Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons Testing Act

Given the lengthy history of nuclear weapons testing in the West and the large number of people who died from radiation related cancers and illness, I have become very concerned about recent Congressional actions that may lead to the resumption of nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site.

Radioactive fallout from more than 900 weapons tests between 1951 and 1992 traveled to every single state in this nation and protecting Americans from radiation exposure should be a national issue. That's why I have introduced HR 1194, the Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons Testing Act, in the event that weapons testing resumes.

HR 1194 - Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons Testing Act

• Requires the federal government to conduct an environmental review to assess the health and safety aspects prior to the resumption of any nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site
  
• Requires Congress to authorize the resumption of testing
  
• Requires Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to more effectively monitor radiation levels, and also provides for independent radiation monitoring
  
• Provides for the study of health effects of radiation exposure, related illnesses and radioactive isotopes that are linked to adverse health effects
  

History of Weapons Testing

The U.S. conducted 904 domestic nuclear weapons tests, both atmospheric and underground, at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 until 1992. During most of this time, the federal government did not warn people who lived downwind of the test site about any of the likely effects of radiation exposure. After years of denial, the government finally admitted culpability for withholding this information in the 1980s, and additional pressure from concerned lawmakers resulted in passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a compensation program for victims.

National Cancer Institute map of Iodine-131 fallout from weapons testing

Many of the people who were exposed to dangerously high levels of radioactive fallout-commonly known as "downwinders"-lived in Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and other Western states.

A 1997 National Cancer Institute study found that fallout also traveled all the way to the East Coast, with some counties in Kansas, New York, Iowa and other states receiving more fallout than many western states. Iodine-131 is just one of over 150 radionuclides released by weapons testing