I was cruising around looking at different posts and this piqued my interest. There are probably quite a few more similar incidents however this film is pretty good about showing the nonchalance of the time period with using humans as guinea pigs or rats. The original thesis on radiation damage to the body was based on single exposures which turned out to be a much higher tolerance than multiple exposures for people working consistently with radiation.

There were a series of tests done in the 1950's by GE at the Hanford, WA site of releasing huge clouds of radiation to see what would be the effects. I read that they actually released more radiation during those tests than what was released at the Chernobyl meltdown and explosion. I happened to be living downwind from those at the time, though it seems that I was a bit north of where there is a higher incidence of cancers which is around the Walla Walla, WA area.

There's a fair amount of testimony regarding carelessness of the Hanford operation which is still on going to this day about which you might like to do an article. Also there are a lot of complaints about cancers from downwinders of the Nevada tests that could be another follow through.