1950s Nuclear Fallout Hit Wide Area of the West
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The highest doses of radioactive fallout from 1950s nuclear weapons tests in Nevada were received by milk-drinking children in the Farm Belt and the Northwest, according to government projections obtained Wednesday by the Associated Press.
Fallout from the tests spread across much of the country, but based on mathematical models and earlier studies, exposure rates were highest in 12 states east and north of the Nevada desert, where the bomb tests were conducted. Because the total exposure was tied to such factors as weather patterns and milk-consumption rates, some hot spots were isolated.
States with high-dose counties were Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Idaho, Nevada, Arkansas, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.
The data, compiled by the National Cancer Institute as part of a federal study, are the first to show high exposure rates outside Nevada and Utah.
The new information is likely to set off calls for federal compensation to affected people.
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