New Mexico operational survival plan, 1959
"Every state employee should be familiar with this plan. department should plan to carry out their assigned responsibilities. These plans could save your life and assure the survival of our government in case of enemy attack. The counties and cities of New Mexico have the special trust of the lives and personal safety of the people."
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA): Compensation Related to Exposure to Radiation from Atomic Weapons Testing and Uranium Mining (updated 2024)
"The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) provides one-time benefit payments to persons who may have developed cancer or other specified diseases after being exposed to radiation from atomic weapons testing or uranium mining, milling, or transporting. Administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ), RECA has awarded over $2.6 billion in benefits to more than 41,000 claimants since its inception in 1990."
The Navajo people and uranium mining
Doug Brugge
"In the early 1940s the Navajo Nation was in the early stages of economic development, recovering from the devastating stock reduction period of 1930. Navajo men sought work away from the reservation on railroads and farm work in Phoenix and California. Then came the nuclear age and uranium was discovered on the reservation. Work became available and young Navajo men grabbed the jobs in the uranium mines.
The federal government and the mining companies knew of the hazards of uranium mining; however, the miners were never informed. They had to find out about the danger on their own. When they went to western doctors, they were diagnosed with lung cancer and were simply told they were dying."
The day the sun rose twice : the story of the Trinity Site nuclear explosion, July 16, 1945
Szasz, Ferenc Morton
"Just before dawn on July 16, 1945, the world's first nuclear bomb was detonated at Trinity Site in an isolated stretch of the central New Mexico desert. It may have been the single most important event of the twentieth century. The Day the Sun Rose Twice tells the fascinating story of the events leading up to this first test explosion, the characters and roles of the people involved, and the aftermath of the bomb's successful demonstration."
Manhattan, the Army and the atomic bomb
"The U.S. Army played a key role in the formation and administration of the Manhattan Project, the World War II organization which produced the atomic bombs that not only contributed decisively to ending the war with Japan but also opened the way to a new atomic age. This volume describes how the wartime Army, already faced with the enormous responsibility of mobilizing, training, and deploying vast forces to fight a formidable enemy on far-flung fronts in Europe and the Pacific, responded to the additional task of organizing and administering what was to become the single largest technological project of its kind undertaken up to that time."
Building the bombs : a history of the nuclear weapons complex
Loeber, Charles R. Clark, Lorna Gail. Brittenham, Phil. Sandia National Laboratories.
"Gives a brief orientation to the Nuclear Weapons Complex. Includes discussions of the original missions assigned to each site and the major changes that were made thereafter. Designed to serve the scientists and engineers as well as the average person who does not have advanced technical training."
Nuclear Nuevo México : colonialism and the effects of the nuclear industrial complex on Nuevomexicanos by Myrriah Gómez
In the 1940s military and scientific personnel chose the Pajarito Plateau to site Project Y of the secret Manhattan Project, where scientists developed the atomic bomb. Nuevomexicanas/os and Tewa people were forcibly dispossessed from their ranches and sacred land in north-central New Mexico with inequitable or no compensation.
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act Fact Sheet
"The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) of 1978 (Public Law 95-604) is a federal law that provides for the safe and environmentally sound disposal, long-term stabilization, and control of uranium mill tailings in a manner that minimizes or eliminates radiation health hazards to the public. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) remediated 22 inactive uranium-ore-processing sites under the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project in accordance with standards promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), “Health and Environmental Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings” (40 CFR 192). The radioactive materials were encapsulated in disposal cells approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)."
Current radiological conditions were evaluated for the site of the first nuclear weapons test, the Trinity test, and the associated fallout zone. The test, located on White Sands Missile Range, was conducted as part of the research with nuclear materials for the World War II Manhattan Engineer District atomic bomb project. Some residual radioactivity attributable to the test was found in the soils of Ground Zero on White Sands Missile Range and the areas that received fallout from the test.
Project Trinity, 1945-1946, published 1985.
“This report describes the activities of an estimated 1,000 personnel, both military and civilian, in project TRINITY, which culminated in the detonation of the first nuclear device, in New Mexico in 1945. Scientific and diagnostic, experiments to evaluate the effects of the nuclear device were the primary activities engaging military personnel.”
“Its purpose is to present, as accurately as is possible in the light of present knowledge, a technical summary of the results to be expected from the detonation of atomic weapons.”
"Under a bankruptcy settlement approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and effective as of February 11, 2011, Tronox Incorporated ("Tronox") resolved its environmental liabilities with the EPA, other federal, state, and local agencies, and the Navajo Nation relating to numerous contaminated sites around the country. Specifically, the settlement provided $270 million and 88% of Tronox’s interest in a fraudulent conveyance case to the governments and bankruptcy-created trusts for cleanup costs incurred or to be incurred at these sites.
On December 13, 2013, the Bankruptcy Court announced its decision in the fraudulent conveyance lawsuit and found the defendants (Kerr-McGee Corporation and certain other subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation) liable for damages between approximately $5.2 billion and $14.2 billion, which is the largest recovery relating to governmental environmental claims and liabilities. More information on the 12/13/13 Decision."
There are three New Mexico uranium mining sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List.
Diné Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005
"The purpose of the Din& Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005 is to ensure that no further damage to the culture, society, and economy of the Navajo Nation occurs because of uranium mining within the Navajo Nation and the Navajo Indian Country and that no further damage to the culture, society and economy of the Navajo Nation occurs because of uranium processing until all adverse economic, environmental and human health effects from past uranium mining and processing have been eliminated or substantially reduced to the satisfaction of the Navajo Nation Council."
S.3853 - Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act
To extend the period for filing claims under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act and to provide for compensation under such Act for claims relating to Manhattan Project waste, and to improve compensation for workers involved in uranium mining.