NH #733: SPECIAL: Trinity Atomic Bomb at 80 – NM Downwinder Radiation Victims Set the Record Straight
The new commemorative plaque at the entrance to the Trinity site of the world’s first atomic bomb explosion finally acknowledges and commemorates Downwinders. (l-r) Seth Shelden, General Counsel and United Nations Liaison of ICAN; Tina Cordova of Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, Melissa Parke, Executive Director of ICAN
SPECIAL: Trinity Atomic Bomb at 80 – New Mexico Downwinder Radiation Victims Set the Record Straight
On the 80th anniversary of the first atomic bomb blast, the test at the Trinity site near Almogordo in New Mexico, Nuclear Hotseat gives voice to the Downwinders – victims of the radiation released from the bomb.
Featured Interviews:
Award-winning author Myrriah Gomez
- Myrriah Gomez is from northern New Mexico and author of the 2022 book Nuclear Nuevo Mexico: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos, which was awarded a Southwest Book Award and an International Latino Book Award. I spoke with Myrriah Gomez on July 15, 2025.
Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium
- Bernice Gutierrez is a native New Mexican. She received her degree in Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice from the University of New Mexico, and has worked as a Probation-Parole Officer, Paralegal and Social Worker. She is also a board member of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. I spoke with Berniece Gutierrez on July 14, 2025.
- LINK to research on infant mortality in the immediate aftermath of Trinity by Kitty Tucker that was cited in the interview: Trinity: “The most significant hazard of the entire Manhattan Project”
Downwinder Tina Cordova, doing what she does so well: speaking Truth to Power.
- Tina Cordova is a sixth generation native New Mexican born and raised in the small town of Tularosa in south central New Mexico. In 2005 Tina co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC) with the late Fred Tyler. Tina has been an unstoppable campaigner for the rights of those harmed by radiation downwind of the Trinity atomic bomb blast and an honored leader for us all. I spoke with Tina Cordova on July 14, 2025.
Links – Other Resources for Trinity:
First We Bombed New Mexico – a film by Award-winning director Lois Lipman. The Trinity Downwinders’ nuclear legacy was exploded into public awareness by this film. Nuclear Hotseat interviewed Director Lois Lipman about how she first learned about the plight of Downwinders — those who lived downwind of the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb. FIRST WE BOMBED NEW MEXICO, tracks not just Trinity’s history of radiation impact, but the timelines of Downwinder illness through five generations.
CHURCH ROCK Uranium Tailings Pond Breach Disaster in Navajo Nation – Elders, Activists Speak Out
Former UNC Church Rock uranium miner Larry J. King (center). He stands on land which faces
the site of the 1979 uranium tailings pond breach and spill. He explains what happened to an audience of supporters during the 40th anniversary commemorative walk in 2019.
The other nuclear disaster that took place on July 16 – this one in 1979 – was the Church Rock uranium tailings pond breach and spill. This under-reported nuclear disaster dumped more than 94 million gallons of highly acidic radioactive water into the adjacent Puerco River. The contamination reached Sanders, Arizona, more than 80 miles away. The spill has never been cleaned up.
On July 13 and 14, 2019, Nuclear Hotseat’s Libbe HaLevy attended commemorative events in Navajo Nation for the 40th anniversary of the 1979 disaster. This is the LINK to the resulting Nuclear Hotseat SPECIAL report.
