Hiroshima and uranium on indigenous land
Guest post on Hiroshima remembrance day on August 6
On August 6 and 9, 1945, US pilots dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The uranium for the bombs came from indigenous land. Bomb tests were also carried out there. 79 years later, the USA wants to boost its domestic uranium mining – again at the expense of indigenous peoples.
By Monika Seiller
August 6th marks the 79th anniversary of the devastating atomic bombing of Hiroshima. In this context, we would like to remind you that the uranium for the US atomic bombs was mined on indigenous land, and that the atomic bomb tests were also carried out on indigenous land - over 1,000 on the land of the Western Shoshone alone. The indigenous peoples are also among the victims of nuclear madness - not only in the USA itself, but also in the Marshall Islands.
It was not until 1990 that a law was passed to compensate the victims of radiation. The "Radioactive Exposure Compensation Act" (RECA), which, however, did not even begin to take into account the consequences of radiation on the indigenous people, was to be extended in July of this year, but the Republicans in Congress prevented this.
ADVANCE ACT1 - a gift for the nuclear lobby at the expense of indigenous people
Barely noticed by the general public, US President Biden signed a law [in June 2024, note] that is intended to give nuclear energy a new boost. At the heart of the project are new nuclear power plants, which are once again being advertised with the fraudulent label of "clean energy". The latest developments were even celebrated at a "White House Summit on Domestic Nuclear Deployment", as this is not only about the goal of tripling the nuclear industry by 2025 (COP28 declaration), but domestic nuclear technology is of course also being promoted as "national security". The main focus here is on "Small Modular Reactors" (SMR), which Bill Gates and his company Terrapower, among others, want to promote. To this end, the government wants to lower numerous hurdles, including cleverly passing on the costs of the approval process to taxpayers. The Department of Energy (DOE) recently released a budget of 2.7 billion dollars to purchase low grade uranium from domestic mines.
This leads directly to the "victims" of this law, which was originally not even about energy issues, let alone nuclear energy, but about fire safety. But in the USA, it is common practice to include passages on completely different topics in laws that meet with general approval - which are then simply rubber-stamped, so to speak.
In this case, the law not only has an impact on the future, but also affects the legacy of the past. This is because the budget that was originally earmarked for the clean-up of former uranium mines on indigenous land is now being diverted to the new nuclear energy revival. 100 million dollars that were earmarked for the clean-up of uranium mines are being cut.
Cautionary voices also point out that the ADVANCE Act could accelerate the spread of nuclear weapons through the export of dangerous radioactive materials and technologies.
Let's remember: On July 16, 1979, [45 years ago, note] the largest nuclear accident in US history occurred after a dam burst at Church Rock (New Mexico) and contaminated large parts of the country, especially in the Dineh/Navajo area.
In December 2023, Energy Fuels began mining uranium at the Pinyon Plain Mine in the Grand Canyon - against decades of resistance from indigenous people.
This text is an excerpt from the Newsletter 2024-07 of the Aktionsgruppe Indianer & Menschenrechte (Action Group Indians & Human Rights) in Munich, Germany. I translated the text, put the additions in square brackets and set the footnote.
Guest posts do not automatically reflect the opinion of the blog owner.
The Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act is a bipartisan legislation passed in June 2024 “to promote the development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactors in the United States”.