NEW REPORT
Multigenerational Health Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Testing and Production: A Survey | 2026
The Nuclear Truth Project is proud to present a specially commissioned report written by Arjun Makhijani PhD on Multigenerational Health Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Testing and Production.
17 March 2026
Dr Arjun Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER). He holds a PhD in nuclear fusion from University of California in Berkeley. He has written extensively on nuclear fuel cycle matters related to nuclear weapons, testing, waste, and uranium impacts.
Dr Makhijani was commissioned by the Nuclear Truth Project to do this study to help examine the impacts of nuclear weapons testing and related nuclear activities on intergenerational health.
This report does the important work of highlighting the non-cancer impacts of ionizing radiation, including that arising from various aspects of nuclear power and weapons – with a particular focus on fetal development and pregnancy.
The report offers detailed scientific descriptions of key elements that have impacts on human health, particularly as they relate to pregnancy and impacts on birth.
Dr Makhijani’s report focuses on the multigenerational impacts of ionizing radiation through nuclear weapons use and testing, though notes “there are considerable overlap of these impacts with those associated with nuclear power” and related nuclear industries.
People from affected communities are warned that there are some graphic descriptions mainly from the literature and by the affected people themselves. Some of the subject matter may be upsetting, especially as it relates to harms during pregnancy and childbirth.
Importantly, this survey highlights the need for further research. The report offers three recommendations, summarized as calls to:
1
Tighten radiation protection standards to account for multigenerational risks and ecosystem harms and to make allowance for gaps in knowledge.
2
Re-examine early data of radiation risk assessments, including that in post-bombing studies from Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
3
Conduct a thorough re-assessment of multigenerational risks of ionizing radiation.
The Nuclear Truth Project welcomes Dr. Arjun Makhijani’s important work onthese matters. Outside of studies focused on cancer risks with radiation, there has been a deficit of scientific studies addressing the impacts of nuclear weapons on human health particularly on conception, pregnancy, and birth.
This is both a political and scientific gap in the global understanding of the true impacts of these weapons. We welcome the calls for further work to better understand and define risks from ionizing radiation and urge the scientific community to meet this challenge.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) recognizes the disproportionate impacts of nuclear on women and girls throughionizing radiation. It also takes note of the disproportionate impacts on nuclear test survivors, Hibakusha (Japanese survivors of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and on Indigenous Peoples.
Articles 6 & 7 of the TPNW obliges States Parties to work towards victim assistance and environmental remediation for those Peoples and places impacted by nuclear weapons use and testing.
For those engaging in scientific studies to inform these positive obligations of the TPNW, we urge particular attention to involving affected communities in the design, conduct and distribution of such studies.
Such ethical practices and community engagement are essential to the work of better understanding and addressing intergenerational and multigenerational health impacts of nuclear activities.
We stress that future research needs to be conducted using the principles of the Nuclear Truth Project Protocols, as the subject matter could be distressing to nuclear affected communities and others impacted by pregnancy loss and multigenerational complications.