The Nuclear Waste Scholar Series returns! Join us on Friday, September 29th at noon PT to hear Ariana Tibon-Kilma discuss a brief history of the events that took place in the Marshall Islands and highlight the generational gap in knowledge about the history of nuclear testing in her home and the challenges resulting from this lack of knowledge.

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Ariana is a descendant of survivors of the catastrophic Bravo Shot that was detonated in the Marshall Islands. She lives with her family in Majuro, where she works with students and youth to encourage engagement in nuclear dialogue.

Ariana writes “Although the testing began in 1946, it was not until 2019 - I repeat 2019, that the nuclear legacy was finally integrated into school systems. And so, growing up, I had no idea that my own family were test subjects in this. In project 4.1, which was top-secret medical study, and that the test subjects for that were human beings. Those human beings were my family. And that’s how I became so dedicated to this work and realized that education is such an important role because many generations have missed this history, our piece of history. The generation before me, my parents’ generation, my grandparent’s generation.” 

Ariana Tibon-Kilma works as a Commissioner at the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) National Nuclear Commission. Ariana helped develop a nuclear legacy curriculum for the RMI’s Public Schools System and co-taught a Nuclear Issues in the Pacific course at the College of the Marshall Islands. Ariana holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

The Nuclear Waste Scholar Series is funded through a Public Participation Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology. The content was reviewed for grant consistency, but is not necessarily endorsed by the agency.