nuclear-news

In U.S. Congress race, push for nuclear bomb testing strongly opposed

Matheson said the track record of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada should make future efforts out of the question…..……..If the largest nuclear threat to the U.S. is a terrorist getting a nuclear bomb, it wouldn’t make much sense to have more, candidate Claudia Wright said, adding that she doesn’t believe anyone who says underground testing is safe…

Nuclear testing hot topic in Congress race, The Spectrum, 25 May 2010, ST. GEORGE – Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson blasted two Republican Senate candidates Monday for saying they would support renewed nuclear weapons testing. Attorney Mike Lee and businessman Tim Bridgewater made headlines last week when they signed a pledge called “Peace Through Strength” that includes a call for testing of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Although both qualified their position by saying they would only consider underground tests in special circumstances, Matheson said the track record of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada should make future efforts out of the question…..
.Above-ground testing of nuclear weapons was banned in 1963, and underground blasts stopped in 1992, but many Utahns, called “Downwinders,” faced cancer and other health affects attributed to radioactive fallout. Matheson’s father, former Utah Gov. Scott Matheson, was a Downwinder who died of cancer linked to fallout.

“This is an issue that obviously touches my family, but it touches almost every family in Southern Utah, so it gets my attention when somebody brings up nuclear testing,” he said.

Claudia Wright, Matheson’s opponent in an upcoming June primary, took a similar stance, saying nuclear testing is one of the issues she would “be willing to lie down on the railroad tracks over.”

If the largest nuclear threat to the U.S. is a terrorist getting a nuclear bomb, it wouldn’t make much sense to have more, she said, adding that she doesn’t believe anyone who says underground testing is safe….. Nuclear testing hot topic in Congress race | thespectrum.com | The Spectrum

May 26, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium