In Brief: When We Nuked Ourselves (with Tina Cordova)

Stay Tuned with Preet

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Society & Culture, Politics, Government

4.8 • 32.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2023

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After the US army tested the world’s first nuclear bomb in New Mexico in 1945, residents of the surrounding area suffered severe health issues due to radioactive fallout. Last month, the Senate passed an amendment to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to make Trinity Test “downwinders” eligible for compensation. Preet speaks with Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, about the downwinder’s movement for acknowledgement and justice. Stay Tuned in Brief is presented by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Please write to us with your thoughts and questions at letters@cafe.com, or leave a voicemail at 669-247-7338. For analysis of recent legal news, join the CAFE Insider community. Head to cafe.com/insider to join for just $1 for the first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From Café and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is Stay Tuned in Brief.
0:10.3	I'm Preet Bharara.
0:12.3	On July 16, 1945, the U.S. Army tested the world's first nuclear bomb in the New Mexico desert.
0:19.4	It was a culmination of the Manhattan Project, a program to develop the first atomic weapon
0:23.8	during World War II.
0:25.6	Just a few weeks later, the same bomb would devastate Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
0:31.0	The new Phil Oppenheimer tells the story of the creation of that weapon and its initial
0:35.4	detonation at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico.
0:39.0	Since the film's premiere, attention has grown on the downwinders, residents near the explosion
0:43.6	site who suffered severe health issues due to radioactive fallout.
0:48.2	The Senate recently voted to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to cover those
0:52.5	affected by the Trinity Test, and President Biden has signaled his support.
0:57.9	Joining me to discuss the impact of the nuclear bomb on U.S. residents and its bipartisan
1:01.9	push for compensation is Tina Cordova.
1:05.2	She's the co-founder of the Tulerosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.
1:09.1	Tina, welcome to the show.
1:10.7	Thank you, Preet.
1:11.7	Thank you for inviting me to discuss this very important subject.
1:15.1	It is indeed very important.
1:16.1	So first, just a little bit of background.
1:17.6	How many generations have you been in New Mexico?
1:19.8	I've been, well, in New Mexico, we've lived here for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
	...

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