Close Calls with Nuclear Weapons | Articles | NTI Analysis | NTI. Nuclear weapons are different. If a nuclear weapon exploded in a major city, the blast center would be hotter than the surface of the sun; tornado-strength winds would spread the flames; and a million or more people could die. Survivors would have no electricity, phones and hospitals would be overwhelmed…if they were still standing. The opportunities for catastrophe are wide and terrifying with more than 16,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. The possibility of an accidental, mistaken or unauthorized launch is real. The scenarios below show how close we've come. More than two decades after the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia still keep nearly 2,000 nuclear weapons ready for immediate launch against each other. A nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia could end human life on earth—and could be triggered by a false warning planted by a cyber-terrorist.
How long will we continue to rely on luck? It did. Order the book. HCSS Nuclear Timeline. Welcome to the HCSS Nuclear Timeline. In preparation for the Nuclear Security Summit that will take place on 24-25 March 2014 in the Hague (the Netherlands), this timeline provides a comprehensive overview of key events in nuclear history. It traces the long legacy of nuclear security threats and policies and puts these developments in a broader context. Events covered span a wide range of fields, including scientific developments, nuclear power, (non-)proliferation efforts and safety and security issues. This historical overview can help policymakers, researchers, and the general public to better understand the continuing impact of nuclear issues on our world.
Making our world a safer place in light of the unabated nuclear threats is a concern that faces all of us. As US president Obama noted during the second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul in 2010: This timeline is made up of five broad categories of events: -Non-Proliferation & Disarmament: -Nuclear Energy: -Various: -Nuclear Security: Key Issues: Nuclear Weapons: Issues: Accidents: 20 Mishaps that Might Have Caused Nuclear War.
Despite all precautions, the possibility of an inadvertent war due to an unpredicted sequence of events remained as a deadly threat to both countries and to the world. That is the reason I am prepared to spend the rest of my life working for abolition of nuclear weapons. One way a war could start is a false alarm via one of the warning systems, followed by an increased level of nuclear forces readiness while the validity of the information was being checked. This action would be detected by the other side, and they would take appropriate action; detection of the response would tend to confirm the original false alarm; and so on to disaster. A similar sequence could result from an accidental nuclear explosion anywhere.
The risk of such a sequence developing would be increased if it happened during a period of increased international tension. On the American side many "false alarms" and significant accidents have been listed , ranging from trivial to very serious, during the Cold War . 1.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/796426/goldsboro-revisited-pp-1-2-copy. Global nuclear weapons inventories, 1945–2013. Abstract The authors calculate that some 125,000 nuclear warheads have been built since 1945, about 97 percent of them by the United States and the Soviet Union and Russia. The nine nations with nuclear weapons now possess more than 10,000 nuclear warheads in their military stockpiles, the authors estimate, with several thousand additional US and Russian retired warheads in storage, awaiting dismantlement.
The nuclear stockpiles of China, as well as Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea, are minuscule in comparison with the US and Russian arsenals, but more difficult to estimate. Still, the authors believe that China’s nuclear weapons stockpile has surpassed Great Britain’s. Although the total number of nuclear warheads in the world is decreasing because of US and Russian reductions, all the nations with nuclear weapons continue to modernize or upgrade their nuclear arsenals. Excessive secrecy prevents the public from knowing the exact number of nuclear weapons in the world. Figure 1. What U.S. Could Do if Pakistan Loses Control Over Nuclear Weapons. Print Share Email Twitter Facebook LinkedIn By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON -- A longtime expert on terrorism and nuclear arms is calling on the United States and others to identify fresh responses to a potential crisis in which a nation such as Pakistan or North Korea loses control over nuclear weapons or fissile material, without the West necessarily intervening by force.
“Outside intervention in these circumstances is a long shot, at best,” in terms of entering a nation in crisis and attempting to locate and secure any so-called “loose nukes” held by rogue actors or extremists, Brian Jenkins, a senior adviser to the RAND Corp. president, said at a Wednesday presentation. “One should not have any degree of optimism that we can do this,” he said, speaking at the Stimson Center. “This is much more complicated than, for example, going after Osama bin Laden.” The U.S. Both nations have maintained strict secrecy about their nuclear arms.
Nuclear Forces | UNIDIR Project on Transparency and Accountability in Nuclear Disarmament - Pale Moon. Nuclear weapons: Who has what? NATO: Nuclear Transparency Begins At Home » FAS Strategic Security Blog. . By Hans M. Kristensen Less than six months after NATO’s Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR) adopted at the Chicago Summit called for greater transparency of non-strategic nuclear force postures in Europe, the agenda for the NATO defense minister get-together in Brussels this week listed the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) meeting with the usual constraint: “no media opportunity.”
Why should the news media not have access to the NPG meeting just like they have access to other meetings discussing NATO security issues? Whatever the reason, the “no media opportunity” is symbolic of the old-fashioned secrecy that continues to constrain NATO nuclear policy discussions. The DDPR determined “that the Alliance’s nuclear force posture currently meets the criteria for an effective deterrence and defense posture.” See also: Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons, FAS, May 2012.
This publication was made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Ploughshares Fund. WorldNuclearForces.jpg (1500×637) Years of Living Dangerously. Happy New Year! There have been five particularly horrific years of living dangerously in the nuclear age. The first was, most jarringly, 1945, when the Bomb made its spectacular appearance. No advance in the history of warfare was more jarring than a city-killing weapon that could be delivered by surprise for which there was no defense.
The second period of maximum danger was 1949-1950, when the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, President Truman endorsed a crash program to proceed with far more powerful thermonuclear weapons, the People’s Republic of China was born, and the Korean War began. It was an open question whether or not atomic bombs would again be used to end a prolonged land war in Asia that was at times going very badly for the United States before it ground to a bitter stalemate. The third year of living dangerously was 1962, when the Cuban missile crises played out over thirteen days. The Bomb and insecurity are inseparable.
XuIGd.jpg (2777×1666) Nuclear_fuel_production.jpg (Image JPEG, 1800x1059 pixels) Global Security Newswire - China Augments Nuke Arsenal: Pentagon. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn China's nuclear arsenal is being augmented through development of a missile that is capable of carrying a number of warheads and can be moved between different locations, the U.S. Defense Department said in a report issued this week (see GSN, Aug. 25). The yearly Pentagon assessment of Chinese military capabilities estimates that Beijing holds as many as 75 long-range missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, along with 120 intermediate- and medium-range systems, the Washington Times reported. “China is both qualitatively and quantitatively improving its strategic missile forces,” according to the report. “Beijing will likely continue to invest considerable resources to maintain a limited nuclear force … to ensure the (People’s Liberation Army) can deliver a damaging retaliatory nuclear strike.”
China appears to be working on an ICBM that could be transported by road, the Pentagon said. Cable Viewer. Viewing cable 08PARIS1227, SOLICITING PLEDGES TO FUND THE NUCLEAR THREAT Understanding cables Every cable message consists of three parts: The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference. Discussing cables If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number.
A Warhead’s Life. U.S Nuclear weapons budget. Global Security Newswire - U.N. Chief Floats Measures to Break Conference on Disarmament Stalemate. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn An ongoing impasse at the international Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, might be broken through a U.N. conference, a specially formed commission or a team of prominent individuals, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki- moon said on Wednesday (see GSN, May 17).
The 65-nation conference in 2009 ended a deadlock that had lasted for more than a decade, agreeing to a work plan that would focus on preparing a fissile material cutoff pact and three other issues: nuclear disarmament, a ban against space-based weapons, and an agreement by nuclear-armed states not to use such weapons against countries that do not possess atomic armaments. While Pakistan initially backed the work plan, it later canceled its consent and demanded further consideration of the program. Decisions at the conference are made by consensus (see GSN, July 12). “We meet in the midst of a growing crisis of confidence,” Ban said said at a senior-level U.N. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis. Home - Forum nucléaire suisse. Radiation Dose Chart.
Fukushima nuclear power stations. What if we try the nuclear option ? 73% Fear Terrorists More Than Nuclear Attack. Email this ShareThis Monday, December 27, 2010 Three-out-of-four U.S. voters (73%) fear a terrorist threat more than a nuclear attack. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 16% believe a potential nuclear attack is a greater threat to the United States. Rasmussen subscribers can log in to read the rest of this article. Become a member and get full access to all articles and polls starting at $3.95/month. Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. To learn more about our methodology, click here. Project on Nuclear Issues. About the Project on Nuclear Issues Addressing the complex array of nuclear weapons challenges will require a solid foundation of expertise across numerous sectors.
Because most of these challenges are long-term, the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) aims to build and sustain a vibrant community of young nuclear experts from the military, national laboratories, industry, academia, and the policy community. To that end, PONI maintains an enterprise-wide membership base, hosts four major conferences and several smaller events each year, maintains an online blog, holds live debates on critical nuclear weapons issues, runs a six-month academic program for young experts, organizes bilateral exchanges involving young experts from the U.S. and abroad, oversees a working group of top young professionals, and distributes bi-weekly news and event announcements to members.
The project has three primary objectives. There are over 1,300 PONI members and affiliated programs in the UK and France. Home: CTBTO Preparatory Commission.
Nuclear humor. PONI Debates the Issues. A/S GOTTEMOELLER,S 5 AND 7 MAY BILATERAL MEETINGS ON THE MARGINS OF THE NPT PREPARATORY COMMITTEE. A secret journey to take Serbian nuclear fuel to safety. 22 December 2010Last updated at 17:58 By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News IAEA's John Kelly on the dangers of transporting nuclear fuel rods A shipment of nuclear fuel has arrived in Russia after a top-secret international operation to remove it from Serbia, where it was feared terrorists could seize it to make a nuclear or dirty bomb. In the dead of night, armed men in balaclavas surround a long convoy of trucks in the woods just outside Belgrade. Radios crackle as they prepare for a long journey. Their mission is to escort a dangerous cargo, the kind terrorists would dearly like to get their hands on.
Continue reading the main story Reducing nuclear risks The US set up the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) in 2004 to keep nuclear materials out of the wrong hands, with help from Russia and the IAEA. Some 40 nuclear bombs' worth of highly enriched uranium has been repatriated, to Russia or the US. Research reactors are being converted to run on low-enriched uranium.
Biscuits, Cookies, and Nuclear Bombs. Start the clip at about 5:04. General Turgidson: Mr. President, about thirty-five minutes ago, General Jack Ripper, the commanding General of Burpleson Air Force Base, issued an order to the 34 B-52′s of his wing which were airborne at the time as part of a special exercise we were holding called Operation Dropkick. Now, it appears that the order called for the planes to attack their targets inside Russia. The planes are fully armed with nuclear weapons with an average load of 40 megatons each. Now the central display of Russia will indicate the position of the planes. The triangles are their primary targets, the squares are their secondary targets. General Turgidson: That’s right sir. This moment in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. That is an important distinction to keep in mind, when reading about this story that Bill Clinton — or, rather, a Clinton aide — misplaced the President’s laminated card (the “biscuit”) containing the codes to authorize the use of nuclear weapons.
Archive of Nuclear Data. NRDC works to reduce the dangers of nuclear energy in every form, from uranium mines to warheads to waste piles. Our environmental experts and litigators sue the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when it fails to consider full environmental impacts in licensing uranium mining. And we push the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen standards for uranium mining, as current regulations have failed to protect the environment against contamination from past and present operations.
Our work also includes, blocking nuclear reprocessing for energy, and developing a scientifically sound deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel. Our physicists and nuclear energy experts urge U.S. regulators, as well as the entire nuclear power industry, to examine the public safety consequences of severe accidents triggered by unexpected floods, fires, earthquakes, and explosions. Our weapons experts continue to assess the global stockpiles of nuclear warheads. World Nuclear Stockpile Report.