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Baneberry Nuclear Test Trial Records (MS-00019)

Abstract

The Baneberry Nuclear Test Trial Records (1969-1989) contain documents of a federal court case regarding a 1970 Nevada Test Site nuclear test and the resultant radioactive cloud which may have exposed and subsequently injured the test site workers. The consolidated suits, William Nunamaker vs. the United States and Harley Roberts vs. the United States, came to trial January 1979, in Federal District Court, Las Vegas, U.S. District Judge Roger Foley presiding. The materials in the collection consist of court documents, such as transcripts of the trial, briefs, findings and statements, an appeal, orders, defense and plaintiff exhibits, and indices to the exhibits and witnesses as well as a glossary of terms.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1969-1989

Extent

5.72 Cubic Feet (13 boxes)
5.25 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The "Baneberry" Nuclear Test, Trial Records (1969-1989) contain documents of a federal court case regarding a 1970 Nevada Test Site nuclear test and the resultant radioactive cloud which may have exposed and subsequently injured the test site workers. The consolidated suits, William Nunamaker vs. the United States and Harley Roberts vs. the United States, came to trial January 1979, in Federal District Court, Las Vegas, U.S. District Judge Roger Foley presiding. The materials in the collection consist of court documents, such as transcripts of the trial, briefs, findings and statements, an appeal, orders, defense and plaintiff exhibits, and indices to the exhibits and witnesses as well as a glossary of terms.

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 collection is divided into four4 series based on the materials contained in each box:

Series I. Reporters Transcripts of Court Trial, 1979 January-April;

Series II. Post Trial Briefe, Findings, and Orders, 1969-1989;

Series III. Trial Exhibits, 1969-1979;

Series IV. Indices, Glossary, and Miscellaneous, 1970s.

Biographical / Historical Note

On December 18, 1970, a ten kiloton nuclear device code-named "Baneberry," was detonated underground at a depth of 912 feet at the Nevada Test Site. Three minutes later an explosion vented along a 315-foot fissure and spewed a large black radioactive cloud into the air. Wind currents carried the cloud downrange and over a worker's campsite known as Area 12, which housed 900 people. Approximately 300 men were contaminated by the cloud, among them Harley Roberts and William Nunamaker. They later developed leukemia and filed suit against the federal government in February 1972, claiming that their leukemia was caused by excessive exposure to the radioactive cloud, which in turn resulted from government negligence.

Both Nunamaker and Roberts died in 1974, but their suits were pursued by their spouses. The consolidated suits, William Nunamaker vs. the United States and Harley Roberts vs. the United States, came to trial January 1979, in Federal District Court, Las Vegas, U.S. District Judge Roger Foley presiding. Foley issued his ruling in two parts; in part one, issued June 1982, Foley found the government negligent in its evacuation and decontamination procedures. In the second part, he found that the radiation exposure from the cloud was not sufficient to have caused leukemia. Therefore the plaintiffs proved negligence but not causation. The claimants filed motions in May 1984, requesting either a new trial or reopening the old one, in order to introduce additional evidence. Foley denied the motion and the case was closed.

Preferred Citation

Baneberry Nuclear Test Trial Records, 1969-1989. MS-00019, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquisition Note

Materials were donated in 1991 by Judge Roger Foley; accession number 19.

Processing Note

Material was processed by staff in 1992. In 2016, Joyce Moore revised and enhanced the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards.

Resource Type

Records

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NvLN::MS00019

Separated Materials

Some exhibits were removed before the collection was transferred to the UNLV Libraries; consult the Index to Defense Exhibits in Folder 2, Box 13 and the Index to Plaintiffs Exhibits in Folder 3, Box 13 for this information.

A large map of the Nevada Test Site [Plaintiffs' Ex. 1] was transferred to the Special Collection's Map Collection.

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English