Idahoans Find Cancers From Fallout | NYT

[Ediacara]

Idahoans Find Cancers From Fallout
By SARAH KERSHAW

Published: September 5, 2004

MMETT, Idaho, Aug. 31 - The people in this town of dairy and cattle farmers did not know it then, but half a century ago, northern winds blew radioactive fallout into southeastern Idaho when the federal government set off about 90 nuclear bombs at its Nevada test site near Las Vegas.

Back then, in the 1950's and early 1960's, at the height of the cold war, people in Emmett thought what they occasionally saw dusting their fruit orchards and cow pastures was frost - only it was not cold to the touch, several longtime residents said. Others described it as a gray-white powder that seemed to come out of nowhere.

There is not any doubt that Emmett, population 5,500, and other towns in four Idaho counties were exposed to high levels of radiation from the open-air atomic bomb blasts, receiving among the highest doses of a radioactive chemical that has been linked to increased risk for thyroid cancer. The National Cancer Institute in 1997 released a detailed study and a map plotting the locations of the fallout across the country, ranking concentrations of Radioactive Iodine-131, an isotope released when a nuclear bomb is detonated, from Nevada to upstate New York. The study put the four Idaho counties - Gem County, which includes Emmett; Lemhi; Blaine; and Custer - and one in Montana at the top of that list.

More at the New York Times

[mbperrin]

1. B..b..b..b..ut the NUKULAR folks is our friends!!!!!

ain't they?

(Quick - Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Hanford; it's a small, small world!)

[TahitiNut]

2. Those parts of Idaho are also west of Hanford ....

... and Hanford has repeatedly released radioactive substances into the atmosphere, the highly toxic byproducts of plutonium enrichment processes at Hanford.

[Enraged_Ape]

3. Funny how Custer, Blaine, and Custer got it but it magically missed...

Boise and Ada county nearby.

I mean, we wouldn't want anyone in the largest population center in Idaho to get nervous, would we?

[Ediacara]

4. Boise County is also the most Democratic part of Idaho

Hmm....

[Massacure]

5. dumb luck. The wind blows where the wind blows.

Unfortunately they built the bomb so fast in response of Germany they fully didn't fully research the effects or radiation. It is just like when you used to be able to use X-Rays to see if your shoes fit until people started loosing legs and feet. :(

[Ediacara]

6. I know :-)

I was commenting on the lack of mention of Boise County, the most populous as well as most Democratic county in Idaho. I am curious which county in Montana was listed (not mentioned in NYT article, but I am guessing it's Ravalli, Beaverhead, or Madison County (just over the line from the affected Idaho counties).

[Jamesm9164]

7. Also, the desert of SE Idaho had at one point

the largest concentration of test nuclear reactors in the world. The total numbered somewhere around 50 until the early sixties. I might add that they had twenty some meltdowns of which only nine were planned. Also, Moreland, Idaho is one of the cancer hot spots in the United States. I grew up in that area and the more I learn the more pissed off I get. However, most of the folks down there just go about their blissfully ignorant ways. Perhaps a by-product of the testing? Additionally, there is a book named "Idaho Falls" (I cannot remember the author) that details the story of an Army reactor that blew up killing the 3 military operators inside the reactor. I remember the news reports as a kid. In my opinion, the most chilling part of the story is the residual radiation in the bodies and how they had to be handled.

[Enraged_Ape]

8. You refer to the SL-1 disaster

A guy pulled a control rod out farther than he should have. The resulting explosion impaled him on the control rod and pinned him to the ceiling. It took a LONG time before the clean-up people were able to get him down. In the meantime, they had to clean the disaster up with a radioactive dead guy hanging over their heads.

Other fun facts about SL-1:

Some of the technicians went home the night of the disaster, not realizing that they were "hotter" than a baked potato. Their wives washed their clothes with the regular laundry, and pretty soon the radioactivity was spread just about everywhere.

For a long time, you could actually TOUR the burned out SL-1 reactor hulk. It wasn't until the '70s, I believe, that they shut it down and capped it off.

[Jamesm9164]

12. Your are correct.

I didn't know you could tour the reactor. However, you can tour the EBR-1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor) which is a national landmark. By the way the evacuation signs in the reactor building are not relics. They are for real because parts of the building are still and will be for many thousands of years very hot. An additional story. My aunt who was working at the site (as it is so fondly called by those from the area) was at work one day and the radiation alarms went off. Of course, you are supposed to evacuate the building but in this case everyone was directed to remain in the buildings. Why you might ask. Because the alarms were triggered by a radioactive cloud that blew over from Nevada. This is very nasty stuff as most folks who read these forums already know.

[oscar111]

10. Idaho "tarred and feathered" union organizers:miners cancers

why is idaho so RW? also, these days , i hear news items about survivalist RW groups up there .. i think ruby ridge incident was there. racist groups too.

BTW.. the winds fm Nevada would be SOUTHERLY winds.
And, Hanford is WEST of Idaho, in WA state. but winds there would generally blow from hanford into idaho.

Uranium miners .. 90% get lung cancer in american mines..{but check my figure.. memory from decades back} just as you would expect. Now, imagine the human toll for miners in Pakistan, India, etc where respect for the peons is even lower than here.
Now consider how proponents of nuclear energy never mention that cost. Never! Wind powered electric has no such death toll cost.

PS. NUCLEAR ENERGY = NUCLEAR BOMBS

Nuclear energy in the 3rd world is just an excuse to get the uranium for bombs.

[Massacure]

11. Coal miner also get very sick.

[donheld]

9. Emmet Id

i know for a fact has far too many bible beaters, i went to a bible college with many of them

[Jamesm9164]

13. Several years ago a 16-year old girl was

charged with a crime for getting pregnant. Does anyone know the outcome of this or one would hope that there is more to the story. However, I pass thru Emmett several times a year on my to the central Idaho wilderness area and I doubt the story at all.

[Trillo]

14. Who pays?

How many of an individual's lifetime of doctors visits is attributable to the excess radiation exposure?
Is $50,000, given that medical costs are soaring, enough to pay for all future treatments?
Is there compensation to families of those now deceased from cancer?
What about loss of wages during sickness?

$50 grand is certainly better than nothing; but I think it's doubtful it's anwhere near enough to be equitable.

[medeak]

15. we thought it was normal to have fire dept wash off cars and house

after bombs went off. Lived in small town downwind in Southern NV. There would be pink dust everywhere.

Later moved to Las Vegas and it was an everyday thing. We would be sitting in class and do the countdown and count how many seconds passed before we felt after shock and saw flag pole waving back and forth...if at home we'd watch the water slosh out of pool.

My Mom and best friend both recovered from cancer. It makes me wonder.