Nuclear Weapons
The sordid history of Trinity’s uranium fuel
In addition to the impact the first atomic explosion, Trinity, had on communities near where the bomb was detonated, it also had impact on the uranium mining communities where its fuel came from, including the Congo in Africa. Two-thirds of the uranium for Trinity came from a 24-story deep mine in Katanga, called Shinkolobwe. The…
Read MoreUranium Film Festival returns to the US in 2024
The International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) plans to return to the United States in early spring of 2024 for an extended tour across the country. At each stop, it will show a selection of movies and documentaries curated for that area of the country about the use of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the…
Read MoreNuclear Fallout: The vets who went back
The people of the Marshall Islands suffered significant harm from explosions and fallout from the 67 atomic tests carried out there by the US during the Cold War. So did the US military personnel who witnessed the tests. But what of US soldiers who were sent back to “clean up” the radioactive contamination left behind?…
Read MoreLow-dose radiation risk underestimated
New research tracking the deaths of workers in the nuclear industry indicates that risk for cancer death from protracted exposure to external, low-dose radiation has been underestimated. Some of the evidence even indicates a steeper slope for the dose-response association in the low dose range than over the full dose range. Up to now, the…
Read MoreWeaponizing uranium: Join the webinar
Inspired by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War’s (IPPNW) Mombasa World Congress, please join the US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility, on Wednesday, August 23rd to discuss the legacy of uranium and the ways it has been weaponized to cause disproportionate and irreparable harm to Black, brown and Indigenous communities around the world.…
Read MoreLeading Russians condemn threats to use nukes in Ukraine
Members of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, recently condemned threats to use tactical nuclear weapons on the battleground in Ukraine. Their unprecedented declaration reads: “Recently, there have been statements (some of them made by members of the SWAP) which promote, albeit with many reservations, the idea of a preventive nuclear strike by Russia…
Read MoreInherited damage from France’s nuclear tests in Polynesia?
For 30 years, France undertook nuclear testing in its Pacific territory, French Polynesia. There were a total of 193 nuclear tests, including 41 atmospheric, that ended in 1996. These tests exposed the local population. Recent reporting by Al Jazeera focuses on the health impacts. Investigations by one of the same researchers who just released a…
Read MoreThe global Hibakusha
On this week’s Nuclear Hotseat, Part 2 of the interview with Prof. Robert “Bo” Jacobs. He is an American historian of nuclear technologies and radiation techno-politics. Bo moved to Japan in 2006 after being hired by the Hiroshima Peace Institute and is currently a professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and the Graduate School of…
Read MoreACT NOW for Downwinders!
While other victims of atomic testing have been compensated, the Trinity Downwinders have not. Now that the U.S. Senate has passed a historic expansion and extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), meant to compensate Trinity Downwinders and others, we need to ask the U.S. House to do the same. As passed in the…
Read MorePartial uranium mine ban in Grand Canyon area
President Biden will today create a national monument of nearly 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon. This designation will protect lands important to nearby Native Americans from new uranium mining — a major reason they want the designation. New mining claims will not be allowed, but “valid existing rights” will be maintained, which could…
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