The Trinity Fallout - Tina Cordova

In 1945, the world changed in the New Mexico desert — but for many families, the fallout never ended.

Today’s guest, Tina Cordova, is the co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, an organization fighting for recognition and compensation for people harmed by radiation exposure from the Trinity nuclear test.

After losing several members of her own family to cancer — and facing her own diagnosis — Tina refused to stay silent. She stepped into the fight, challenging the federal government and amplifying the voices of families across the Tularosa Basin.

In this episode of She Fights, Tina shares the history behind the Trinity test, the devastating health impacts experienced by generations of New Mexicans, and the ongoing effort to secure justice through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).

This isn’t just a story about history — it’s about accountability, transparency, and what happens when a woman refuses to accept silence as an answer.

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Learn more or support the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium:
www.trinitydownwinders.com

Email: tcordova@queston.net

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Information about RECA claims:
https://www.justice.gov/civil/reca

If submitting documentation by mail, consider sending materials via certified mail with return receipt. Once received, the DOJ has up to one year to process the claim and return documents.

Some organizations or attorneys may offer to file claims on behalf of individuals for a fee. Please be aware that no one can guarantee results or expedite placement in the claims process.

The New Mexico Department of Health assistance: 833-796-8773.

Additional resources and updates about the application process can be found at:
www.trinitydownwinders.com
https://fernandez.house.gov/live/
https://www.lujan.senate.gov/

To learn more about the documentary:
www.firstwebombednewmexico.com

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Topics in this episode: Trinity nuclear test, Tularosa Basin Downwinders, nuclear fallout, Radiation Exposure Compensation Act RECA, environmental justice, New Mexico history, nuclear weapons testing, cancer clusters, government accountability, nuclear testing victims

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Disclaimer:
This episode is shared for educational and storytelling purposes only and is not intended to replace professional therapy, counseling, or medical care. Heather Winkeljohn is not a licensed therapist or mental health professional. The views and experiences shared by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Heather Winkeljohn or She Fights or UnstoppableVoicesMedia.com. If you are struggling, we encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Every scar has a story. Every woman a fight worth telling.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Welcome to She Fights with Heather Wimputja, the podcast where we bring you long, powerful, and inspiring stories of women who have faced the unimaginable and survived. Some conversations explore heavy emotional life experiences. Please take care and listen to what feels right for you. From battles with illness, abuse, and injustice to triumphs of resilience, courage, and hope. These are the voices that refuse to be silenced. Real women, real stories, unbreakable spirit. This is She Fights.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

In 1945, the world changed in the New Mexico Desert, but for many families, the fallout never ended. Today's guest, Tina Cordova, has spent years demanding answers about what happened after the Trinity nuclear test site and why generations of New Mexicans were never warned, never evacuated, and never compensated. As co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, Tina has taken on the federal government pushing for recognition under the RECA or Radiation Exposure Compensation Act and shining a light on the cancer clusters that have devastated families across the Tularosa basin, including her own. So this just isn't just a story about history. It's about accountability, transparency, and what happens when a woman refuses to accept silence as an answer. And after losing multiple members of her own family to cancer and facing her own diagnosis, Tina chose not to stay silent and she stepped into the fight, demanding accountability from the federal government and amplifying the voices of generations affected in the Tularosa basin. And another side note, uh Tina is a business owner. She's a woman-owned business, construction and roofing for 36 years, which right there is an amazing accomplishment. You don't hear that much these days, sadly, but uh that's quite an accomplishment. And she was also a teen mom, but managed to get her degree in biochemistry and pursue medical school for some time while being a young mother. So she's living proof that ordinary women can rise into extraordinary advocates when justice calls. So thank you, Tina. Thank you so much for being here and welcome.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Thank you, Heather. It's a pleasure. This is a great opportunity for me to spend some time with you and educate the people that listen to your podcast about our issue. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Can you give the maybe the unfamiliar listener or you know, a younger person who may not be familiar with the Trinity site? I mean, it was 80 years ago. Can you give us a brief description of what happened and why this is such an ordeal and how it's impacted people?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

So when they decided to detonate the bomb at the Trinity site, they were doing everything they could to keep the whole process top secret. We had President Truman actually in Potsdam waiting on word that the bomb worked because he had this very important meeting there with other world leaders. And he wanted to be able to tell Stalin that he had this new weapon. But what he didn't know is that Stalin already knew about the weapon because he had spies inside the Manhattan Project that had clued him in. Nevertheless, when the bomb was detonated, there were some things that the government absolutely knew, and then there were some things that they didn't. They already knew that radiation was very dangerous to human health. That was a well-established fact in 1945. And they also knew that the bomb was going to spread radiation all over New Mexico. And the way that they knew that was that in May of 1945, out at what was called, then called the Alamogordo bombing range, they detonated a conventional device, 100 tons of conventional explosives, and they laced it with radiation, and then they tracked the radiation and it went everywhere. And that bomb was not on the order of the Trinity bomb. So it was well established that there was going to be fallout and that people would likely be affected. But the two things that they didn't know, number one, is that when you place a bomb like that on a platform 100 feet off the ground, it doesn't create destruction. Interestingly enough, it created this really small indentation in the earth, a very small crater. But the force of the bomb came down, it intercepted the earth, took up an enormous amount of plant, animal, sand, dirt, incinerated it because it created 10,000 times the heat of the sun. Imagine. And it took that fireball up, and that fireball just continued to grow and grow. It went over seven miles high past the atmosphere, penetrating the stratosphere. Once it reached the stratosphere, it spread radiation around the world, but definitely completely irradiated our state. They also didn't know exactly how much plutonium was necessary to cause the fission process. So they overpacked it with plutonium. They put a full 13 pounds of weapons grade plutonium in the core of that bomb. Only three pounds were necessary for the fission process. So a complete 10 pounds went up in that fireball that rained down an ash that fell on New Mexico in the days afterwards. People have told me that an ash fell from the sky for days and days and days. And, you know, plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years. And so along with plutonium, it dispersed things like strontium, caesium. They have half-lives on the order of about 35 years, iodine, just a number of radioactive isotopes that now were joined with our environment. And just very quickly, we were predisposed for a terrible outcome because in 1945, we didn't have running water. Most villages, most towns, most cities across New Mexico did not have running water. We really depended on the rainfall. And the day of the bomb, there was a massive rainstorm that likely brought down the largest radioactive particles and deposited that into our lakes, our streams, our rivers, our ditches, our cisterns, which most people had a cistern back then. And we also didn't have widespread electricity, which meant no one owned a refrigerator. Some people had ice boxes. You couldn't go to a grocery store and buy dairy, produce, or meat. All of that was produced by people at their, by their own means, at their own homes. And what that meant is that our entire food supply was now horribly affected. And so our way of life in New Mexico predisposed us for a terrible outcome. And when I say that they didn't warn us before or afterwards, they truly have never returned to do any sort of study about the environmental impact or an epidemiological study that studies the people and what happened to them. And we had over 13,000 people living in a 50-mile radius to Trinity. They've always said it was remote and uninhabited. No one lived here, no one was harmed. But the truth is they just didn't see us. They didn't care about us. They didn't warn us. They never have returned. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

It just makes me think were they just considering everyone just casualties of war? You know, was it okay? Well, they're expendable.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

That's a great description. When you hear what I just said, that's a great description. I have regularly said we became the collateral damage to that first nuclear device detonated any place in the world. The first victims of an atomic bomb were the residents of New Mexico, and there were they were children. Our babies died in record numbers that summer. And we've documented that. We went from losing something like 30 babies per thousand in New Mexico to over 100 babies per thousand that summer. And the babies died exactly the way you would think that they would die if they were overexposed to radiation. You know, there were stillbirth, they were born with tremendous congenital malformations, which we had not seen before. Or hardly, if they were born and they managed to live through those first few months, they landed up developing like a dysentery-like syndrome. Their gastrointestinal tracts would not function properly. They died from having uh what's been described as summer diarrhea. And so, you know, nobody's ever returned to atone for that, to acknowledge the horrendous nature of babies dying. American children died. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

And it's not like this just ended there. This spans 7,000 generations, I read in some of the material you gave me. So this isn't this is something that's we're still continuing to see or feel the outcome from.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Absolutely. And we carry the genetics for this now. There are genetic mutations that take place, that's how tumors grow. And so our genetic material has been affected. And we pass that genetic footprint on. And somebody said the other day to me, the gift that just keeps on giving. And I said, you know, it's it's horrendous because that's exactly the nature of this. And that's why we're seeing four and five generations now of people with cancer since 1945. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

And so was there a specific moment that you realized that this fight was going to become your life's work? Because you've been doing this a number of years.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yeah, I started doing this work 21 years ago. You know, when we started, I thought I understood this issue. But as time went on and I became more informed, and I heard one terrible story after another told to me by people from all over the state. I mean, I tell people I've traveled from Farmington to Roswell, from Silver City to Espaniola, and to every place in between. And when I heard people's stories, their histories, their family histories, it became very clear to me that this isn't something I could walk away from. And I knew at some point this is my life's work. And I, you know, people regularly ask me, did you ever feel like giving up? Did you ever think it was too much? And in all honesty, I never felt like giving up. Every time somebody told me this isn't gonna happen, uh, it's just not gonna happen. I I actually, at the end of 2024, when the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act completely sunset without Congress doing anything, and we had passed the bill in the US Senate, but we couldn't get a vote scheduled in the House. When that happened, I actually had an aunt call me and she said, You've got to stop. You have got to stop, you've got to give this up. You've given almost your entire life to this. It's taken you away from your business, your family. You don't live a normal life. You concentrate on this so much. And I just told her, Don't call me to tell me something like this. Don't ever think that for a moment I have thought about giving up because every time they say no to me, I think, well, we'll see. We'll see. I became more dedicated to it. And I think it was because I also had met people from all over New Mexico who had suffered so much, and I had given them my word that I would continue to fight for them and for their families. I could never go back on that.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Yeah, yeah. So more than 50,000 people have received compensation through 9-11, through the 9-11 fund. But meanwhile, New Mexicans that have been exposed after the Trinity stite, they're still trying to quantify the damage nearly 80 years later. And so, what does it say about federal responsibility when 9-11 tragedy is meticulously tracked, but then this another is just it's left largely undocumented, like you said. There's been no return to you know quantify things, there's no study going on. What does that say about federal responsibility, in your opinion?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Well, obviously, the government has taken no responsibility, and it's really interesting that you draw this comparison because many people have along the way made this comparison. One of the things I've said in response is yeah, the really terrible thing about it is that it was other people, not our government, that was responsible for 9-11. And our government's been willing to take responsibility for that. And our government did this to us, and they're unwilling to take responsibility. And it's also really amazing that you mention 50,000 people in the 9-11 fund, because recently the Department of Justice, who administers the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, has released information saying that they believe there could be as many as 50,000 claimants in New Mexico, the same number. Unbelievable. 50,000 claimants receiving$100,000 each is five billion dollars. And let me tell you something else. That's a lot of people when you take a look at the qualification. The qualification says you had to have lived here for one year between 1944 and 1962, which is not a very long time. And not only that, but our state did not have two million people living here during that time frame. Number one. Number two, they only compensate for 19 cancers. So things like prostate cancer, kidney cancer, uterine cancer, skin cancer, bone cancer, all left out. So when you take a look at that narrow qualification, that's a lot of people. 50,000 people is quite a large number. And uh, we're not done yet. We want to add those cancers that I just mentioned. We don't understand how they could decide to cover some cancers and not other cancers that we know are radiogenic. So there's that. And then they end the compensation in 1962 as though exposure to an atomic bomb is a static process. 1962 is when they detonated the last device at Nevada, and we were New Mexico was downwind of those detonations, and they know that because by then, when they started testing in Nevada, we had monitoring stations in New Mexico, and those monitoring stations show, and that's data that's collected and available, that we got fallout from Nevada consistently from the time they started testing there through 1962. And so I always tell everybody, okay, so they detonated the last above ground device in Nevada in 1962, but that was just the beginning of the radioactive exposure to isotopes that are harmed. So we our fight is not over. They stripped out the healthcare coverage that we felt was vital for the people of New Mexico because so many people live in rural areas and they have to travel for treatment. And we said, we need healthcare coverage for them. We're always in fundraising mode. I go back to Tula Rosa from time to time, and I'm always so disappointed to see that they're having another car wash or a bake sale or a raffle to raise the money to get a young child just to a cancer treatment center like MD Anderson because there's no treatment for them in New Mexico. And it's just outrageous. It's outrageous.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah, we already struggle in those areas in terms of health care. And then to be dealing with something of this magnitude, that's just another large blow. Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

And you know, I tell people a lot these days, we know the obvious physiological consequences. It's cancer, it's illness, it's death. But what we never talk about are the psychological, emotional, or financial consequences. But we do know because the statistics were released in 2024, New Mexico, the 2 million people that live in New Mexico, approximately 2 million people, are carrying$841 million in medical debt, almost a billion dollars in medical debt. And medical debt is the primary reason people file bankruptcy. When you don't have the resources you need, it leads to all sorts of social problems. I've heard everything. You know, divorce goes up, the the abuse of drugs and alcohol goes up, domestic violence, all of these things are tied to the desperation that people feel when they don't have resources to take care of their health. Absolutely. We've seen it all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

So long-term advocacy like this has got to be exhausting. And then you mentioned that your aunt had one time told you just hang it up, be done. But I guess what have been your lowest moments in this fight? Because you have had some small victories, although not nearly enough, or not what you guys need. But what's been the lowest moment in this fight and what helps keep you going? Is it those interactions with those families, or is it your own personal story?

SPEAKER_01 17:57

You know, I think the lowest moments have been the moments in my own family. This week will be 13 years since my dad passed away. It was horrendous what I saw my dad go through. And his only risk factor for the cancers that he got were that he was a four-year-old child living a really organic lifestyle in Tularosa, drinking water out of the cistern, eating every fruit and vegetable known to man that grows there because we have amazing soil and a wonderful ditch system that provides water for growing everything under the sun, and drinking mass quantities of fresh cow's milk. My dad developed cancer at the base of his tongue with no risk factors except that. And he suffered for eight years only to pass away, and it was terrible what I saw my dad go through. I had already been diagnosed with cancer before my dad got sick, and I was very, very, very blessed because I went through the surgery to have my thyroid removed. I went through the radioactive iodine treatments. I never really had any kind of complications. So I was very blessed. But now I have a younger brother who was diagnosed with kidney cancer. And before he was diagnosed, his daughter was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She was 23. Oh my gosh. These have been the lowest points for me. There's I have um three siblings. I have one sister, she's had cancer. I have two brothers, one of them has not been diagnosed with anything. My dad died from cancer, my mom's being followed for a parotid tumor that so far has not become cancerous. But it's almost 100% of my immediate family to say nothing about all the aunts and uncles and cousins. In 2025, I had two cousins diagnosed with cancer, and within months they were gone. And I have a good friend that was diagnosed in December. She was a breast cancer survivor, and she passed away in February. It just is horrendous. And those have been the lowest moments. Knowing people that won't be compensated, knowing people that passed before they could see any kind of acknowledgement, those things have been the lowest points for me, the personal lows. We have celebrated every time that there's been an accomplishment because it was 15 years. We had bills introduced in Congress for 15 years before they ever voted once on a bill. You know, we traveled to DC, I don't know how many times, to lobby and tell our horrendous stories. And it was almost as though it just fell on deaf ears. So to have any kind of success, especially when people didn't think it was possible, has been a big accomplishment and something for us to celebrate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

And you've had at this point some bipartisan support, it sounds like, which is very much what it deserves, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

This is what it deserves. Absolutely, Heather. And think about it. I mean, this isn't a partisan issue. Exposure to radiation and the development of disease affects the young, the old, the black, the white, the male, the female, the Democrat, and the Republican alike. Nobody should ever look at this as though it's a partisan issue. It is not. Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Absolutely. So for women that are listening or facing injustice in their own lives, what does fighting back look like in a way that's sustainable? Because this has to take a toll long term. And what does that look like to make it sustainable? What what advice would you give?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Well, first of all, you know, when you're facing some sort of obstacle, adversity, or you realize that there's something you should stand up about, somebody has to start. You know, it has to start someplace. And I remember Oh gosh, probably at least 15 years ago, I had somebody tell me, you realize this is a movement, don't you? And I said, I actually hadn't thought of it that way. And he said, Tina, this is an absolute movement that you started. And it's gaining momentum and it gains traction. And with every movement, there's a tipping point. And so I think that number one, you have to, if you ever decide to take on an issue, you have to have number one, the dedication to do it, and you have to make a conscious decision that this is something you're going to dedicate time and effort to. I'm not saying that you shouldn't aside from doing the work, but do the things also that keep you of sound mind. Sure. Some days, you know, I know I would go on walks and I would just be turning things over in my head constantly. And, you know, I often say I've never been fully present since I started doing this work for my family or my business or anything other than this, because I'm thinking about it all the time. And I'm always thinking about a strategy or who to reach out to next or whatever we're facing, exactly how to tackle it. And so you do have to take care of yourself physically, emotionally, because there are lots of ups and downs. There's nothing wrong with taking a break. One of the things I love doing more than anything else is fishing. And so for me, getting away with my family for a weekend or a few days and going fishing, camping, hiking, whatever, doing the things that I love doing is how I restored myself in between these long stretches of hard, hard work.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Yeah. Yeah, I love being outdoors. I can see that. Yeah.

unknown 23:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

What other things as we wrap up would you like listeners to know? Or how can they help? I know I'm going to provide links to uh the various resources, like the websites, uh, place to make donations to your to this cause. And what are some other ways or things that you want our listeners to know?

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Well, I want them to know that I often refer to us as a ragtag group of community organizers because that's who we are. We're all volunteers, but we've done amazing things. We have a permanent art collection, and as an example, we have an art exhibit coming up April 10th at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Part of our permanent art will be on display, but there's 35 artists participating, over 60 pieces of art. It'll be on display for about a year. We also have this amazing documentary produced about our work. It's called First We Bombed New Mexico. And people can go to their website, first we bombed new Mexico.com. You can see the trailer. We're trying to get a streamer to actually pick up the documentary so that the whole world could see it. It would be timely right now because we're on this nuclear precipice with all sorts of crazy things going on in our world. And we no longer have any treaties in place that limit what happens with nuclear arms and so testing and development. And so we want people to know that there's real life consequences to all those things. We also have a person inside of our steering committee who works with farmers up and down the Rio Grande, and they have collected and distributed over 60,000 pounds of fresh produce to uh food pantries all over New Mexico, but especially in those communities adjacent to the Trinity site, communities like Carazozo, Tularosa, Alamogordo, La Luz, Cloudcroft, Mescalero. So we're really proud of all the work that we've done. And we want people to join with us. They'll come a day. Right now, we've received all we're going to receive through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. But I would say within the next uh 18 months, we're going to start lobbying again to get more cancers added, to get the health care added back in, to get communities that aren't covered, covered. Because when when they passed the law in 2025, they only added Utah, the remainder of Utah, New Mexico, Idaho. And we've got parts of Arizona that are not included, parts of Nevada that aren't included, Guam, El Paso. El Paso is in the 150 mile radius of Trinity. So we have work. And if people join with us and go to our website, they can see how to join with us and they can become, you know, supporters of ours. And so those are the things that I would say there's going to be a screening of the documentary for the community that coincides with the art exhibit. So people can go to the National Hispanic Cultural Center website and they can learn more about both the art exhibit opening and then the free community screening of the documentary. All of these things are things we work on actively. And you know, the documentary has won awards at film festivals from one coast to the other. We're very proud of the documentary. We want everybody to see it. So those are the things.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

I saw the trailer, and it's it's a powerful trailer. I want to see the documentary. Yeah. Well, Tina, thank you for everything that you've provided here. Such a critical piece of history that's still affecting many, many people, many New Mexicans today. I do admire your tenacity. The fact that you've taken this up and it's it shows you're you're very passionate about it. And I do wish you the best of luck and uh commend you for what you've accomplished so far because New Mexico's often kind of you know brushed off in many ways. So I'm I'm glad it's getting some recognition, but it does need more.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Well, I appreciate that, and I so appreciate the uh the opportunity to have this conversation with you. And I just want to say one last thing. Sure. You know, for anybody who believes they may qualify for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, please get in touch with us. We'll assist you. We have volunteers that have taken the training all across New Mexico. We're here to assist people file their claims. We want to lay our hands on every dime of that five billion dollars. Please reach out to us, go to our website, which is Trinity Downwinders.com. Not to be confused with just downwinders.com. There are some bad actors that have come here who are scamming people with their claim. Yeah, so can you just imagine? But yes, when there's this much money, the potential for this much money, a lot of bad actors have come out. But Trinity Downwinders.com and we'll assist you in getting a claim filed. And you can not only file on your own behalf, you can file on behalf of a deceased loved one if they meet the criteria. So a lot of people are filing on behalf of their parents, their grandparents, their children, and we're here to help with that process. Great.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Thank you for that information. Thank you. Appreciate your time. You know, she fights.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Thanks for joining us on She Fights, where women's voices rise and strength takes center stage. If today's story moved you, share it. Someone out there might need to hear it. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and follow us on social media at Smart Girl Self-Defense. And if you're interested in powerful stories of women in sport, not only the pioneers who shaped history, but the women competing, coaching, and changing the game today, we invite you to listen to Unstoppable Podcast. Unstoppable blends immersive storytelling and thoughtful interviews, exploring the moments, movements, and people who continue to redefine what's possible for women in sport. You can find Unstoppable Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next time, keep fighting, keep rising, and never forget the power of your voice.