President Donald Trump declares intent to resume nuclear weapon testing in Nevada, causing concern among ‘Downwinder’ groups

In a recent Truth Social post, President Donald Trump stated, “The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accom­plished, including a com­plete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Be­cause of the tremendous de­structive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your at­tention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.”

In a subsequent interview with 60 Minutes, President Trump elaborated on the point, stating, “Russia an­nounced they’re going to be doing a test. If you notice, North Korea’s testing con­stantly. Other countries are testing. We’re the only country that doesn’t test, and I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test … We have tremendous nuclear power that was given to us largely because when I was president - and I hated to do it but you have to do it - I rebuilt the military in my first term.” 60 Minutes Interviewer Norah O’Donnell refuted Trump’s statement, “But the only country that’s testing nuclear weapons is North Korea. China and Russia are not,” to which the president replied, “Rus­sia’s testing nuclear weap­ons, and China is testing them too, you just don’t know about it … Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. They don’t have reporters that are going to be writing about it. We do. No, we’re going to test, because they test and others test - and certainly North Korea’s been testing, Pakistan’s been testing.”

The president’s state­ments struck a nerve with local communities that have suffered from the ra­dioactive fallout of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada, called “Downwinders” col­loquially. Downwinders have suffered a dramatic increase in cancer rates, and federal and state agen­cies like those formed by the federal government’s Radiation Exposure Com­pensation Act have the express purpose of mitigat­ing the harm done to these communities by nuclear radiation from weapons testing. Southern Utah and northern Arizona are hotspots, with citizens reporting their history as Downwinders and the ad­verse effects on themselves and their families; some communities in the area have reported that, even now, responsible gardening and agriculture includes testing for radioactivity in the local soil or water.

Nevada officials are as­sembling to combat the President’s initiative, with Congresswoman Dina Ti­tus spearheading an act to prohibit testing and deny­ing state funds to Trump’s military activities. Said Titus in an official press release, “Donald Trump has put his own ego and authoritarian ambitions above the health and safety of Nevadans. His announce­ment to resume nuclear testing in the United States goes against the arms con­trol and nonproliferation treaties that the U.S. has spearheaded since the end of the Cold War, and will trigger new tests by Russia and China, reigniting an international arms race. It also puts Nevadans back in the crosshairs of toxic radia­tion and environmental de­struction. With just 97 days until the only arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia expires, now should be the time to negotiate further arms-control agreements, not cre­ate mushroom clouds in the Nevada desert.”

President Trump never specified the nature of nuclear weapons testing, and the FBI and CIA have refused comment, di­recting news sources back to Trump’s state­ments on Truth Social and 60 Minutes. Of­ficials surrounding Trump state these tests likely will not be critical detonations of nuclear material, such as Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s state­ments on Fox News. Said Wright, “These are not nuclear explo­sions, these are what we call noncritical ex­plosions, so we’re test­ing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon. A lot of our weapons are very old and Presi­dent Trump has been adamant about how we have to be on the forefront, we need to be ahead of our adversar­ies, we need to keep our weapon stockpile mod­ern and upgraded.”

According to U.N. reports, North Korea is the only country to have openly tested nu­clear weaponry since the 90s. Chinese and Russian leaders have reported they are re­suming their nuclear programs in direct response to President Trump’s social media post.

Utah and Arizona officials have stated general opposition to resuming nuclear weapons testing, with Utah officials reem­phasizing their re­newed focus on clean production of nuclear power as a preferred priority.