#nuclear tests

“When the bomb went off, it was so bright that I could see the spine and ribs of the guy sitting a metre in front of me, like an X-ray. I put my hands over my eyes and could see the bones in my fingers, and could see the blood pumping around my hands. It was 4am but the sky turned blue, like it was daytime. The blast was like the sound of a pistol, except 1,000 times louder. After the fireball, a couple of minutes later, you feel the blast and a strong gust of very hot wind – if you had no shirt on it feels like it would burn through your back – then once the fireball starts to dissipate you get the mushroom cloud.” 

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There were no long-term health studies of nuclear test veterans. Those who were there during the tests at Christmas Island were not given medical examinations when they left, and their health was not studied after they finished their service. Many servicemen – and many islanders – later reported severe health problems, which they believed where due to the radioactive fallout from nuclear bomb tests – from rare cancers to organ failure.

Some said they had fertility issues and difficulty conceiving, and many of those who did have children and grandchildren reported high incidences of birth defects, hip deformities, autoimmune diseases, skeletal abnormalities, spina bifida, scoliosis and limb abnormalities. Lax’s own health has been OK, but he does wonder about his children, who have both undergone surgery for a series of tumours, one at 14 years old.  

Lax’s nuclear veteran friend has three types of cancer, which he says the specialist attributes “100 per cent to exposure to radiation”.

Another veteran, Doug Hern, who witnessed five thermonuclear explosions, says his skeleton is “crumbling” and has skin problems and bone spurs. His daughter died aged 13 from a cancer so rare that doctors didn’t have a name for it, and he believes all of this is due to the genetic effects of radiation exposure.

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Many people have already pointed out how the Oppenheimer film glosses over the effects of nuclear testing on Indigenous communities in the United States, and it’s undeniable that more people need to know about this. More attention also needs to be paid to the Marshall Islands, where the legacy of US nuclear testing still affects the Marshallese people to this day. Most Americans don’t even know where the Marshall Islands is—let alone what the US government did there during the Cold War.

Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear weapons on the Marshall Islands, which was then a US trust territory. The tests yielded the same level of radiation as 7,000 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs, or 1.6 Hiroshima bombs every day for 12 years. The US government didn’t even evacuate some islanders from close proximity to the testing grounds. The fallout—which spread across the islands and beyond—caused deaths, miscarriages, stillbirths, radiation sickness, cancer, and many other health problems, with high cancer rates persisting to this day. Whole islands remain uninhabitable, and generations have been displaced.

It gets even worse. The US government knew that certain islands were too dangerous for human habitation and resettled the Marshallese there anyway; then US scientists studied the effects of radiation on them without their knowledge or consent in a secret program called Project 4.1. The US government secretly brought radioactive waste from Nevada and buried it in a concrete dome on Enewetak Atoll that is now vulnerable to erosion from the rising seas. And the US military also used the Marshall Islands for at least a dozen biological weapons tests. The US government did all of this to the Marshall Islands while it was a trust territory under US protection.

But in the decades since nuclear testing ended—even since the Marshall Islands’ independence in 1986—it has never received full compensation from the United States. Never.

There is a lot more that everyone should know about this history, and I recommend starting here to learn more:

Trump recently announced publicly he thinks everything he sees on TV is real as part of his justification for the Military Occupation of Portland over imaginary riots.

There was a scary movie on TV about Nuclear Weapons and the nonsense he was spouting in justification of resuming testing against all logic not long after that movie aired has lead to speculation these two things are related.

We don't know they are, but Republicans trying to argue for the wisdom of this haven't found any fact based logical reasons, so...

Guests at the Last Frontier pool watched as a mushroom cloud rose from the Simon Test, part of the Operation Upshot-Knothole, at the Nevada Test Site outside of Las Vegas on April 25, 1953. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce issued a calendar for tourists, listing the scheduled times of the bomb detonations and the best places to view them.

When I saw this photo shared on Facebook by the National Atomic Testing Museum (Atomic Museum), I was thinking what a contrast from just eight years earlier when Enrico Fermi was taking bets ahead of the Trinity test about whether a nuclear detonation would ignite the atmosphere and possibly destroy the world. That’s an episode recounted in John Adams’s opera Doctor Atomic which I saw at Lyric Opera in the 2007/8 season.

The first Chinese nuclear test was conducted at Lop Nur on October 16, 1964. It was a tower shot involving a fission device with a yield of 25 kilotons. #shorts

Song: Mounds

August 29th is...

According To Hoyle Day - Encourages individuals to honor the rules and regulations in particular situations. It’s also a day to pay tribute to a man by the name of Edmond Hoyle, an Englishman who was thought to be the first technical writer on card games.  When people utter the phrase, “according to Hoyle,” it’s like saying, “according to the accepted standards.” According to Hoyle can also mean to keep doing something the way it’s normally done.

Chop Suey Day -  Chop suey, which means assorted pieces, is a dish in American Chinese cuisine. The main ingredients include meat (chicken, fish, beef, prawns or pork) and eggs. As the meat cooks over high heat, add vegetables (usually bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery). The dish is bound in a starch-thickened sauce. Typically, rice accompanies the flavorful dish, too.

Individual Rights Day - In honor of John Locke, whose philosophical writings argued for the rights of each single human being, Individual Rights Day is celebrated on August 29th, the date of Locke’s birth. According to Locke, “Anything that a man has as a matter of human rights or civil rights is to remain inviolably his,” and although Locke conceded that humans surrendered some natural rights in exchange for the collective protection afforded by societies, he held that basic individual rights include life, liberty, property, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to petition government.

International Day Against Nuclear Tests - Raises awareness and educates about the harmful effects of nuclear testing. Nuclear weapons testing began in 1945. Since that time, nearly 2,000 nuclear tests have taken place. When nuclear testing first began, scientist knew very little about its harmful effects. Through the years, increasing concern and evidence points to the devastating impact of nuclear testing. From 1951 to 1973, radioactive fallout from nuclear tests is responsible for killing up to 690,000 Americans.

Lemon Juice Day -  These brightly colored sour fruits originated in the Himalayan Mountains millions of years ago. However, they have evolved since then, and today the citrus fruit is grown commercially in temperate climates. In the United States, California and Arizona produce more lemons than any other state.

More Herbs, Less Salt Day - Encourages everyone to take a simple step to re-align the imbalance of salt vs. herbs. This can be accomplished through the use of herbs in home-cooked dishes in place of salt. In fact, cooking at home is the only real way to control the use of salt because restaurants and premade convenience foods often use high amounts of salt that can’t be changed.