Abstract
The William Geagley Collection on Nuclear Safety contains government publications, memoranda, and pamphlets about counteracting nuclear contamination of food supplies from 1951 to 1960. The materials primarily document Geagley’s oversight of the development of food safety contingency plans for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The materials also contain information relating to the Nevada Test Site’s plans for Operation Plumbbob, atmospheric and underground nuclear tests held in 1957 in Nevada.
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Scope and Contents Note
The William Geagley Collection on Nuclear Safety contains government publications, memoranda, and pamphlets about counteracting nuclear contamination of food supplies from 1951 to 1960. The materials primarily document Geagley’s oversight of the development of food safety contingency plans for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The materials also contain information relating to the Nevada Test Site’s plans for Operation Plumbbob, atmospheric and underground nuclear tests held in 1957 in Nevada.
Access Note
The 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 website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Materials are arranged alphabetically.
Biographical / Historical Note
William Geagley was the chief chemist of the Michigan State Department of Agriculture from the 1930s to the 1970s. During his tenure, he oversaw the development of plans to counteract food contaminated with nuclear radiation. The Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development's William C. Geagley Laboratory was named in his honor, and it oversees pesticide and food safety.
Source:
"Regulatory Services," Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development. Accessed December 22, 2015. http://www.michigan.gov/mdard/0,4610,7-125-1568_2389-7795--,00.html
The Nevada Test Site (NTS) located in Nye County, 65 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada, hosted 928 atmospheric and underground nuclear tests between 1951 and 1992. When the test site was first established, it was managed by the Atomic Energy Commission, but the U.S. Department of Energy now operates the site.
President Harry S. Truman authorized use of the NTS for nuclear testing in 1951 because the NTS had favorable weather and was more accessible than previous testing sites, including Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Although the NTS was close to Las Vegas and other communities in Nevada, and atmospheric tests could be seen from Las Vegas, the military largely dismissed the possible health hazards that nuclear radiation posed to Nevada residents. Tests conducted by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in the early 1960s, medical reports in the 1970s, and subsequent lawsuits showed that radiation did in fact affect many residents in Nevada and neighboring states.
In 1957, the Nevada Test Site conducted a series of tests on the Yucca Flat under the name Operation Plumbbob. The Hood test on July 5 was the largest atmospheric test ever held in the United States. Other tests included the John test, which experimented with nuclear-tipped rockets, and the Priscilla test, which exposed animals to nuclear radiation to observe its effects.
In 1963, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom agreed to the Partial Test Ban Treaty, which prevented further atmospheric tests; consequently, the last atmospheric test at the NTS was held in 1962. The last underground test happened three decades later in 1992. In October of 1992, a moratorium temporarily ended all testing. In 1993, 108 countries agreed to the Test Ban Treaty, and though the U.S. did not agree, it has honored the articles by ceasing nuclear tests.
Sources:
Moore, Alan. "Nevada Test Site Overview." Online Nevada Encyclopedia. March 18, 2010. http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/nevada-test-site-overview
Moore, Alan. "Yucca Flat." Online Nevada Encyclopedia. July 8, 2008. http://www.onlinenevada.net/articles/yucca-flat
Palevsky, Mary. "Underground Nuclear Testing at the Nevada Test Site." Online Nevada Encyclopedia. March 16, 2009. http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/underground-nuclear-testing-nevada-test-site
Palevsky, Mary. "Atmospheric Nuclear Testing at the Nevada Test Site." Online Nevada Encyclopedia. March 16, 2009. http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/atmospheric-nuclear-testing-nevada-test-site
Preferred Citation
William Geagley Collection on Nuclear Safety, 1951-1960. MS-00792. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 2015 by Aaron Sheehan-Dean; accession number 2015-110.
Processing Note
Materials were processed by Lindsay Oden in 2015. In 2018, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Sarah Jones revised the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards.