us.” Those affected are also known as “downwinders” because the radioactive particles from the nuclear tests were often carried by the wind into the surrounding regions in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, Washington and Idaho born.

In order to get compensation, the "downwinder" Reynolds probably lives in the wrong state.

According to a report by

, those affected in Nevada, Arizona and Utah have received payments from the government, in Idaho and other US states the plaintiffs have so far received nothing.

The legal basis for compensation expires in the summer, the report continues, and an extension or expansion to other states has not been successful so far.