Radioactive fallout from the first-ever human test of a nuclear weapon has been detected in 46 US states, Canada and Mexico

We jump on the rushing hype train as the film "Oppenheimer" starts rolling and offer you a material about the first ever nuclear weapon test, called Trinity. And to be more precise, about its consequences for the USA and neighbouring countries.

Here's What We Know

In July 1945, Robert Oppenheimer and other Manhattan Project researchers were preparing for the first atomic bomb test in the New Mexico desert. On 16 July, a plutonium bomb called Gadget was detonated.

After the explosion, a nuclear mushroom 15-20 kilometres high rose into the sky. Doctors and physicists from the Manhattan Project monitored the movement of the radioactive cloud, but they were unable to fully assess the possible spread.

The new study suggests that the cloud and fallout have travelled much further than scientists in 1945 surmised. By the way, the scientific paper has only been sent out for peer review. The authors of the study claim that radioactive fallout within 10 days of the Trinity test reached 46 U.S. states, as well as reaching Canada and Mexico.

In addition, the team of scientists re-verified information regarding fallout for all 93 above-ground nuclear weapons tests in the US that took place in the state of Nevada. Based on the data obtained, a map of the distribution of radioactive fallout was created. In the future, the research team wants to study the data for nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific Ocean.

The doctors of the Manhattan Project knew that there was a radioactive danger. But they decided that only the surrounding areas would be at risk. Nuclear historian Alex Wellerstein stated. For many decades, the lack of important data prevented a correct assessment of the consequences of the Trinity test.

At the time of the first detonation of the atomic bomb, the U.S. had no monitoring stations to track the spread of fallout. At the same time, weather data were not collected until three years after the Trinity test. Things are better in the case of the tests, which have been conducted in Nevada since 1951.

The team of scientists tried to fill the gaps a year and a half ago by computer modelling. Later they were greatly helped by the European Centre for Medium-Term Forecasts, which shared historical data from weather models at an altitude of 9 km above the Earth's surface.

As the researchers found, New Mexico was hit hard by the fallout. The trajectory of the cloud spread predominantly over the northeast of the state, while another part moved south and west of the epicentre of the explosion for several days. In some places, the radionuclide content reached levels comparable to Nevada. Moreover, Trinity accounted for 87% of all the fallout found in New Mexico.

Unfortunately, people who lived near the test site were not compensated under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) of 1990. The law provides more than $2.5bn in payments to nuclear industry workers in the western US, as well as people who lived near the Nevada Test Site.

New Mexico residents were excluded from RECA for an unknown reason. According to the 1940 census, up to half a million people lived within a 230 kilometre radius of the landfill. The homes of some of them were only 20 kilometres away. Despite this, the authorities did not warn the civilian population about the tests and did not provide evacuation before or after the detonation of the atomic bomb.

Between 1945 and 1992, the US conducted more than 200 nuclear weapons tests. The extent of the damage the country did to itself by exploding atomic bombs is still not fully understood by most Americans. This is primarily true for the younger generation.

Source: The New York Times