Nuclear tests leave a scar in the Pacific

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

President Donald Trump’s recent call for the resumption of nuclear tests struck a chord with the Pacific island nations, which are still reeling from the impact of nuclear tests conducted between 1940s and 1970s. Those tests left long-term contamination, health problems, displacement of populations, and unresolved disputes over compensation and accountability. 

The specter of the nuclear tests never stops haunting the Marshall Islands, a country of 1,200 islands and atolls, where the U.S. exploded 67 nuclear bombs there between 1946 and 1958.

During the 80th United Nations General Assembly meeting in September, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine called on the United Nations to apologize for its role in allowing nuclear tests at the Marshall Islands after World War II, despite the opposition of its people.

   “We can’t undo the past. But as a United Nations, we owe it to ourselves to make amends through the adoption of a resolution that formally apologizes for the failure to heed the petition of the Marshallese people," she said on Sept. 24 at the 80th session of the UNGA. "By doing so, all of us will begin the process of healing and to reestablish faith and trust in this institution."

Heine said the difficult lessons of the Marshall Islands’ past and its ruinous experience with nuclear testing should help drive international efforts to curb and end nuclear threats. “Rising global tension has only heightened nuclear risk,” she said.

 It is unclear whether Trump wanted to return to explosive nuclear testing, but his Oct. 30 post on Truth Socials raised a red flag.

“The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons,

during my first term in office,” the president wrote. “Because of the tremendous destructive power, I hated to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years.”

Trump said he has instructed the Department of War “to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

Paul Aversa, program assistant for Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending, said the president’s plan is a dangerous step backward.

 “Any return to nuclear explosive testing would not enhance our security—it would undermine it. Russia has already threatened that it would respond to any U.S. nuclear testing in kind," Aversa wrote.

"It could also prompt other nations to resume testing, escalating global tensions and increasing the risk of a new arms race,” Aversa said in an article published on the Friends Committee on National Legislation website.

Runit Island is the site of a radioactive waste repository left by the United States after it conducted a series of nuclear tests on Enewetak Atoll between 1946 and 1958.

The Pacific islands are still reeling from the impact of a series of nuclear tests in the region.

Between 1946 and 1996, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France used the Pacific Ocean as a laboratory for their nuclear weapons programs, respectively, detonating over 300 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.

The consequences were catastrophic and are still felt today, resulting in

numerous health issues in Pacific communities such as high rates of cancers, leukemia, birth defects, mental illnesses and fertility issues.

Key locations of testing:

●    The Marshall Islands: Bikini and Enewetak Atolls were the site of 67 major US nuclear tests. The most famous was the "Castle Bravo" test in 1954, a hydrogen bomb 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb

. Its radioactive fallout blanketed inhabited atolls, causing immediate sickness and long-term health crises.

●    Mā'ohi Nui (French-Occupied Polynesia): Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls

 were the site of 193 French nuclear tests. The French government long denied the health and environmental impacts, but evidence now shows widespread contamination and elevated rates of cancer among the local population.

●    Kiribati: The United Kingdom conducted several tests on Christmas island, 

and the United States used it for a series of high-altitude detonations as part of Operation Dominic.

●    Hawaiian Islands: The United States used Johnston Atoll as a nuclear testing site from 1958 to 1975.

●    Australia: The British tested nuclear weapons in the Montebello Islands, 

Emu Field and Maralinga from 1952-1963.

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