The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "atomic bomb" ...
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Yellow Dirt
The radioactive "yellow dirt" -- a world class deposit of uranium under the Navajo reservation in the American Southwest -- lay beneath an earthen shield until the U.S. government cam calling, desperate to make atomic bombs. The book reveals ow the government looked away as miners, and then the neighbors were exposed to uranium's dangers.
Tags: Native Americans; yellow dirt; atomic bomb; uranium; environment
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Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed
This book reveals how the U.S. government consciously looked away as miners, and then the neighbors, were exposed to uranium's dangers as it was mined on a Navajo reservation, in a slow-motion environmental catastrophe that last for decades and continues today.
Tags: uranium; radiation; mining; Navajo; Indian reservation; yellow cake; yellow dirt; EPA; Environmental Protection Agency; Indian Health Service; Bureau of Indian Affairs; Atomic Energy Commission; National Cancer Institute; environmental pollution; environmental disaster; nuclear power; atomic bomb
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Nuclear Threat Made in U.S.
This story revealed how the U.S. government scattered tons of highly enriched uranium around the globe and then failed to get the material back. The Tribune documented how a misguided Cold War program called Atoms for Peace provided bomb0grade uranium fuel to dozens of nations in an attempt to win allies and curry favor. Today, 40 tons of this same uranium remain outside of U.S. control.
Tags: nuclear weapons; federal government; international relations; nuclear smuggling; open records
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News zero: The New York Times and the bomb
This book documents how The New York Times shaped public opinions that helped the U.S. government develop atomic weaponry. The book reveals how The Times' science writer also was on the payroll of the U.S. Army, how The Times obscured the impact of radiation, and how the enormity of U.S. nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific has been shrouded in secrecy for decades despite an amount of testing from 1946 to 1962 that equates to the detonation of about 8,580 Hiroshima-sized bombs.
Tags: BOOK; atomic bombs; nuclear bombs; nuclear bomb testing; U.S. Army; New York Times; military; atomic age
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An Atomic Veteran's Story
From the contest questionnaire: "The series tells the story of Jim Lyerly, a sailor who took part in nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s." The Daily Press finds the government's official version, which claims Lyerly and his shipmates aboard the USS Walton "were exposed to only paltry amounts of radiation," is wrong. Other findings are that the government set radiation standards without regard to what is actually dangerous; atomic veterans with numbers of ailments were told they had not been sufficiently exposed to qualify for compensation; records of actual testing appeared to be missing.
Tags: Navy; health; atomic bombs; secret human tests; Camp Desert Rock; radioactivity
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Unstable Element: Suddenly, Small Gaps In Nuclear Security Look Like Chasms
The Wall Street Journal examines evidence that al Qaeda, the organization of Osama bin Laden, has tried to obtain weapons-grade nuclear material. The article looks at the possibilities for terrorists to build nuclear weapons by using resources of current or former nuclear-power countries. Even though the reporters have found the evidence related to al Qaeda to be "sketchy and unverified ... it has sent authorities around the world rushing to shore up security measures that are in some cases surprisingly weak." The story finds that "armed guards at nuclear-weapons depots often lose in exercises with mock assailants," and that "materials for making a nuclear bomb are accessible enough to support a black market."
Tags: Osama bin Laden; terrorism; al Qaeda; uranium; International Atomic Energy Agency; United Nations; Exelon Corp.; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; college students; Energy Department; TNT; Defense Department; U.S. Customs Service; ex-Soviet republics; military; Project on Government Oversight
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While No One Was Looking
Energy Department secretary Bill Richardson has decided to allow commercial nuclear reactors to start producing tritrium, an isotope used to turn A-bombs into H-bombs, multiplying their potential power. While this "dual use" of facilities is not illegal, it flies in the face of 50 years of policy concerning civil/military separation in the nuclear arena. Is this a step backwards in the fight against nuclear proliferation? the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists asks.
Tags: Energy Department; nuclear energy; nuclear weapons; tritrium; Bill Richardson; Tenessee Valley Authority; Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
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Rocky Flats: From Cold War to Hot Property
Westword examines what has happened to Rocky Flats after the Atomic Energy Commission built a nuclear-weapons plant near the Denver area in the 1950s. The disposal of more than 1,500 kinds of chemicals and radioactive plutonium. Dow Chemical undertook only the slightest precautions in getting rid of the waste. It attempted solar evaporation ponds and mixing the toxic, often radioactive sludge with cement that never hardened. Over the years, materials left unprotected outside in second-hand barrels and other careless containers seeped into the prairies and groundwater. In 1974, Rockwell International took over and continued the pollution. In 1989, the plant was raided by the FBI and Colorado's first ever grand jury convened. Indictments and a $18.5 million fine were levied at Rockwell, the contractor and DOE employees. Today, an ambitious goal of cleaning up the land by 2006 is set but few have faith that the environmental damage sustained at Rocky Flats can be undone.
Tags: Bombs; contamination; uranium; plutonium; beryllium; Atomic Energy Commission; Dept. of Energy; Rockwell; Dow Chemical; Nuclear; groundwater; pollution
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Deadly Silence: The government's betrayal of A-bomb pioneers
The Daily Southtown reports that "During World War II, hundreds of scientists, tradesmen and secretaries at the Manhattan Project metallurgical lab at the University of Chicago were carelessly exposed to large quantities of toxic metal beryllium, then for 45 years intentionally kept in the dark about the potentially deadly health consequences... For decades the federal government joined with university officials to fight workers' compensation claims filed by those dying of beryllium disease. Then, facing a 1986 expose by a Los Angeles TV station, Energy Department officials promised on-camera to provide testing and treatment for Manhattan Project workers. But testing and treatment was never provided, based on interviews with Manhattan Project survivors located by the Daily Southtown."
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30 Years After
In These Times expounds upon the ecological damage and consequences of nuclear bomb testing. Particular attention is given to the test sites of Amchitka and Cannikin. How the US government has consistently concealed the truth about the aftermath of nuclear testing is also described.
Tags: Amchitka test site; Aleuts; Radioactivity; Radiation; Atomic Energy Commission (AEC); Department of Energy (DOE)