Radiation: Fallout in Utah

The little town of St. George, which likes to boast that "this is where the sun spends the winter," sits astride U.S. Highway 91 in southwestern Utah-and directly in the path of southwest winds blowing from the AEC's Nevada test site for underground atomic explosions, 140 miles away. Time and again since 1952, much of Utah, and especially St. George, has been showered with at least 100 and perhaps 1,000 times more radioactivity than the U.S. average. One of the most active elements in the fallout has been iodine-131, which gets into grass, then into cows, then into milk,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!