Sherrie Hanna is looking for justice, and the clock is ticking.
The problem she's taking on is a big one - so large, in fact, that there's no definitive answer on the number of people impacted.
Starting on July 16, 1945, the United States tested nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons on its own soil. At first, the danger of nuclear radiation was so unknown to the general public that there were cases in which parents brought their young children to view the infamous mushroom clouds. They were unaware they might be handing their children a death sentence.
In the worst cases, the U.S. government blatantly lied to its own citizens about the risks of radiation exposure, scientists and advocates for those exposed say.
Testing took place in New Mexico and Nevada, two states bordering Arizona, and the Copper State itself also became home to much of America's uranium mining starting in 1918.
The decision to test weapons of mass destruction on American soil had consequences that stretched generations into the future, as countless Americans suffered the effects years and decades down the line. Cancer, in particular, afflicted those downwind from the testing — now known as 'Downwinders.'
For Hanna, the problem is personal and persistent.
She lost her father, Kenneth L. Wayman, in 1983 from esophageal cancer. He passed one year after diagnosis.
Thirty years later exactly, Hanna's husband John Hanna died after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Both men had spent nearly their entire lives in Northern Arizona, primarily Winslow, Flagstaff and Prescott.
"They knew that there were dangers associated with this," Hanna says of the U.S. government. "It's hard enough when you lose your dad or you lose your husband, but to know that they possibly were infected with this cancer because of something the government took part in and authorized? It's very distressing."
On October 5, 1990, the United States established the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, to partially compensate victims of radiation exposure for their rising medical bills. RECA is set to expire in early June, and Hanna and others are advocating for an extension to be granted before that deadline rolls around. But unlike previous extensions, Downwinders and other victims want more than the bare minimum.
In most cases, the compensation doled out by the government isn't enough to pay for the treatment of aggressive cancers. Downwinders are compensated $50,000, while uranium workers are compensated $100,000.
"It's not enough to just extend the program as it is, because it has these really major flaws, and you know, these communities in some cases have been fighting for coverage for, you know, up to 80 years," explained Lilly Adams, outreach consultant for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The deaths of Hanna's loved ones don't even scratch the surface of the problem. She's made it her mission to fight for Downwinders, bringing them justice and compensation.
Under RECA as it stands now, Arizona has the most claims of any state in the country, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. That's while only half of the state's counties - in the north - are even eligible for the program. Hanna, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and others are pushing Congress to expand the program to the entire state, and to increase payment amounts.
"This is so critical, it would be just unconscionable... if Congress cannot come together," Hanna said.
The largest pushback of the extension and expansion has been the price tag, as it could cost the government $8 to 10 billion per year, Adams said.
Still, that's just a fraction of the $50 billion the U.S. already spends annually just to maintain its existing nuclear weapons.
"The government telling you, 'Well, this is a sacrifice we make to protect our country.' No, that's what the military does. The military volunteers to sign up to do that. That is different," Hanna said. "But when you expose your own citizenry at the cost of their lives and not telling them that this is something that could happen to them, that could be the aftereffect of what they've done? That is wrong."
The RECA expansion, authored by Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (MO) and Democratic U.S. Sen. Ray Lujan (NM), has already passed the Senate. It received bipartisan support, though some Republicans balked at the estimated cost.
The U.S. House has less than a month of working days left to approve the bill before RECA expires. Speaker Mike Johnson has publicly supported its passage, and President Joe Biden has indicated he would sign an expansion should it make it to his desk.
