Page 12 - Islands Business March 2024

Nuclear Legacy

really frightened. My father tried cultural performances. Students studying overseas zoomed in,
to pick me up, to hold me, but including members of the Marshall Islands Students Association
I wouldn’t let him. We were at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji, and the
evacuated by the US. Marshallese Educational Initiative (MEI) in Arkansas, USA.
“Until now, I long for my The Marshallese students were joined by a delegation from
homeland,” she said. “I always Japanese universities in Hiroshima and Tokyo. They reflected
think about my homeland and I on the fate of Japanese sailors affected by radioactive fallout
wish one day—with the help of from the Bravo test, as dozens of fishing boats near Bikini
our President—that I may set foot and Enewetak atolls were showered with radiation from the
again on my homeland.” 15-megaton blast on 1 March 1954. They also discussed the
It’s a heavy burden for Japanese government’s current program to dump treated
President Heine. Since taking nuclear wastewater from the stricken nuclear reactor at
office in January, she has visited Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean.
Kathy Joel was six years old three of the four main nuclear-
when radioactive fallout fell on affected communities on Kili, Regional support
Rongelap Atoll
Mejatto and Enewetak, with At the ceremony for Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day on
plans to visit people still living on Utirik. 1 March, President Heine sat alongside Pacific Islands Forum
“These visits have taught me that while these nuclear- Secretary General Henry Puna, Marshallese dignitaries and
affected communities continue to survive, thanks to the Lance Posey, Chargé d’affaires in the US Embassy in Marshall
resilience of the people, they are not necessarily thriving,” Islands.
Heine said. In his speech, Henry Puna proclaimed: “I stand with you
Speaking to Islands Business at her office in Majuro, this day to honour and respect the lives of your people—of
President Heine reflected on the importance of this year’s our people—who bore and continue to bear the permanent
Bravo commemoration. inter-generational illnesses caused by nuclear weapons testing
“Every year, 1 March is important for us, because we need in our region.” Puna highlighted the five decades of nuclear
to not forget what happened,” she said. “We need to look testing at ten sites across Oceania between 1946 and 1996:
into ourselves and see how we can keep the legacy alive. “I stand in solidarity with you, to ensure that we never forget
It was the worst period in the history of our lives and it’s those 50 long years of atrocities perpetrated on our Blue
important not to forget that. We cannot allow ourselves to Pacific…It’s sad to see our history is littered with instances of
get into that situation ever again. We should continue to talk foreign disrespect.”
about it and make sure that it doesn’t happen to anybody else
around the world.” The climate-nuclear nexus
Heine recently appointed David Anitok, Senator for Ailuk As part of this mobilisation, the government and people of
Atoll, as a Presidential Envoy for Nuclear Justice and Human the Marshall Islands continue to address the nexus between
Rights: “I’m tasking him to work with the National Nuclear climate change and nuclear contaminants.
Commission (NNC) to look again at our situation with the A key concern is the potential for radioactive isotopes to
nuclear legacy and come up with what we should do going leach into the marine environment from the Runit Dome
forward.” on Enewetak Atoll. After the end of the US nuclear testing
For NNC Commissioner Alson Kelen, education is the bridge program in Marshall Islands, this concrete dome was built
between the ageing cohort of nuclear survivors who witnessed in the 1970s to cover radioactive-contaminated waste
the US tests, and younger Marshallese born in the 21st and soil that had been dumped into the deep crater of a
Century. previous nuclear test – including contaminated soil that was
“When we started the NNC in 2017, we were tasked to do transported from the Nevada nuclear test site in the United
a strategy, which now has five pillars,” he said. “Right now, States.
the one pillar that’s important is education. It can be a bridge The government highlights the link between nuclear
from what happened, to what might happen. The first thing legacies and the climate emergency in a newly published RMI
we want to do is educate ourselves. We have a curriculum Climate Security Risk Assessment: “Nuclear waste represents
on nuclear issues that is now part of the primary school and an ongoing threat to the Marshallese people and the
secondary schools. We want to fine tune that curriculum so it environment, because of the risk that nuclear waste stored in
tells a story, but also opens your eyes to see what you can add the Runit Dome cannot be contained.”
to that story.” President Heine told me that “when you look at sea-level
Throughout the week before 1 March, NNC staff like Evelyn rise and the Runit Dome, there is the possibility that whatever
Ralpho Jeadrick and student leaders helped co-ordinate a is in there will be seeping into the ocean. It’s very scary for
series of events for young people. The Nuclear Institute of the all of us.”
College of Marshall Islands (CMI) and the university’s Nuclear
Club organised a morning of story-telling, presentations and nicmaclellan@optusnet.com.au

12 Islands Business, March 2024