The threat of resuming nuclear testing
For the last year, UPHE fought for and encouraged the expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). Expansion is needed, and deserved, because of the massive public health fallout after years of nuclear testing, and Northern Utah victims had been denied compensation.
Nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950’s and 60’s created “Downwinders,” including Utahns, who eventually developed cancer and other diseases from exposure through inhalation or food contamination.
Dr. Moench wrote in a previous op-ed memories of his father ensuring his children wore rubber boots after the rain, and reducing their milk intakes because radioactive Strontium 90 would settle on cow pastures.
Now, President Trump is threatening to resume nuclear testing. The last time the US tested a nuclear weapon was in Nevada in 1992. “If deemed necessary, the site could be authorised again for nuclear weapons testing,” according to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.
Public health experts warn that if people are exposed to radioactive byproducts of a nuclear test, they are at risk of illness in the short term and an increased likelihood of cancer even decades later. UPHE joins in this warning and will fight against resumption of any nuclear testing in the United States that produces more radioactive contamination of our environment. There is no such thing as a safe amount of radiation exposure. Even medical x-rays carry a small risk, and the more exposure the greater the risk.
A 2019 study found “evidence of long-lasting radioactive contamination of the land, air and water across the planet, with hotspots of contamination at major test sites.”
Even a non-nuclear explosion was considered by Utah leaders to be an unacceptable risk. In 2007, Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. joined thousands of Utahns in opposing the proposed “Divine Strake” test planned for the Nevada Test Site. Many feared it could stir up lingering radioactive dust from past nuclear tests. Thanks to overwhelming public outcry, the Pentagon canceled the plan, with Huntsman calling it “a reflection of democracy at work.”
Underground testing still results in decay products and radioactive debris that can reach the atmosphere.