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Tina Cordova
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- Author, Emma Vardy and Sam Granville from New Mexico
- Role, BBC News
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3 hours ago
The success of Oppenheimer’s film came to highlight the work done by a group of scientists in the US state of New Mexico during the development of the first nuclear bomb.
But 80 years later, some state residents say their story has yet to be told.
“My grandmothers and their mothers died of cancer,” Tina Cordova says sadly as she leafs through an album of old family photos in the living room. “My father also suffered from three different types of cancer, and my sister suffers from it as well.”
“I can no longer remember how many aunts, uncles and relatives have had cancer. This is not limited to my family.”
Cordova is considered one of those affected by “nuclear contamination,” a term used to describe communities that say they were affected by nuclear radiation that resulted from the test explosion of the first nuclear bomb in the desert of New Mexico.
The nuclear bomb test is one of the main elements in the popular film, in which director Christopher Nolan follows the efforts of physicist Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists and engineers as they develop the nuclear bomb.
The film, which won seven Oscars, deals with the moral conflicts faced by the men and women who changed the world through the work they did in the desert under a veil of secrecy.
But Cordova says the film reveals nothing about the consequences of developing the atomic bomb, which she says her family has lived with for generations.
The explosion resulting from the atomic bomb test is a defining moment in the film, as the scientists receive dark glasses and gather on a stormy night to watch their theories and calculations become reality.
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Actor Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer
But there appear to have been unforeseen consequences, Cordova said.
“We strongly believe that we were overexposed to radiation during the bomb testing in New Mexico, and then also during the bombs that were detonated in Nevada.”
Cordova was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was 39. It was the same disease that affected her 23-year-old niece.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States.
While a link between cancer and exposure to radiation resulting from the atomic bombing in New Mexico has not been conclusively proven, Cordova has documented high rates of cancer in hundreds of families across multiple generations.
One of them is Paul Pineau, who says he began to understand what had happened to him when he attended a lecture by Cordova on radiation several years ago. “It was so hard for us to realize that it was like a collapse.”
Pino’s family lived 35 miles from the site of the first nuclear bomb test. Like Cordova, several of his relatives died of cancer. His brother died of stomach cancer, and his mother died of bone cancer. His sister also suffered from thyroid cancer, his daughter suffered from skin cancer, and two of his aunts had brain tumors.
The US government has opened compensation funds for people in areas where testing occurred in subsequent years but New Mexico has not yet been included. That could change now.
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A team of inspectors at the site of a bomb explosion in New Mexico
It has been proposed that the law under which compensation is awarded to those exposed to radiation be amended to include residents of New Mexico.
Last week, Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate voted to amend the law, which will be discussed by the House of Representatives. President Biden’s administration had previously indicated its support for amending the law.
The use of the atomic bomb against Japan brought a decisive end to World War II.
While the film shows Oppenheimer’s moral suffering as a result of the large number of deaths in Japan, it does not address the dangers that befell those who lived near the bomb development site in the United States of America.
“They (the filmmakers) did not acknowledge the sacrifice or suffering of the people of New Mexico,” Cordova says sadly.
But elsewhere in the state the film does not have the same negative reputation, especially in the town of Los Alamos, where Oppenheimer’s team conducted their research and work.
For the residents there, the issue is not about history, but rather about the economic benefits of the film for the city’s residents.
Todd Nichols, whose parents were scientists, says, “Life in our town has turned upside down. There are large numbers of visitors coming to town.”
Los Alamos is characterized by a picturesque and stunning location. The red rocky plateaus meet the big blue sky in a scene whose end cannot be seen by the eye. This site allowed the country’s best minds to sharpen their imaginations and make scientific discoveries, away from prying eyes.
“My father was a nuclear physicist, and my mother was a geneticist,” Nichols says. “We are proud of science and technology.”
The Oppenheimer name is everywhere in town. There is Oppenheimer Street, a statue of Oppenheimer, and several murals depicting Oppenheimer. Many Los Alamos residents appeared in the film as well.
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“We’re certainly not glorifying the deaths that resulted from the bomb in any way,” Nicholls says. “That was absolutely horrific. But World War II was also horrific.”
To this day, scientists at Los Alamos still play a major role in developing nuclear warhead components. The pace of work in research laboratories increases every time the United States modernizes its military arsenal.
If you pick someone at random on a town street and address them by the title Doctor, there’s a good chance you chose the correct title. Los Alamos has the largest number of doctorate holders in the country per capita.
“My grandfather worked in military laboratories, and so did my mother,” says Gerald Burns, who serves drinks at a bar that serves a beer called Hoppenheimer. “In fact, I am the first person in my family in three generations not to work in scientific research.”
It is clear that the film brought many financial benefits and profits to the town, as the bar sells T-shirts bearing Oppenheimer’s picture with the phrase “No science, no beer.” But what about the moral aspect behind what all of this symbolizes?
“We have a very diverse and balanced view of it,” Burns says. “We have to show respect or feel sorry when things are done wrong, or when all of this is used as a weapon.”
Others take a different view. In Albuquerque, a small group of peace activists gathered for a demonstration over the weekend to denounce continued work at Los Alamos laboratories. Participants in the demonstration denounce Washington’s use of the laboratory to renew the nuclear arms race, raising banners bearing slogans such as “No to nuclear bombs.”
Cordova hoped that the Oscars ceremony would help highlight the health risks that she says are clear and real.
Cordova says that without the people of New Mexico, neither the project nor the film would have been possible.
“I tell them: Shame on them. They had a real chance to do something really amazing.”
