2024 Highlights for PSR’s Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program December 19, 2024

2024 was a consequential year for PSR’s work on nuclear weapons abolition. Thanks to our generous donors, dedicated activists, and powerful network of chapters for making this such an impactful 2024. Here are just a few highlights we want to celebrate as the year comes to a close:

Building our capacity 

In March, PSR hired Magritte Gordaneer as Lead Organizer and Policy Coordinator, Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program. Prior to her post at PSR, Magritte worked in the disarmament field for six years, including with IPPNW and ICAN.  She has participated in the Hiroshima ICAN Academy and was selected by the UN to serve as a Youth Champion for Disarmament.

Justice for Impacted Communities

As part of the RECA Working Group, PSR supports the reinstatement and expansion of the “Radiation Exposure Compensation Act”. PSR has assisted Downwinders in several different lobbying days in DC. On March 7, in an important victory toward justice for impacted communities, the U.S. Senate voted 69 to 30 to pass  S. 3853  the “Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act.” To put pressure on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to bring this RECA legislation to a vote in the House, six action alerts generated over 1,800 messages from PSR constituents to members of Congress. PSR also enlisted lobbying support from the American Public Health Association. This fight continues as Congress works on the 2025 budget.

Summer intern Michaela Soucy created Silent Contamination: The Impact of Nuclear Weapons on Native Communities, now online at psr.org. This new timeline highlights the costs and impacts of nuclear testing and mining on Indigenous peoples across the USA and draws attention to personal accounts of those in frontline communities.

In September, PSR’s Health Heroes Awards recognized Benetick Kabua Maddison and the Marshallese Educational Initiative for their work supporting the Marshallese community in Arkansas and around the world, and for their outreach to nuclear impacted communities around the world.

Stigmatize and Abolish Nuclear Weapons 

PSR communicated with and supported the local organizers of 72 in-person and virtual Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration events in 19 states and DC, many of them organized by PSR chapters. These appeared in the definitive Hiroshima-Nagasaki Events Calendar, hosted at psr.org.

While at the UN in New York in October, Magritte Gordaneer lobbied for a resolution — adopted by the UN on November 2 — to set up a group of  independent scientific experts to study the impacts of nuclear war. 

PSR co-sponsored a May 29 Back from the Brink livestream event, featuring Annie Jacobsen, author of Nuclear War: A Scenario. PSR members also helped launch new Back from the Brink organizing “hubs” in New Mexico and Atlanta.

PSR Board member Elaine Scarry, PhD placed a long-form article, “The Extortionist’s Doctrine” in Boston Review, exposing the inherent contradictions and unrealistic assumptions in nuclear deterrence theory. PSR promoted the article on social media, resulting in over 10,000 views on X (formerly Twitter).

PSR’s AI Research Fellow, Jack Kelly, placed “Three key misconceptions in the debate about AI and existential risk” in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in July. He has provided a series of presentations on these topics to PSR chapters and also published a white paper on AI and nuclear weapons.

Promote Budget Reprioritization

PSR and its #DemandAccess Steering Committee supported Washington state PSR and a coalition of state-based allies to conduct a series of 6 Healthcare Not Warfare Town Halls in Washington, which advocated for reprioritization of federal spending to support public health over militarism. Putting an exclamation point on the series, NWA Program orchestrated a virtual, National Healthcare Not Warfare Town Hall on November 13.

Summer intern Ethan Schmidt published The ICBM Lobby, a report examining the motivations of the notorious “ICBM caucus” in the U.S. House and Senate, and the office of the Secretary of Defense, tracking campaign contributions to members of Congress, “jobs in the district,” and also the industry-government revolving door of key positions in the DoD. 

PSR Executive Director Brian Campbell moderated a panel discussion at the American Public Health Annual Meeting and Expo in Minneapolis, Costs of War and Preparing for War: Resisting Militarism to Protect Public Health. PSR also shared a convention center booth with the APHA Peace Caucus. 

In April, PSR-LA President and PSR Board member Bob Dodge, MD published the 2024 edition of the Nuclear Weapons Community Cost Calculator, providing a “nuclear tax calculator” with which local activists can assess the burden on their own communities.

As PSR’s contribution to ICAN’s Week of Action against Nuclear Weapons Spending, a dozen PSR chapters engaged in the “One Hour Without Nuclear Weapons” initiative, publicizing the amount of tax dollars  wasted on nuclear weapons each hour, and suggesting alternative funding priorities that would better serve their communities.

Radiation and Health

PSR, along with PSR Colorado and other partners, sued the federal government and organized local opposition in multiple counties and municipalities over construction of a recreational trail connecting Rocky Flats to neighboring suburban communities, which risks plutonium pollution. PSR staff and activists attended the hearing March 6 in DC, which generated significant press coverage. After hearing expert testimony, including health professionals from PSR Colorado, the city of Westminster voted to pull out of the project altogether.