The ATOM Project

ACT NOW. STOP NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING.

The ATOM Project is an international campaign designed to do more than create awareness surrounding the human and environmental devastation caused by nuclear weapons testing. The ATOM Project hopes to affect real and lasting change by engaging millions of global citizens to permanently stop nuclear weapons testing by joining together to show the world’s leaders that the world’s citizens deserve and demand a world without nuclear weapons testing. By signing The ATOM Project petition and joining the dialogue, we can stop nuclear weapons testing forever.

MISSION

Affect real and lasting change by engaging millions of global citizens to permanently stop nuclear weapons testing by joining together to show the world’s leaders that the world’s citizens deserve and demand a world without nuclear weapons testing.

VISION

A world without nuclear weapons testing.

GOALS

• Unify world support against nuclear weapons testing and reinvigorate a global dialogue about its dangers.
• Influence the world’s leaders to permanently stop nuclear weapons testing.
• Deliver the petition to the leaders of the world’s nuclear powers and to the leaders of the countries that have either not signed or ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, seeking the goal of ensuring the entry into force of this Treaty as the legal means of putting a permanent stop to nuclear weapons testing globally.

BACKGROUND

In 1949, the Soviet nuclear weapons programme chose a test site right outside the Kazakhstan city of Semipalatinsk. From 1949 until 1989, 456 nuclear weapons tests were conducted at the site. The people of Semey, as the city is now known, were not asked, did not know, and certainly had no idea of what the implications would be in regard to these tests.

The faces and bodies and lives of the people of Semey tell the story of what nuclear weapon testing does. They are a warning for the future. The ATOM Project seeks to heed their warning and hear their voices by putting a permanent stop to nuclear weapons testing and ensuring all fissile material is secured before it falls into the wrong hands. You can stop nuclear weapons testing forever and make the world a safer place for today and for generations to come.

WHAT IS THE ATOM PROJECT?

A global petition drive to unite international public opinion against additional nuclear weapons testing and deliver those petition signatures to the leaders of nuclear and nuclear weapons capable nations.

WHY IS NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT IMPORTANT TODAY?

Despite the United Nation’s adoption of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, some nations have not signed or ratified the agreement. We must stop any additional human and environmental damage from nuclear weapons testing.

WHAT ARE THE DANGERS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING?

Thousands of people today continue to suffer serious medical difficulties as a result of exposure to nuclear weapons testing. Testing harms not only the generation exposed, but its horrific effects can be passed to future generations. Nuclear weapon testing also harms the environment and makes the weapons and nuclear materials involved more vulnerable to acquisition by international terrorists.

HOW CAN I HELP?

Electronically sign our petition and send it to your friends via Facebook and other social media. Help this movement gain the volume of signatures necessary to show the world’s nuclear leaders that the global community is united against nuclear weapons testing.

WHAT IS THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY?

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is a United Nations adopted treaty banning all civilian- and military-related nuclear explosions. The treated was adopted by the UN in 1996, but because eight specific states from the Treaty’s Appendix II – China, Egypt, People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States – have not yet signed or ratified the treaty, CTBT has, therefore, not come into force.

WHY IS KAZAKHSTAN LEADING THE FIGHT AGAINST NUCLEAR WEAPON TESTING?

Kazakhstan was the site of decades of Soviet-era nuclear weapons testing which made 1.5 million Kazakhs suffer from radiation-related cancers and physical deformities, which continue to be passed to new generations. Kazakhstan was once the fourth largest nuclear power in the world after inheriting the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons. But in 1991, Kazakhstan became the first country to shut down a nuclear test site and to renounce nuclear weapons voluntarily and unilaterally. The country continues to be a global leader in the fight for a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing.

CAN THE EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING BE PASSED TO NEW GENERATIONS?

Yes. Radiation exposure causes physical harm at the cellular level. If one of those cells is a reproductive cell, such as a sperm or egg cell, the damaging effects may not show up for multiple generations.