Native America Calling: Paying the price for 80 years of nuclear development

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Native America Calling: Paying the price for 80 years of nuclear development

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

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Native people paying the price for 80 years of nuclear development

The summer of 1945 saw three nuclear explosions that ushered in a new era of experimentation, development — and fear when it comes to the potential for such a powerful weapon.

Native people are among those suffering the most from the consequences of that path. The first test of the atomic bomb at the Trinity site in New Mexico, and the subsequent use of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, signaled the U.S. Government’s new push to develop nuclear weapons, fueled by millions of tons of uranium ore mined near Native land in New Mexico and Arizona.

And ongoing nuclear tests exposed thousands of Native people in the Southwest and in Alaska to dangerous levels of radiation. Tune in to explore the ongoing effects on Native people of nuclear weapons and power development.

The Trinity Site in southern New Mexico was the location of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. Photo: Jack W. Aeby / U.S. Department of Energy

Guests on Native America Calling

Marissa Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo), deputy director of Sovereign Energy and board member for Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE), both based in New Mexico

Loretta Anderson (Laguna Pueblo), co-founder of the Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition Post-71, representing people who worked in the uranium industry

Tina Cordova, co-founder and executive director of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium in New Mexico