Transcript [IMAGE: ]

Oral History: Preserve the Work
Experience of Defense Workers
in America During the Nuclear
Legacy of the Post WWII Era
Some Basic Facts
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Nuclear program start date October 21, 1939
First nuclear weapon test July 16, 1945
First fusion weapon test November 1, 1952
Last nuclear test September 23, 1992
Largest yield test 15 megaton(1 March 1954)
Total tests 1,054 detonations
Peak stockpile 32,225 warheads (1967)
Current stockpile 5,113 total
Maximum missile range 13,000 km (8,100 mi) (land)
12,000 km (7,500 mi) (sub)
Operative American strategic nuclear forces
20111
Delivery Vehicles Warheads
Minuteman III
Minuteman III
ICBM (total)
SLBM (total)
Bomber force (total)
Strategic forces (total)
1
250
200
450
288
113
851
350
200
550
1,152
500
2,200
Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris, “US nuclear forces, 2011,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, March/April
2011 vol. 67 no. 2 66-76 .
St. Louis Connection to Nuclear
Weapons Production
• Uranium for first atomic sustained reaction (1942) was processed in
downtown St. Louis at Mallinckrodt Chemical Works – without MCW the
chain reaction would have been delayed by months or years or not even
happened.
• MCW processed 50,000 tons of uranium at its downtown facility between
1942-1957
• 1942-1968 MCW/Weldon Spring produced more uranium for the US
atomic/nuclear weapons program than any other facility and remember
the arsenal reached its peak in 1967 with 32,225 warheads of uranium
metal, plutonium and thorium.
• Additionally Dow Madison produced the thorium alloy HK-31A which was
used in the atomic bomb trigger and for different components of missiles,
jets and planes for Boeing.
Consequences
• As a result 1.45 million cubic yards of nuclear waste
has been strewn across the St. Louis and Metro-East
area.
• Potentially 6,000 atomic weapons workers have been
negatively impacted by this work, countless citizens
have risked exposure and the environment has been
irrevocably damaged.
• Workers at Boeing may have been exposed to HK31A.
EEOICPA
• The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program Act (EEOICPA) was enacted to provide compensation
and medical benefits to employees who worked at certain
Department of Energy (DOE) facilities, including contractors
and subcontractors at those locations, and certain of its
vendors.
• Problems
– Burden of proof shifted from government to workers
– Government retrieved existing documents relevant to
compensation
– 300,000 workers across the United States have been
exposed only 43,000 have been paid. Out of 6,000 workers
in St. Louis/Metro-East only 1600 have been paid.
Enter the IUR
• IUR provided resources to assist with the
recording of oral histories of former AWE in
the area to preserve their story and help
uncover information to help them pursue
their compensation claims.
What did we learn from the
workers?
• Where radioactive materials stored and what kinds of
materials were in the plants
• What kinds of projects were worked on: bomb components,
missile fuselages, wings, etc.
• What a day in the life of a AWE looked liked
• Oath of loyalty, espionage, impact of crises on work and
production
• Protection equipment: absence or presence
• What it meant to be on first line of defense
Impact of Oral Histories
• In combination with the collection of primary
documents, oral histories confirmed or challenged
existing knowledge of the nuclear complexes.
• Most importantly what the daily operations were at
two of the most important atomic/nuclear facilities
in the USA
• These in turn have allowed 1/3 of workers to be
compensated – one of the highest numbers of
compensation across the US.
Next Phase
• Document stories of defense workers who, in the words of the
Boeing Corporate Website “…built passenger planes,
helicopters, warbirds and missiles, satellites and spacecraft.
They sent astronauts to the moon and brought cultures
together in harmony aboard the International Space Station.
Their inventions blazed the trail for today's new technologies”
while they are still alive, to preserve their records for future
research and for generations to come.
• Interview space and defense workers who were active during
the post WWII Vietnam era (1960-1975) in the St. Louis area
to provide relevant historical information to the public.
Questions