This story was compiled from dozens of interviews with some of those forced to give up their homes in the early 1959s when the Savannah River Site was built, present and former workers at the bomb plant, scientists, environmentalists, lawyers and government officials. Information also was gleaned from government documents, Congressional testimony, newspaper articles, and scientific and medical studies. Additional detail came from histories written about the plant and recordings of recollections of workers, engineers and scientists. The newspaper also relied on Louise Cassels’ book “The Unexpected Exodus,” detailing her memory of what it was like for her and some other residents in the South Carolina town of Ellenton who were forced by the government to abandon their homes to make room for construction of the Savannah River Plant.

The casualties

Nationwide, more than 114,000 workers from the government's nuclear weapons facilities have filed claims and more than $13.5 billion in compensation and medical bills have been paid out under Labor Department's Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program adopted in 2000.

At the Savannah River Site more than 10,000 workers have filed claims under the program and more than $1 billion has been paid out.

About half of all the cases are denied because demonstrating a link between illness or death and exposure to hazards at the nuclear weapons facilities remains a daunting task in what was a secret environment where workers couldn’t even tell their spouses what they did.