Leave Nuclear Testing in the Past

August 29 is the International Day Against Nuclear Tests—a time to recognize the devastating toll of nuclear weapons tests and to recommit to a future without them. This year also marks 80 years since the United States conducted the first nuclear weapons test in New Mexico that ushered in an era of more than 2,000 tests globally.

Many of those tests were conducted at the expense of local communities who suffered devastating health consequences that have lasted generations or were displaced and saw their land and homes destroyed. The consequences, however, did not remain local: Wind spread fallout across multiple states and accidents from supposedly “safe” tests vented radiation into the air. Water from the Nevada Test Site where the United States tested nuclear weapons more than 30 years ago remains unusable because of the radioactive contamination.

The United States has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1992, when it voluntarily established a moratorium on explosive nuclear weapons testing. In 1996, the United States along with China, France, Russia, and many other countries signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which prohibits “any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.”  Since 1996, North Korea is the only country to conduct an explosive nuclear weapons test. Although the United States has not ratified the CTBT, Washington voluntarily maintains the moratorium on nuclear weapons testing.

Experts warn that the risk of nuclear weapons use, either by accident or on purpose, is higher than it has been since the Cold War. Amid this instability, some have called for a return to nuclear weapons testing—despite the fact that doing so would likely spur a new arms race, undermine global security, erase decades of progress toward universal ratification of the CTBT, and reintroduce dangerous health, environmental, and economic repercussions.

Fortunately, from state legislators in Nevada to voices in Hollywood, a critical mass of support for a world free from the risks of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons tests is growing. People across political spectrums and of all backgrounds are coming together and refusing to let history repeat itself.

Together, we stand with communities, leaders, and people around the world in saying: never again.