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“53RD COMMEMORATION OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1591-E1592 on Aug. 7, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
53RD COMMEMORATION OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI
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HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, August 6, 1998
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, today, we solemnly commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the uranium bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and, three days later, the plutonium bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
The August 6th bombing was a shocking and tragic event; the second bombing three days later was no less cataclysmic. Now, 53 years later, for those of us who dare to look into the pit of this, our historical act, we can see the impact and the aftermath of the bombings and their implications in the arenas of defense and arms control, international relations, and human rights. As we commemorate these two events, it is not only to remember; we must also call upon ourselves to say to ourselves, to our neighbors, and to our children: Never again.
Today we must also recognize those heroes and heroines who called our attention to the danger of strontium 90 distributed in our air--
strontium 90 released into our atmosphere during the testing of ever more powerful nuclear weapons. These pioneers in the anti-nuclear movement helped to create a force that alerted people all over the world to the incredible menace of an arsenal of over 36,000 nuclear weapons.
Thankfully, the cold war is over. But the danger of nuclear war, of nuclear accidents, or of nuclear terrorism, is as real as it was during the long cold war. The United States had 6 nuclear warheads at the end of 1945. We now have 12,000. The USSR, now Russia and the Ukraine, had one warhead in 1949, and now have 23,000. In 1953, the United Kingdom had its first nuclear weapon; now, the nation has 260.
France built 4 in 1964 and now has 450. China also built its first in 1964, and now has 400. Today we have definitive proof that India and Pakistan have nuclear bombs. Israel, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and other nations appear poised to inform us that they, too, belong to the
``club.''
It is extremely difficult to contemplate any level of normalcy when we consider the implications and the threat that these weapons pose, the constant and ever-present possibility that something, or a combination of somethings, might go terribly wrong once again.
The New England Journal of Medicine, in its April 30, 1998 issue, gave a special report on
``accidental nuclear war--a post-cold war assessment.'' I want to share with you some of their results and conclusions:
``U.S. and Russian nuclear-weapons systems remain on high alert. This fact, combined with the aging of Russian technical systems, has recently increased the risk of an accidental nuclear attack. As a conservative estimate, an accidental, intermediate-sized launch of weapons from a single Russian submarine would result in the death of
[almost] 7 million people from firestorms in 8 U.S. cities. Millions of others would [probably] be exposed to potentially lethal radiation from fallout. An agreement to remove all nuclear missiles from high-level alert status and eliminate the capability of a rapid launch would put an end to this threat.''
Part of their conclusion is that ``the risk of an accidental nuclear attack has increased in recent years, threatening a public health disaster of unprecedented scale.''
I am one of three cosponsors of H. Con. Res. 307, a bill that proposes to address this most serious of issues. Our bill proclaims that it is in the best interest of the nation and the world to ban nuclear tests forever. The bill directs the Department of Energy, which has the responsibility for stewardship of the nuclear stockpile, to develop a program that is less costly, less provocative, and less likely to spend billions on facilities with little relevance to the safety of the arsenal.
On this day, let us recall and celebrate that our collective efforts to achieve peace have prevented the unleashing of further, nuclear horrors like those seen 53 years ago in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet on this day in particular, let us be reminded that we must keep on working to educate ourselves and our society, and continue to make advances toward total nuclear disarmament.
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