Trinity test victims to be compensated 80 years after nuclear blast

The article reports that victims of the world’s first nuclear test, the Trinity Test conducted by the U.S. military on July 16, 1945, near New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert, will finally be eligible for compensation after an 80-year wait. Residents near the test site were exposed to harmful radiation without warning or evacuation, leading to widespread health issues, including cancer. Although the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was established in 1990 to compensate individuals affected by nuclear testing and uranium mining, it initially excluded those impacted by the Trinity Test fallout and residents of Navajo lands. Recent revisions to RECA, included in a Republican tax bill signed by former President Trump just before the test’s 80th anniversary, now extend compensation eligibility to these New Mexico victims and uranium miners who supplied material for the bomb. The reauthorization of RECA on July 3 also extended the RECA Trust Fund and expanded claimant eligibility categories, which now include uranium miners, millers