International Day Against Nuclear Tests (August 29): Victims of radioactive contamination must be compensated!

On the occasion of the “International Day Against Nuclear Tests” this Saturday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands thorough investigations of the consequences of nuclear testing as well as compensations for the victims. Further, the former nuclear test centers and the gigantic nuclear waste disposal sites must be secured to prevent the escape of radioactivity. “19 years after the last nuclear tests in the South Pacific, the indigenous peoples in the Pacific and in North Africa and the Uyghurs in north-western China are still suffering from the severe consequences. Leakages of radioactivity from the former nuclear test sites would have catastrophic consequences for millions of people,” the STP in Göttingen stated on Thursday.

It was only in July 2015 that inhabitants of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific had expressed concerns that heavy storms could be a threat to the nuclear waste disposal sites the US army established after the nuclear tests. After the cyclone Nangka, cracks had been found in a nuclear waste dump on Runit Island. There are 85,000 cubic meters of radioactive contaminated waste on this former nuclear test site of the US army – including plutonium-239, which will still be emitting radioactivity in 24,000 years from now. For the native people who are dependent on fishing in the Pacific, the huge disposal sites (which are poorly protected, if at all) are a serious threat. They can only hope that no radioactivity will enter the food chain.

On Tahiti and its neighboring islands – as well as in the Sahara, where France tested its nuclear weapons – the indigenous peoples are still waiting for comprehensive and transparent investigations into the environmental, medical and social consequences of the nuclear tests. France had in fact promised financial compensation for victims of nuclear testing; so far, however, the only ones who received compensations so far are French soldiers, not the Tuareg or the native Maohi.

In East Turkestan/Xinjiang, the consequences of the 46 Chinese nuclear tests and the lacking counter-measures are especially alarming. The nuclear test site in Lop Nor covers approximately 100,000 square kilometers. Uyghur doctors have reported an above-average number of birth defects in the surrounding regions. However, comprehensive investigations are not possible: the issue is tabooed – and the troubled region is subject to the highest level of secrecy.

The “International Day Against Nuclear Tests” was established by the United Nations to draw attention to the consequences of almost 2,000 nuclear weapons tests that were carried out over the course of 70 years.

Picture: The photo from Garry Knight (via Flickr) shows a graffiti from the Chilean artist Otto Schade.