Three men in suits, two of them with military adornments, pose before a diorama of a mushroom cloud and ships at sea in a black-and-white photo

After Atomic Test Blunder, Government Authorized Study of Radiation in Humans

Our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point,” details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exercises and medical experiments early in the Cold War.

In part 2, we examine public records that prove that exposing humans to radiation was part of the known cost of the lab’s research program, a toll accepted by top military and civilian brass at every level of the chain of command, from Washington down to the docks.