Abstract
The Human Radiation Experiments Records (1949-1995) contain reports from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE), and the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). Also included are newspaper clippings, a court case brought by the National Association of Radiation Survivors (NARS), and cancer research papers. With the goal of building an atomic bomb using plutonium extracted from uranium, the material also examines the outcomes of radiation exposure done on humans during the late 1940s and early 1950s at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Facility in Tennessee.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
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Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The Human Radiation Experiments Records (1949-1995) contain reports from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE), and the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). Also included are newspaper clippings, a court case brought by the National Association of Radiation Survivors (NARS), and cancer research papers. With the goal of building an atomic bomb using plutonium extracted from uranium, the material also examines the outcomes of radiation exposure done on humans during the late 1940s and early 1950s at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Facility in Tennessee.
Access Note
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
The material is arranged in rough chronological order.
Biographical / Historical Note
The Clinton Engineering Works, located at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee, was purchased by the Government in 1943 and renamed the Oak Ridge Nuclear Facility. It was chosen by the United States because of its remote location on 60,000 acres of farmland. It became one of three "secret cities" for the purpose of producing an atomic bomb and testing the effects on the human body of exposure to the radiation being used. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory was established in 1948 and codenamed X-10. The laboratory was where plutonium was extracted from uranium for use in the atomic bombs.
The Oak Ridge Facility was opened to the public in 1949. The original buildings are no longer in use today, but still restricted from public access. The Museum of Science and Energy, which is the main visitor attraction, is located in the area and traces the history of the nuclear bomb.
Preferred Citation
Human Radiation Experiments Records, 1949-1995. MS-00776. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Accession number: 1994-05.
Processing Note
In 2018, as part of a backlog elimination project, Joyce Moore rehoused and arranged the materials, wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.