《辐射与人体健康活动家指南

The mining and processing of the raw materials that go into nuclear weapons; the production, 测试, 维护, and use of those weapons; and accidental or intentional releases of 放射性物质 can result in 景观污染 通过长时间 毒物-人类在环境中放置的有害物质. These 放射性物质 are often human-made (such as 钚) or intentionally concentrated using industrial processes (such as enriched uranium) for the purpose of building weapons of mass destruction.

具体来说，是存放铀和 钚 were produced and processed have become some of the most polluted in the world. 例如， 汉福德网站 in eastern Washington State is a decommissioned 钚 production facility and a 大型超级基金站点, and southwestern communities near uranium mines are living with more than 3 billion metric tons of radioactive waste from uranium mining and milling in the modern era.

此外，超过 500年大气 nuclear weapons tests conducted globally before such tests were banned in 1963 exposed many people to radioactive fallout, which has left people living with chronic illnesses to this day. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute concluded that any person living in the contiguous United States since 1951 has been exposed to some radioactive fallout.

The nuclear weapon life cycle and its radioactive waste have caused environmental nuclear material exposures in nearly every US state and many territories, 在土著土地上, 而在 全球数千个站点 包括约翰斯顿环礁，基里巴斯和 马绍尔群岛.

以国家安全的名义，政府经常 保留信息 或者对公众撒谎(并且…… 甚至美国国会) about what 放射性物质 people were exposed to and what the potential health effects could be. 想想2023年的一份报告 莱斯利·格罗夫斯将军， leader of the Manhattan Project that produced the first nuclear weapon, 误导了国会 by stating under oath that radiation sickness was “a pleasant way to die.”

The Union of Concerned Scientists has worked on nuclear weapons-related issues for more than 50 years. 参与进来吧.