Downwind

Under the RECA expansion in July 2025, New Mexican downwinders will be eligible for a one-time payment of $100,000. To qualify, they’ll have to prove that they, or a family member, lived for at least one year in any part of New Mexico between September 24, 1944, and November 6, 1962, and developed specific diseases.

According to Pub. L. No. 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, reauthorized the filing of claims under RECA. New claims may be filed until December 31, 2027. 

DOWNWINDERS

“Downwinders” are individuals who developed certain cancers after presumed exposure to radiation released during the atmospheric nuclear tests conducted within the United States.  A qualifying Downwinder must meet two essential criteria:

• The Downwinder must have been physically present in an affected area for one of the following durations:
• In the State of New Mexico for 1 year between September 24, 1944, and November 6, 1962;
• In any affected area for 1 year between January 21, 1951, and November 6, 1962; or
• In any affected area for the entire period from June 30, 1962, to July 31, 1962.

• The affected areas under RECA’s downwind provisions include the states of Idaho, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as the following counties: In the state of Arizona, the counties of Coconino, Yavapai, Navajo, Apache, Gila & Mohave; in the state of Nevada, the counties of White Pine, Nye, Lander, Lincoln, Eureka, and Clark County townships 13 through 16 at ranges 63 through 71.

2.  Following this presence, a qualifying Downwinder must show that they were diagnosed with a specified compensable disease. (see section on specific diseases.)

ONSITE PARTICIPANTS

RECA extends compensation to individuals who participated onsite in a test involving the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device and later contracted a compensable disease.  A qualifying Onsite Participant must meet two essential criteria:

1. The participant was present “onsite” above or within a government installation during a test involving the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device.  “Test involving the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear devices” means only those tests conducted by the United States prior to January 1, 1963, and does not include the wartime detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
2. The participant was subsequently diagnosed with a specified compensable disease. The compensable diseases for Onsite Participants are the same as the compensable diseases for Downwinders.

URANIUM WORKERS:

RECA extends compensation to individuals who worked in covered occupations relating to uranium mining during the period from January 1, 1942, through December 31, 1990.  A qualifying uranium worker must meet the following essential criteria:

1. The worker was employed as a uranium miner, uranium miller, core driller, in the transport of uranium or vanadium-uranium ore from such a mine or mill, or was involved in remediation efforts at such a uranium mine or uranium mill;
2. The employment must have occurred at uranium mines or uranium mills located in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas;
3. The worker must have worked in a covered occupation and location for at least 1 year during the covered period.  Alternatively, an employee who worked in a uranium mine may establish exposure to 40 or more working level months of radiation.  Employees may combine periods of mining, milling, core drilling, and ore transporting to satisfy this duration requirement.
4. The worker must have been diagnosed with a specified compensable disease.  The specified compensable diseases for uranium workers are lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, fibrosis of the lung, silicosis, pneumoconiosis, cor pulmonale related to fibrosis of the lung, renal cancer, and any other chronic renal disease including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue injury.

Claim forms for applications under the amended RECA are available here.

• An online claim filing portal is in development. That system is projected to be operational by December 2025.  Applicants who elect to file electronically are exempt from regulations requiring submission of certified or original records.

Documents that can be used to show presence in New Mexico during the time period covered by RECA:

Acceptable presence documentation will include the name of the person who became ill (or a member of his or her immediate family residing in the same household), indication of residence or full-time employment in an affected area, and a specific date.

Documents that can be used to establish presence include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Tax Records

In general, tax rolls and assessment records from this time period will be found in the possession of the County in which the claimant resided.

- Personal Letters or Envelopes

- School Records

New Mexico Public Education Department has school records that can be obtained with an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) page to submit a request there: IPRA Requests | New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED).

- Church/Religious Records (sacramental records: baptismal, first communion, conformation, marriage must be requested directly from the dioceses.)  

- Employment Records

- Voting Records

New Mexico State Records Center & Archives has voting registers by county.

- Birth Certificate (NM Vital Records)

Birth certificates become public records one hundred (100) years after the date of birth.

NOTE: New Mexico birth certificates are restricted access records. State law restricts access to the registrant's immediate family members or those who represent tangible proof of legal interest in the requested record. Immediate Family means any of the following: mother, father, sibling, child, grandchild, current spouse, or maternal or paternal grandparent. Paternal grandparent is eligible if father is listed on the vital record. See the List of Acceptable Documents for Obtaining a Birth Record for details.
 

-Death Certificates (NM Vital Records)

New Mexico death certificates are restricted access records. State law restricts access to death certificates to the deceased registrant's (also called decedent) immediate family members or those who represent tangible proof of legal interest in the requested record.

Immediate Family means any of the following: mother, father, sibling, child, current spouse, or maternal or paternal grandparent. Paternal grandparent is eligible if father is listed on the vital record.

Death certificates become public records fifty (50) years after the date of death.

- Personal Diaries

Other documents that may be helpful:
- New Mexico 1950 census

The 1960 census information on individuals has not been released, however, you can request family information.

Learn how to use the Census Bureau’s Age Search Service to purchase an official copy of your personal, confidential census record before public release in order to provide proof of age or proof of familial relationship.

- Yearbooks

Yearbooks may be held by the local public library. Many yearbooks may have been digitized and made available in Ancestry.
Special Collections Library at Edith and Central (Albuquerque) has a collection of Albuquerque yearbooks including middle school, junior high and some universities. Search their catalog at Search Results for yearbook. 

- City directories

NMSL has a large collection of directories from around New Mexico. The Special Collections Library at Edith and Central (Albuquerque) also has a large collection of directories.

Unless you file electronically, you must provide certain certified or original documents to establish presence in an affected area. Photocopies of these documents, even if notarized, are not sufficient unless they are certified by the issuing institution.

Generally, there are two ways to certify documents showing presence:
Certified photocopies are often stamped with the seal of the issuing institution. Typically, these seals are either raised, colored or signed. If you have a document that has been stamped, send us that document.
OR
Ask the source of the record to attach a cover letter to the record (signed and dated on letterhead) stating, "the attached record(s) containing [# of pages] pertaining to [name of person in question] is a true and accurate copy of a record kept in our files."
 

This cover page must be signed and attached to the relevant record(s).
 

Please Note:
If you would like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help with your claim, YOU must call the Church at (801) 240-3500 or write to:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Member and Statistical Records Division
Seventeenth Floor
50 East North Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
and request that the Church send information confirming physical presence to the RECA Program

A qualifying Downwinder must show that they were diagnosed with a specified compensable disease. The specified compensable diseases are:

• leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia)
• multiple myeloma
• lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s disease)

And primary cancers of the:

• thyroid
• male or female breast
• esophagus
• stomach
• pharynx
• small intestine
• pancreas
• bile ducts
• gall bladder
• salivary gland
• urinary bladder
• brain, colon
• ovary
• liver (except if cirrhosis or Hepatitis B is indicated)
• lung