Congress pushes nuclear test survivor bill
With the acclaimed film “Oppenheimer” winning big at the 2024 Oscars, earning awards in major categories such as best director, best actor and best picture, there’s a renewed focus on Capitol Hill on the generations of Americans affected by living near nuclear test sites.
In July 1945, the Trinity test in south-central New Mexico marked the dawn of the nuclear age, a pivotal moment dramatized in “Oppenheimer.”
Not far from the test site, in the desert community of Tularosa, lived the family of Tina Cordova. For generations, Cordova’s family, like others in the area, has battled cancer, a grim legacy of the atomic tests.
Diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 39, Cordova was painfully aware of the connection to the tests. “We don’t ask if we’re going to get cancer,” she said, “we ask when it’s going to be our turn.”
Since 1990, the U.S. government has compensated some …