LAS VEGAS SUN Special Publications GUEST COLUMN: -- Wounds of our nuclear past should be healed, not reopened By Linda Chase Sunday, July 6, 2025 | 2 a.m.

 LAS VEGAS SUN

Special Publications 

GUEST COLUMN:

Wounds of our nuclear past should be healed, not reopened

By Linda Chase

Sunday, July 6, 2025 | 2 a.m.

It was a family affair, watching the atomic blasts from our front yard, the view pristine and unobstructed. My family and I lived in Las Vegas, just 65 miles from the Nevada Test Site. For 41 years, from 1951 to 1992, the United States conducted 90% of its explosive nuclear weapons tests — more than 900 — at the test site, making areas of Nevada among the most radioactive places in the world. It’s also where nuclear explosions would resume, if the federal government ever chose to resume weapons testing.

Years ago, before we knew better, many Southern Nevadans were immensely proud to be part of the nation’s nuclear testing program, believing our community was doing its part to deter Soviet aggression and keep America safe. The government reassured us that we wouldn’t be harmed by the radiation exposure from the weapons they exploded, first in the air and then underground. We drank milk from local dairies, purchased local produce. At the time, we could not foresee that our source of pride would also be a source of deep and lasting pain for my family and countless other Nevadans living downwind of the test site.

It did not take long for people to start getting sick. At 9 years old, I developed an autoimmune disorder that affected my kidneys as a teen and early adult, almost taking my life on two occasions. I lost my father years later to bladder cancer — he lived just six months after receiving his diagnosis. My family was not alone. Far too many Nevada families have fallen to cancer and other illnesses related to radiation exposure.

The last explosive nuclear test took place more than 30 years ago. In 1992, a bipartisan majority in Congress secured a moratorium on explosive nuclear testing, signed by then-President George H.W. Bush. In 2024, Robert C. O’Brien, who served as national security adviser in President Donald Trump’s first term, called for a resumption of the kind of explosive nuclear testing that had been halted — a plan outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

That’s why our state Legislature’s decision this spring to make a strong statement against nuclear testing is so important. Our Republican and Democratic representatives in Carson City came together and said in one voice to the federal government: Don’t bring nuclear weapons testing back. Assembly Joint Resolution 13, urging the federal government to maintain the moratorium on testing, passed unanimously May 22 with support from a powerful coalition of business, environmental and faith leaders. I was proud to join their ranks. Although any president retains the authority to resume testing, no president could say they don’t know where our state stands.

This issue is deeply personal for me — but it’s also important for our national security. During the Cold War, the United States conducted more tests than any other country, giving us an advantage in understanding about nuclear weapons capabilities. Today experts can ensure our nuclear stockpile is safe and secure through cutting-edge, non-explosive testing. There’s simply no reason to turn back the clock.

Even though resumed testing would be conducted underground, Nevadans know all too well that that’s not accident-proof. A failed underground explosive nuclear test in 1970 vented a massive amount of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere and exposed many on-site workers as well as communities in the West. Two workers near the leak contracted leukemia and died four years later. The government’s position was stark and unequivocal: because it can’t be proved that the radiation exposure alone caused the workers’ illness, the government could not be held responsible.

Congress has many champions for the victims of nuclear testing. In 1990, through a bipartisan effort, they passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). That act, which narrowly defined who is eligible for compensation, expired a year ago in June 2024. The Senate had passed a bipartisan bill that extends coverage to thousands who were originally excluded, yet a minority of members of the House stood in the way of voting for this vital legislation, making the absurd claim that compensation for every individual who was affected would be too expensive. Somehow there’s enough to spend a trillion dollars in one year on the military, but we can’t afford to give an unwitting victim a one-time payment of $100,000 to face down cancer.

Citizens, scientists, faith leaders, environmentalists and countless others fought tirelessly for decades to secure the moratorium on U.S. testing. I am grateful that Nevada lawmakers sent a unified message to Washington this year. Instead of reopening the wounds of the past by resuming testing, Washington should act to heal the wounds many of us still carry to this day.

Linda Chase is an advocate for health care for all of the “downwinders” affected by nuclear testing in Southern Nevada. Her family moved to Las Vegas in 1955 and grew up watching mushroom clouds from nuclear tests.