Unveiling the hidden impacts of the atomic bomb - Vol 4 Sneak Peek
How did the creation of the atomic bomb impact our planet, and could invisible particles mark the beginning of a new epoch?
Article by: Eveline White
Artwork by: Leoni Fretwell
Christopher Nolan’s 2023 blockbuster, Oppenheimer, follows the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer as he works to build the world’s first atomic bomb. The use of this bomb wrought unimaginable destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing between 130,000 and 215,000 people, most of whom were civilians.
But something that the film (and many discussions around it) doesn’t touch on, is the insidious impact of this bomb on our planet. This first atomic bomb, and the decades of nuclear weapons testing that followed it, have had devastating and permanent effects on the planet, many of which have been felt disproportionately by indigenous populations.
This article aims to uncover the often-unspoken impacts of the atomic bomb on our planet, and investigates the controversial theory that we have exploded ourselves into a new geological epoch.
Nuclear testing in the Atomic Age
Beyond Oppenheimer’s Trinity test, where the first atomic bomb, or ‘A-bomb', was detonated, followed decades of nuclear weapons development and testing.
The majority of these tests were conducted by the United States (US), though Russia and several other countries, including the United Kingdom, also tested their own nuclear weapons.
Several sites were used for testing, including the Nevada Test Site, in the US, and the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific. Here, I’ll focus on these two key test sites.
Against the backdrop of the Cold War, the ecosystems and communities living in and around nuclear test sites were treated as collateral damage in the fight for nuclear dominance.
At the Nevada Test Site, just 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the US conducted 928 tests over 41 years. The site was built on Native American Shoshone homelands.
Before testing began, officials told communities living around the test site that there was no danger to anyone outside of the site’s limits. Yet, as mushroom clouds began to bloom on the horizon, dead lambs piled up at nearby farms and cancer rates amongst downwind communities skyrocketed.
Radioactive fallout from nuclear testing affected the soil, water and vegetation in and around the test site, posing health risks to nearby life, including people.
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