Our Nuclear Legacy 

This summer is the 79th anniversary of both the Trinity test that launched the atomic age, and the U.S.’s nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed and injured hundreds of thousands. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries are a somber, annual reminder of the horrors of nuclear weapons and why abolishing nuclear weapons and preventing nuclear war is a matter of faith for the United Church of Christ as a Just Peace church. 

Many experts claim that the growing threat of nuclear war is greater than it has been since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States is currently rebuilding its entire nuclear arsenal of bombs, missiles, bombers, and submarines, costing the American taxpayer over $1.5 trillion. This is only helping to fuel a dangerous global nuclear arms race. Nine countries (Russia, the U.S., China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea) collectively have approximately 12,100 nuclear weapons in their military arsenals, most of which are far more destructive than those used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The detonation of even a small number of these weapons would affect everyone on the planet, causing catastrophic human and environmental consequences. 

The effect of nuclear weapons is not something only demonstrated in 1945 in Japan. From 1945 to 1962, the U.S. government conducted hundreds of above-ground nuclear tests. These tests spread radiation thousands of miles, exposing many communities to unsafe radiation levels. These communities continue to suffer severe health consequences from the testing, development, and production of nuclear weapons and uranium mining. 

Thousands across the Southwest, Midwest, and West of the United States suffer from diseases linked to radiation exposure due to government-sanctioned nuclear activities. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) requires the federal government to compensate people who are injured by exposure to federal government testing and development of nuclear weapons. Native American communities make up a disproportionate number of claimants. The Navajo Nation, located in New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, was the site of uranium mines that supported the development of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Unfortunately, Congress failed to act to reauthorize RECA, and the government is no longer accepting new claims. 

RECA also does not require the federal government to compensate those exposed by U.S. nuclear testing conducted in the Pacific, specifically the Marshall Islands. March 1, 2024, marked the 70th anniversary of the Castle Bravo weapons test, the most powerful bomb ever detonated by the U.S. military on Bikini Atoll. Bravo was one of 67 U.S. nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands conducted from 1946 to 1958. Bravo caused the worst radiological exposure of all U.S. nuclear tests, and the military waited days to evacuate nearby islands. Hundreds of islanders were not evacuated at all. 

From 1947 until Marshallese independence in 1986, the U.S. administered the islands as a UN-mandated trust territory that it was required to protect. The Marshall Islands received $150 million in nuclear compensation under the Compact of Free Association (COFA) in 1986. COFA established a tribunal to resolve compensation claims, and when the $150 million ran out, the tribunal sought over $3 billion (in today’s dollars) from the U.S. government. The U.S. government refused. Marshallese leaders have continued to pursue this funding for the tribunal since the 2000s, and the U.S. government has continued to refuse, insisting that $150 million was a “full and final” settlement. 

As part of our efforts to abolish nuclear weapons and work for peace with justice, we invite you to join the Nuclear Prayer Day on August 6 and honor victims of nuclear weapons use and testing this summer. We will keep raising our voices as people of faith on this issue until Congress re-authorizes RECA and upholds its commitment to the Marshallese people living with the legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons testing.