Downwinders

Descriptive

Biographical NoteDownwinders is the term used for individuals who lived in the areas between the Cascade and the Rocky Mountains and were exposed to radiation from the fallout that occurred from nuclear weapons testing that took place primarily in Nevada in the 1950s and 1960s.

The first atomic bomb was tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. From 1951 to 1962, atomic bomb testing took place in Nye County, Nevada at the Nevada Test Site.

In 1990, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was established to pay fallout victims and uranium miners. Victims are required to have lived in specific counties and areas within Nevada, Utah, and Arizona and for specific amounts of time between 1951 and 1962. See the link below for specific, detailed information and requirements.More InformationWikipediaRadiation Exposure Compensation Act

Document

2004, Journal of the Senate, State of Arizona, Forty-Sixth Legislature, 2nd Regular Session

Report to the Governor Janet Napolitano regarding the exposure of citizens in Mohave County to fallout from the testing of nuclear weapons at the Nevada test site

Session laws, State of Arizona, 2004 Volume 2, Forty-Sixth Legislature, 2nd Regular Session, Chapters 206 to End

Session laws, State of Arizona, 2015 Volume 2, Fifty-Second Legislature, 1st Regular Session, Chapter 201 to End

Collection

Flagstaff Telephone and City Directories

The Places We Lived: City Directories of Arizona

Winslow Telephone Directories

Oral History

Danielle Stephens

Gay Tidball Cameron and Buzz Cameron

https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/104153

CollectionArizona Research TopicsEventWorld War IITopicCommunities

Menu

Downwinders