After 63 Years, New Mexico Downwinders Qualify for Federal Compensation
After years of advocacy by survivors and their families, the RECA law extends to all of New Mexico
My aunt was six years old in the summer of 1962, playing outside with my mom and her siblings in Albuquerque like most kids did, while above her radioactive clouds drifted eastward from Nevada’s nuclear test site.
She didn’t know it then. Neither did her parents, nor the thousands of other New Mexicans living downwind of atmospheric nuclear tests conducted between 1945 and 1962. Now, for the first time, many of the downwinders qualify for compensation.
On July 4, 2025, after years of advocacy by survivors and their families, Congress passed into law provisions to extend and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), finally including the entire state of New Mexico.
Seven people in my immediate family qualify: great-grandparents, grandparents, great aunts, aunts, and cousins, all with cancers on the RECA eligibility list.
The Department of Justice, which administers the program, is developing a digital filing portal slated to open in December 2025. As of January 2026, the portal has not yet launched.
Here’s what New Mexicans need to know.
Between 1945 and 1962, the United States conducted over 100 atmospheric nuclear tests.
The first was Trinity, detonated in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945. The pace of testing accelerated dramatically in 1962, with most tests concentrated in June and July before the Limited Test Ban Treaty banned atmospheric tests in 1963.
These weren’t small explosions. Approximately 12 billion curies of radiation were released during 100 atmospheric nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1963, according to PBS.
Tests released radioactive iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90, and other isotopes, such as carbon-14 and plutonium-239, into the atmosphere and across multiple states—emitting ionizing radiation in the form of gamma rays and beta and alpha particles.
According to historians and government records, no public warnings were issued to the people living downwind. Nobody told them to stay inside, to avoid milk from local cows, or to wash the dust off their skin.
A 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report concluded that exposure rates from the Trinity test were measured at levels 10,000 times higher than currently allowed.
Five days after the Trinity test, Stafford Warren, who was responsible for radiation safety during the Manhattan Project, told General Leslie Groves that the nuclear fallout represented “a very serious hazard” over a 2,700-square-mile area downwind of the Trinity site, according to documents cited by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Despite Warren’s warning, they didn’t tell the public.
For decades, people living downwind of these tests weren’t acknowledged. The original RECA, passed in 1990, covered some counties in Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. But not New Mexico. Not the place where it all started, where the very first atomic bomb was tested.
Tina Cordova, who co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium in 2005, told History.com in 2025 that the 1990 act “is an admission on the part of our government of the harm that they did to other downwinders. The question was always: why not us?”
Tularosa Basin
Dan Nowell, 57, grew up on his family's farm in Tularosa, which was homesteaded in 1903. Now in remission from colon cancer, he joins multiple family members—including those who suffered from breast cancer, prostate cancer, and leukemia.
Referring to Tularosa, which sits 64 miles away from the original Trinity site, Nowell says, "It's still a little bit hot.”
Nowell, who now manages the weaving school in Cloudcroft, is still navigating the complex RECA application process for his father —"I think they do that on purpose,” he says—and hopes the compensation will help ease his retired father's later years after exposure and a “lifetime of farming on contaminated land.”
Nowell says, "New Mexico is the last one they actually admit that it's downwinder state. So yeah, hound them.”
Who qualifies as a downwinder?
You must meet two requirements:
1. You lived in an affected area during specific time periods. For New Mexico residents, that means you were physically present in the state for at least one year between September 24, 1944, and November 6, 1962.
There’s also a critical window: if you were in any affected area for the entire period from June 30, 1962, to July 31, 1962—just that one month when the heaviest testing occurred—you qualify.
2. You were later diagnosed with a specified compensable disease.
The list includes leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s disease), and cancers of the thyroid, breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gallbladder, salivary gland, urinary bladder, brain, colon, ovary, liver (except with cirrhosis or Hepatitis B), and lung.
RECA provides a one-time payment of $100,000 to qualifying downwinders.
If the person has died, their survivors can apply for equal shares.
The surviving spouse may qualify for the full amount if married at least one year before death. Parents may qualify for compensation if the affected person has no spouse, children, or parents; grandchildren may qualify only if there is no spouse, children, or parents.
How to file a claim:
The deadline is December 31, 2027.
The Justice Department’s online filing portal should be operational soon. Until then mailing documents are available here.
You don’t need a lawyer to file.
What you do need:
Proof of residence during the qualifying period (utility bills, school records, tax documents, employment records)
Medical records documenting your diagnosis
Identification as described on the claim form
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez alerted the state to scams following the extension of the RECA program. If you need help with filing, contact New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich’s office directly.
If you think you qualify:
Look at where you or your family lived between 1944 and 1962, especially during that critical summer of 1962. Look at the health problems that have appeared in your family.
Then check the eligibility requirements at heinrich.senate.gov/reca or justice.gov/civil/reca.
Talk to your relatives. Gather your documents. You have until the end of 2027.
Thank you to our sponsor, Cloudcroft Therapeutic Massage:
Promote Your Business
Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com
Cloudcroft Reader is sponsored in part by great companies like:
Noisy Water Winery
Family-owned winery crafting thoughtfully made wines from New Mexico grapes, inspired by mountain living.Be in the Mountains Yoga & Massage
A cozy space for yoga and massage therapy at the Village PlazaOsha Trail Depot
Your destination for unique, hand-crafted treasuresJohn R. Battle, CPA, CVA, MAFF, CMAA
Personal & Business Taxes, Tax Planning & ConsultingThe Stove and Spa Store
We offer a variety of services to ensure your hearth and spa dreams are met!The Lodge at Cloudcroft
Landmark Choice Among New Mexico ResortsSacramento Camp & Conference Center
Come to the Mountain — Let God Refresh Your SoulLaughing Leaf Dispensary
Discover a world of wellness at Laughing LeafInstant Karma
Adventure Within: Transformative Yoga, Ayurvedic Wisdom, Nourishing Organics, Fair Trade BoutiqueOff the Beaten Path
Eclectic gifts & original artworkFuture Real Estate
Raise your expectations.Ski Cloudcroft
The Southernmost ski hill in New MexicoCloudcroft Therapeutic Massage
Maximizing Movement, Quality of Life ImprovementHigh Altitude
Your favorite little outdoor outfitter on Burro AvenueBlushing Yucca Esthetics
✨ Book your glow-up today✨The Elk Shed
Purveyors of Southwest Mountain Goods & FineryThe PAC
Pickleball Addicts of Cloudcroft—Pickleball in the CloudsPeñasco Valley Telephone Cooperative
For all the ways you love to connectBre Hope Media
Professional photo and video services
Now, we can put the power of the Mountain Monthly newspaper to work for you.
Advertise in Mountain Monthly and Cloudcroft Reader for total market coverage.
Cloudcroft Reader serves more than 3,200 active email subscribers and more than 14,000 social media followers. With the Mountain Monthly, widely available across the village for free, circulation is higher than ever, and the Monthly informs more than 4,000 followers on Facebook.
Together, our platforms provide comprehensive market coverage: locals, seasonal residents, and visitors who want to stay informed about the Cloudcroft community.
Reach the people engaged with Cloudcroft — locals, seasonals, and visitors. Let us help you reach your best customer prospects with your compelling message. What are you waiting for?
Dan Nowell, not Powell.
I so appreciate this information!