Nuclear Truth Project- June Newsletter

Sixty Years. Eight Years.

Still Waiting for Nuclear Justice.

This July, two anniversaries fall within a day of each other, and together they tell a single, unbroken story of what nuclear colonialism looks like, and what it costs. 

On 1 July 2026, it will be 80 years since the United States detonated its first post-war nuclear weapon above Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, displacing 167 Bikinian people from their ancestral home with a promise of return that has never been honoured. 

We invite you to read a message from Benetick Kabua Maddison, Executive Director of the Marshallese Educational Initiative (MEI) and Co-Chair of the Nuclear Truth Project reflecting on this anniversary. 

On 2 July 2026, it will be 60 years since France detonated its first nuclear weapon above Moruroa Atoll in Mā'ohi Nui, beginning three decades of atmospheric and underground testing on people who were never asked and never consented. 

We invite you to read a message from Mā'ohi Nui politician and nuclear justice activist, Hinamoeura Cross épouse Morgant

These anniversaries matter because the harm has not stopped. Bikini Atoll remains uninhabitable. The atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa remain contaminated. Marshallese and Mā'ohi Nui survivors and their descendants carry the consequences in their bodies, their communities, and their connections to land and ocean. 

It is precisely in moments like these, when the world moves on and affected communities are expected to fall silent, that the Nuclear Truth Project's Protocols matter most. 

This July, we remember. 

UPDATE

Reclaim Community Fellowship

The Reclaim Community Fellowship brings together six emerging leaders from communities affected by nuclear weapons testing. Like other academic or professional fellowships, it includes a structured program of work with themes with guest speakers, but our sessions are far from empty academic or intellectual exercises. 

As we share our stories, ideas and work, we are also growing friendships, community and partnerships, those vital aspects of fellowship that sustain and strengthen our commitment to a nuclear-free future.  Our sessions have included presentations from experts in science, health and radiation who have also gained deeper insight into the lived impacts of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, Qazaqstan and Mā'ohi Nui/French Polynesia. 

Together we have explored Western and academic epistemologies alongside Indigenous ways of knowing, resisting colonial and extractive approaches to knowledge production. We have shared what we love working about a nuclear free future and what challenges us. 

The year-long reciprocal learning journey is geared towards the group confidently and effectively participating in the TPNW Review Conference to be held in November - December 2026. We will arrive in New York ready to contribute, but also eager to finally meet in person the friends we have made through our monthly online sessions.    

Learn More

COMMUNITY VOICES RISING Preparing for the TPNW RevCon

this November/December

As we prepare for the first Review Conference (RevCon) of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), many affected community organisations are considering how they will participate in the conference.

Scheduled to be held at the United Nations in New York between 30 November - 4 December, this first RevCon is an historic opportunity for close to a majority of the world's governments to advance efforts toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.

For many nuclear-affected community members, this conference will be a particularly important platform to advance work on the positive obligations of victim assistance, environmental remediation, and international cooperation (Articles 6 & 7).

The Nuclear Truth Project is preparing to represent at the RevCon, building a delegation centring affected community member representatives, drafting Working Papers, and collaborating on side events! We are proud to announce that we will again be holding our Community Hubs, providing a supportive space for affected community members and their supporters to meet, collaborate, share meals, and hold unique side events. In 2025 these Hubs were very popular, and we are pleased to be able to offer them again in collaboration with community members and supporters! 

How are you preparing for the RevCon? We are happy to collaborate and help promote any affected community activities or working papers at the RevCon. Reach out to us to share your plans!