“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 29, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Friday, (06/28/2024)

The Russia/Ukraine nuclear disaster can come in two sizes, and that seems to be the strategy of Russia’s way of winning the war with Ukraine, one without war, per se the other WWIII. The 1st and most visibly reported has been the so-called potential “accidental meltdown” of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) which could halt the war instantly without a declaration of nuclear war. The Russian operated plant has been under fire by both Russia and the Ukraine for about two years, and critical meltdowns that could spread lethal radiation to large areas of Europe have been avoided, but the attacks on the plant continue.

The other possibility is nuclear war involving NATO (with the USA directly involved, of course) by actively engaging military weapons with Ukraine’s military. That is the alternative that could suddenly become the straw that begins a WWIII style nuclear war, of which there will be no other kind of nuclear war, or any war, other than a small possibility of Einstein’s ‘sticks and stones’ war, no matter the size of the beginning. Simply put, if one country is fired upon, it will instantly retaliate creating a non-stop war among all the nuclear armed powers.

So the chances of nuclear war are, in fact, not so low as this article might think, but the possibilities certainly exist, even to the extent of WWIII, which would end all future wars and consist of armageddon-like results, leading to a dead world known as the 6th Extinction. As I have been frequently commenting the situation in Ukraine is dangerously close to the beginning of a nuclear war, and nuclear power plants around the world would be involved, too — becoming useful sitting duck weapons of mass destruction themselves wherever they are.

Let me just say that we (humanity) desperately need help from some unknown source to stop this warpath we are on because I, among millions of others, do not believe we are mentally capable of diplomatically resolving the war issues ourselves. Should that help never arrive, or comes too late, our once beautiful blue-green planet may take millions of years, if not longer, to recover enough to allow life to return . . . ~llaw

Prolonging the Ukraine war is flirting with nuclear disaster

The chances of an atomic catastrophe are low but they aren’t zero

ANALYSIS | NORTH AMERICA

1. Regions North America
2. Ukraine War

IVANA NIKOLIĆ HUGHESPETER KUZNICK

JUN 27, 2024

Fighting in the Ukraine war has persisted well into the third year, with hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides.

For more than two years, the West has been stoking Ukraine’s hopes — with funding, military advice, and more and more advanced weapons — that it could push Russia out to its pre-2014 borders. This is an imaginary outcome that words of fiction will do nothing to achieve.

Equally misguided is the contention by Western leaders that if Putin is not defeated in Ukraine, he will gobble up more and more of Europe, beginning with Poland and the Baltics. Not only is there no evidence to support this assertion, but also the notion that a Russia that can barely defeat Ukraine would go to war against NATO simply defies logic.

These developments do, however, push Washington into spending more on “defense,” which enriches the arms manufacturers. Earlier this month, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg trumpeted an 18 percent increase in military spending across Europe and Canada in 2024, “the biggest increase in decades,” two-thirds of which goes to U.S. manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons announced that global spending on nuclear weapons rose 13 percent in 2023, with the U.S. again leading the way. This is happening even though the U.S. already spends almost five times as much as China, its nearest competitor. U.S. nuclear weapons spending over the past five years has increased by 45 percent, trailed by the U.K.’s 43 percent.

The spending announcements coincide with news about the planet sweltering and little is being done to combat global warming. Clearly, we’re too busy fighting each other and spending money on ways to end humanity far faster than global warming will.

As NATO leaders realize that throwing more money into Ukraine alone is not enough to change an increasingly desperate battlefield equation, they have been finding other, more dangerous ways, to escalate in recent weeks. They have not only permitted Ukraine to attack sites within Russia with advanced NATO weapons, they have also assisted in those attacks and have openly discussed sending NATO troops, trainers, and targeters on the ground. The recent attacks on two Russian nuclear warning radar facilities have been particularly irresponsible, bringing us closer not only to full out war, but to nuclear war. And if that is not enough, Stoltenberg recently told the Telegraph that NATO is debating taking additional nuclear weapons out of storage and placing them on standby to prepare for all contingencies.

Russia has responded to these escalations with a series of explicit warnings about the imminence of a broader war and by carrying out provocative tactical nuclear war exercises on its territory bordering Ukraine, with Belarussian participation. The Foreign Ministry said the exercises would send a “sobering signal” that would “cool the hot heads in Western capitals,” making them understand “the potential catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they are generating.”

Russia then sent warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, to Cuba, which Western commentators dismissed as a “bluff,” though the U.S. and Canada promptly sent warships into the region. Next, Putin visited Pyongyang and signed a “mutual security” pact with North Korea, committing both nuclear-armed nations to come to each other’s defense if attacked.

These developments heighten the urgency of finding a political settlement for the Ukraine war.

In a recent book titled “Nuclear War: A Scenario,” author Annie Jacobsen details the 72 minutes that unfold after the U.S. detects a North Korea launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile heading for Washington, DC, until the end of the world as we know it. The hypothesized North Korean attack quickly turns into a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, a possibility made even more likely by the Putin-Kim Jong Un agreement. In Jacobsen’s book, the two countries proceed to use a thousand or more warheads to level the other, a prospect that terrified millions of people throughout the Cold War, but which had more recently faded from the public’s consciousness.

Nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia today would bear little resemblance to the American atomic bomb attacks on Japan. Rather than killing a couple hundred thousand people, as Fat Man and Little Boy did in 1945, today’s weapons could kill and injure millions of people, and possibly hundreds of millions. Add to this count the billions around who would starve to death as a result of nuclear winter and subsequent crop failures and you have a recipe for the end of human civilization as we know it.

The concern that Russia could decide to use nuclear weapons if threatened with defeat in the Donbas or Crimea or in a direct war with NATO should not be dismissed lightly. While the U.S. would be less likely to initiate nuclear war given NATO’s conventional superiority, it may respond in kind to Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons. Alternatively, a conventional war between Russia and NATO could turn nuclear.

Arguably, an even more likely scenario than a deliberate start of a nuclear war is a blunder into oblivion, an accidental or miscalculated strike as either side wrongly assumes that it is already or will imminently be under a nuclear attack. This can easily arise due to the “launch on warning” policy that both countries have. Moreover, neither the United States nor Russia has a “no-first-use policy” that would abjure first using nuclear weapons in a crisis, making the miscalculation more likely.

MIT Professor Ted Postol, a former scientific adviser to the chief of naval operations, has warned that Russia’s missile detection capabilities are not as advanced as the ones that the United States has, which he described as a “terrible and dangerous technology shortfall.” Especially, he warns, if nuclear radar facilities are under attack, as they were recently, Russia could falsely assume it is being targeted by nuclear weapons and could unleash the full power of its 5,500+ warhead arsenal. Make that partial, it’s still enough to not only destroy the United States, but the whole world.

Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan jointly stated in 1985 that “nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” Despite leaders of the five original nuclear weapon states explicitly reaffirming this in January 2022 prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many of those same leaders seem to have forgotten these wise words and have recklessly pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.

As former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev poignantly stated in the aftermath of the greatest previous nuclear crisis, “Peace is the most important goal in the world. If we don’t have peace and the nuclear bombs start to fall, what difference will it make whether we are Communists or Catholic or capitalists or Chinese or Russians or Americans? Who could tell us apart? Who will be left to tell us apart?”

It’s time to change policy on Ukraine and to stop the escalation escalator before it is too late. A Swiss peace conference without Russia or China has done nothing to advance that goal. Nor have the recent G7 meetings in Italy, the NATO pronouncements, or, for that matter, the grandiose war games being conducted by both sides in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Brazil and China recently issued a joint statement, declaring that “dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis.” Their proposal includes a six-point plan for peace, with “no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting, and no further provocation.” China says that the proposal has now received backing from at least 45 countries.

This is a good place to start, as would be an emergency meeting of world leaders that the U.N. General Secretary Antonio Guterres could call for. Continuing to play nuclear roulette is not an acceptable path forward.

Ivana Nikolić Hughes

Ivana Nikolić Hughes is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Columbia University. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group to the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The views expressed by authors on Responsible Statecraft do not necessarily reflect those of the Quincy Institute or its associates.

Peter Kuznick

Peter is a professor of history and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University in Washington, D.C. He is also the author of numerous books, and co-author (with Oliver Stone) of The Untold History of the United States.

The views expressed by authors on Responsible Statecraft do not necessarily reflect those of the Quincy Institute or its associates.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Friday, (06/28/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

All about the US Navy nuclear ballistic missile submarine that surfaced off Norway

The Economic Times

A nuclear powered ballistic submarine, a guided missile cruiser and two other aircraft of the US Navy were spotted in the Norwegian Sea near …

There Is No Such Thing as a Small Nuclear War – ScheerPost

ScheerPost

One thing I’m confused about which isn’t at all consequential to this narrative. Dr. Jeffrey Sachs has stated that preceding the Cuban Missile …

‘Immortal stars’ could feast on dark matter in the Milky Way’s heart – Space.com

Space.com

We are aware that stars, like everything else, must die. When they run out of the fuel supply needed for nuclear fusion at their cores, stars of all …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

What is nuclear energy and how does it work? – ABC News

ABC

In a nutshell, nuclear power plants create electricity by producing steam that’s used to power a turbine. … power stations, nuclear plants create …

Nuclear Power from Small Modular Reactors – SaskPower – SaskPower

Full Coverage

U.S. needs major nuclear power expansion, Southern Company CEO says – CNBC

CNBC

This is equivalent to about 10 new nuclear plants with a single reactor each. Southern Company recently opened the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. …

Ohio House Passes Legislation Defining Nuclear Energy as Green Energy

Ohio House of Representatives

Nuclear power is a stable, low-carbon energy source, whose plants produce electricity without emitting greenhouse gases. They can operate …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

IAEA concern at damage to Zaporizhzhia radiation monitoring station – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

… power, and had also visited the site’s temporary on-site emergency centre. There are also IAEA teams at Ukraine’s other nuclear power plants, with …

Shelling destroys radiation monitoring station at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, IAEA reports

The Kyiv Independent

The loss of the station further limits the Russian-occupied nuclear plant’s external capacity to detect radiation release in an emergency.

Update 235 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency

… radiation monitoring systems, and emergency preparedness and response measures”. As a major nuclear power country, Ukraine is among 51 countries …

Nuclear War

NEWS

‘Nuclear Disaster’ Warning Issued by Analysts Over Ukraine War – Newsweek

Newsweek

The longer the war in Eastern Europe continues between Russia and Ukraine and the more provocations that occur worldwide, the closer the entire …

The Onion Goes Nuclear With Explosive Trump-Biden Debate Headline – Yahoo

Yahoo

“REPORT: NUCLEAR WAR SOUNDS FUCKING AMAZING RIGHT NOW”. Our Front Page: pic.twitter.com/7lpQp4y4Is. — The Onion (@TheOnion) June 28, 2024. Related …

Vijay Prashad: No Such Thing as a Small Nuclear War – Consortium News

Consortium News

The NATO escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war as well as the growing conflict around China are more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

‘Nuclear Disaster’ Warning Issued by Analysts Over Ukraine War – Newsweek

Newsweek

Putin and other Russian officials have routinely and cavalierly made nuclear threats against the West since the invasion first occurred. The pair …

Prolonging the Ukraine war is flirting with nuclear disaster | Responsible Statecraft

Responsible Statecraft

The concern that Russia could decide to use nuclear weapons if threatened with defeat in the Donbas or Crimea or in a direct war with NATO should not …

Middle East Faces Multifront Turmoil Amid Conflicting Stances on Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

The Media Line

… threaten to escalate into a wider escalation, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to attack ships and threaten global commerce in the Red Sea.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 27, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Thursday, (06/27/2024)

So, who among us is going to watch the presidential debate tonight and hopefully keep a straight face (somehow, for whatever reason). But underneath all the gaffs and small ‘t’ trump unintended buffoonery and nonsense, the undertone of this debate, which begins at 6:00 (Pacific), may tell us a very dark tale without really listening to the media moderators’ questions and the candidates responses. I will be watching, hoping the most important of all subjects (‘All Things Nuclear’) is a seriously debated issue, so this blog post is a bit earlier than normal. ~llaw

The article below may give us a hint about tonight’s presidential debate, and there is a handy little scorecard for the issues that concern us most here on this blog as well as the . . .

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Most recent presidential debates have avoided much discussion of these existential threats—nuclear war, climate change, and a variety of disruptive technologies ranging from synthetic biology to artificial intelligence—often dealing instead in concocted political conflict and “gotcha” questions. . . .

Is there any debate? This is the existential threat scorecard you need to rate the Biden and Trump matchup

By John Mecklin | June 26, 2024

The media chatter in the run-up to Thursday’s very early presidential election debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump has tilted heavily toward matters of style and age. Will Biden be cogent and spry enough to dispel worries about his age? Will Trump display his own presentation problems, turning into a rambling emitter of incomprehensible word-salads who tromps all over debate rules (as he did in the 2020 presidential debate)? On social media, the debate moderators—CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash—have become unwilling storylines of their own, as Trump supporters call the debate “rigged” and a Democratic-leaning “trap.” And when it turns to public policy issues, much of the pre-debate media opining has focused on the usual suspects: the economy and immigration, with a side of abortion.

As important as those three subjects might be, they are, by definition, subordinate to the Bulletin’s concerns—the global threats that, if not properly managed, could severely cripple or even end human civilization. Most recent presidential debates have avoided much discussion of these existential threats—nuclear war, climate change, and a variety of disruptive technologies ranging from synthetic biology to artificial intelligence—often dealing instead in concocted political conflict and “gotcha” questions.

Our handy existential threat scorecard (below) will help you keep track of how often the presidential candidates and debate moderators address the complex technological threats that any president must manage if global catastrophe is to be forestalled. Given the wars in Ukraine and Gaza—along with heightened geopolitical tensions that are sometimes likened to a new Cold War—let us hope we’re all surprised, and your scorecard is full of “x” marks by debate’s end.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Thursday, (06/27/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Nuclear Now? – Jewish Policy Center

Jewish Policy Center

Every $1 billion of EVs put on roads adds about $20 million in annual electricity demand. And then there’s the epiphany that all things digital use …

House Stalls On Bill To Compensate Victims Of Nuclear Testing | Science Friday

WNYC Studios

In July 1945, the US deployed the world’s first nuclear weapon during the Trinity Test … Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for …

Plant Vogtle fuels Capitol Hill nuclear buzz – E&E News by POLITICO

E&E News

Lawmakers from Georgia are still all in on nuclear energy, even after … things go well with the existing reactors over the next couple of years.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

China outpacing U.S. in nuclear power development, report finds – YouTube

YouTube

China is outpacing the U.S. by at least a decade in developing nuclear power, according to a new report by the nonprofit Information Technology …

Kazakhstan’s nuclear energy referendum to be held this year

World Nuclear News

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said that a referendum on plans for a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan will be held this autumn.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Team Up to Transform Nuclear Power | OilPrice.com

Oil Price

Bill Gates and other tech moguls are investing in advanced nuclear energy to power AI’s future and curb the tech sector’s carbon emissions.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Pierce County performs emergency response drill

Pierce County Journal

The 2024 FEMA Evaluated 2024 Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant – Radiological Reception Center for Residents and Emergency Workers exercise took …

NextEra CEO says he’d ‘consider’ restarting Duane Arnold nuclear power plant

The Gazette

Emergency managers in Linn and Johnson counties said they haven’t heard anything about resuming nuclear power generation at the Duane Arnold …

Half-baked Nuclear Plan Not Welcome In ACT | Mirage News

Mirage News

We face a climate emergency and we don’t have time to waste. I want to see Australia ramp up efforts to transition to 100% renewable energy as soon as …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Ukraine war latest: Russia ponders nuclear shift and change in relations with West – Sky News

Sky News

Russian attack damages civilian infrastructure in Odesa. A Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa has struck civilian …

There Is No Such Thing as a Small Nuclear War: The Twenty-Sixth Newsletter (2024)

Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

Recent announcements by the US and NATO threaten to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and create the most dangerous threat to world peace since the …

Senior Russian diplomat says US must take heed of discussions on nuclear doctrine

Reuters

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, interviewed by the Izvestia media outlet, also said Moscow did not rule out downgrading diplomatic relations …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Atomic blackmail: A little-recognised but urgent threat – Observer Research Foundation

Observer Research Foundation

… threats would deliver the aggressor’s objectives, such as the surrender … The weaponisation of nuclear facilities during the Russia-Ukraine War …

Is there any debate? This is the existential threat scorecard you need to rate the Biden and …

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Most recent presidential debates have avoided much discussion of these existential threats—nuclear war, climate change, and a variety of …

The great powers are itching for another nuclear arms race. Who will stop them? – York Dispatch

York Dispatch

The public has a compelling interest in participating in this discussion now, before the bills and risks come due. “How much is enough” regarding …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 27, 2024

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Vladimir Putin has been fuelling World War 3 fears since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. (Image: Getty)

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Wednesday, (06/26/2024)

More from yesterday about why the Russia/Ukraine may spark WWIII. And, yes, that’s all it will take is one ‘not-so-little spark’, because there is no such thing. The response will be much more than a spark however; retaliation to a nuclear attack calls for an automatic all-out response. ~llaw

Vladimir Putin sparks WW3 fears as diplomat warns ‘use of nuclear weapons on agenda’

Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated he would be willing to deploy nuclear weapons should Russia’s existence come under threat.

By AURORA BOSOTTI

11:35, Tue, Jun 25, 2024 | UPDATED: 11:38, Tue, Jun 25, 2024

Vladimir Putin continues to fuel fears of the ongoing war in Ukraine evolving into a nuclear conflict.

Türkiye‘s Foreign Minister has now warned current tensions could ultimately put “the use of nuclear weapons” on the agenda.

Hakan Fidan said the war in Ukraine is fraught with the potential for further expansion and could develop into a nuclear conflict if a deal is not struck between Kyiv and Moscow.

Speaking to Turkish broadcaster Haberturk, Mr Fidan said: “The cost of the ongoing war for the region and the entire world is very high.

“What is even more alarming is that this risk may grow and expand. It may expand geographically and the potential use of nuclear weapons may be put on the agenda.”

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA: (Please Note: (Important): Microsoft has, against my will, updated my Outlook News feed to their new email application, making the older app obsolete, which I have been fighting against for months because it deletes the links to these articles that I post from my own Google Digest each and every day.

So it is that I have had to go to my Google News source to locate the disorganized, but fortunately linked, files so I can cut and paste the Digest here, which has taken me about two hours longer than the usual 15-20 minutes that were required before. Needless to say, this is a problem for me and a distressful weakening of Outlook email that Microsoft has been trying, unsuccessfully for years, to get right. Making it even less user friendly software than it was does nothing to enhance their effort.)

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Wednesday, (06/26/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Grassroots Activism Took Fernald from Bomb Factory to Birder’s Paradise – Cincinnati CityBeat

Cincinnati CityBeat

All those things sowed a lot of distrust.” The community wanted … And talking about something as huge and catastrophic as nuclear war or climate …

Why Bill Gates Is Bullish on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Energy – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

This is a long time coming for Bill Gates and for Terrapower, isn’t it? Akshat Rathi 00:03:42. Very much so. Founded in 2008 and if all the things go …

US markets present robust opportunities for Australian investors despite economic concerns

Proactive Investors

All things indeed being equal, demand for uranium and nuclear energy will rise alongside AI. “Ultimately, these thematics can be difficult to access …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

‘Real and growing’ threat to grid if Australia goes for nuclear power | Energy | The Guardian

The Guardian

No chance nuclear energy will be ready to replace coal-fired plants, market operator warns in report that says renewables construction should …

Reaching Net Zero: The Role of Nuclear Energy in Industrial Operations – Morgan Lewis

Morgan Lewis

In the race to mitigate climate change and achieve net-zero emissions, the industrial sector currently faces immense challenges.

A fresh set of eyes on next-generation nuclear reactors | Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory

Essential to achieving U.S. climate goals, nuclear energy is one of the key contributors to a low-carbon energy system. At the U.S. Department of …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Nuclear energy creates the most dangerous form of radioactive waste. Where does Peter …

The Conversation

… nuclear facilities such as the Zaporizhzhya plant. RUSSIAN EMERGENCIES MINISTRY HANDOUT/EPA. Can we put it underground? Each reactor – even the …

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant cut off from power grid – Russian administration

Yahoo Movies Canada

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been switched to standby and emergency power supply generators, according to Russian reports.

At 4 p.m. on the 25th, the disaster situation room on the first basement floor of KEPCO’s Naju headq..

mk.co.kr

If the nuclear power plant stops, it’s a major power outage. “Beware … Electric Power Exchange issued a “warning” stage for supply and demand …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin’s Nuclear Doctrine Questioned by Ally on TV – Newsweek

Newsweek

Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.

Vladimir Putin sparks WW3 fears as diplomat warns ‘use of nuclear weapons on agenda’

Daily Express

Hakan Fidan said the war in Ukraine is fraught with the potential for further expansion and could develop into a nuclear conflict if a deal is not …

Nuclear war flashpoints that could spark armageddon as world locked in new arms race

Irish Star

The world is at its most dangerous in terms of nuclear warfare since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, experts have warned.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Israel Raises Alarm Over Iran Nuclear Threat In Meeting With U.S. – YouTube

YouTube

Israel Raises Alarm Over Iran Nuclear Threat In Meeting With U.S.; ‘Time Is Running Out…’ | Gaza War · Comments206.

Nuclear war flashpoints that could spark armageddon as world locked in new arms race

Irish Star

… nuclear threat seems possible. Poland’s WWIII fears sees huge surge in soldiers enlisting in army after Vladimir Putin threats · World War III fears …

Putin’s Nuclear Doctrine Questioned by Ally on TV – Newsweek

Newsweek

Kremlin propagandists routinely warn that a nuclear war could break out … threats from Russia and China, “even though Stoltenberg did not discuss …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 26, 2024

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Image courtesy of the Washington Post

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (06/25/2024)

Responding to the opening sentence/paragraph in this Washington Post opinion article: “Lawmakers took historic action on clean energy last week, and hardly anyone seems to have noticed.” Well, I, sure as hell, noticed! And in my own instantly-considered opinion, it may well be the biggest mistake ever made in American History.”

There are more reasons than I can count, but here are just a few:

1. Nuclear Energy is not clean energy. It is the most dirty and dangerous kind of energy ever produced by mankind. And we have no idea what to do with the radioactive waste.
2. Nuclear energy revival will take too long to solve our problem with greenhouse gasses that cause global warming/climate change. We’ve been lying to ourselves about that issue for many years, doing nothing when it could have been controlled by limiting commercial power production from corporate use of fossil fuels, and investing more in renewable energy sources.
3. Nuclear power plants can more than double the damage from a single nuclear bomb in a war situation, simply by the enemies blowing up the others’ nuclear power plant reactors with a nuclear bomb. (Keep track of the very serious nuclear threats and radiation fears concerning the Russian controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine to get an idea about the potential danger of existing nuclear power in war zones.) There is also the existential threat of terrorism that we are ignoring.
4. Accidental meltdowns pursuant to operational, mechanical, engineering, and earthquake, flood or other ‘acts of god’ damage similar to or worse than those that we have seen in the past, especially if nuclear power plant standards or reduced in an effort to meet the useless 2050 deadline.

Of course there are many, many, more serious problems, even doomsday type problems, with ‘all things nuclear’. When someone mentions the words “clean” or “safe” or even “financial” next to anything nuclear, I wince and my heart rate jumps to critical for a few seconds. llolloll! The fact is ‘we know not what we are doing’ and there is absolutely no room for the slightest mistake of dealing with ‘all things nuclear’ because we are incapable of using anything nuclear safely. Yet we fail to rid ourselves of the very radioactive refined uranium fuel, and the products that use the fuel, that can and will kill us all right along with most all other life if we continue to use and ignore what nuclear power, nuclear war, or all other things nuclear that are beyond humanity’s knowledge, understanding, and control. ~llaw

Opinion

The stage is being set for an American nuclear power revolution

There’s no telling how much clean energy the United States might produce.

By Robert Gebelhoff

Assistant editor and Opinions contributor

June 25, 2024 at 6:45 a.m. EDT

Lawmakers took historic action on clean energy last week, and hardly anyone seems to have noticed.

Congress passed a bill to help reinvigorate the anemic U.S. nuclear industry, with the support of President Biden and 88 senators. Not a single Republican voted against it.

Sign up for Democracy, Refreshed, a newsletter series on how to renovate the republic.

The bill, known as the Advance Act, is precisely the kind of move the government should be taking to fight climate change. It shows that large bipartisan majorities can help protect the planet without giving in to the endless politicking that has killed so many energy reforms in the past.

The act’s purpose is to liberate the nuclear industry from its decades-long malaise. Though the United States produces more nuclear energy than any other country, it has lately been shedding reactors like crazy.

This is because most U.S. nuclear plants are near or past their retirement age. Today, the average commercial reactor in the United States is 42 years old, which is concerning given that their licenses typically last just 40 years (though they can be extended).

Meanwhile, efforts to build new reactors have floundered. Earlier this year, developers fired up a new reactor at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Ga., but it was the first one built from scratch in more than three decades. And it suffered years of delays and ever-increasing costs, an all-too-common affliction in the industry.

Given such slow progress toward replacing aging infrastructure, the Energy Department has warned that the nuclear industry will keep shrinking. By 2040, the country is projected to produce 20 percent less energy from nuclear power than it does today.

This is alarming because nuclear is our largest source of non-carbon-based energy. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are rapidly expanding, but they are intended to replace fossil fuels. They can’t also be expected to shore up the nuclear industry. And don’t forget, in the next few decades, demand for electricity will only grow.

Meanwhile, the United States is falling behind internationally on nuclear power development. Now that the Vogtle reactor is finished, the number of other projects under construction in the United States is, well, zero. See how this compares with other countries:

The Biden White House has long recognized the problem, and has been trying to inject some adrenaline into the U.S. nuclear industry. The Inflation Reduction Act dedicates billions of dollars to developing new plants and keeping existing ones running. The administration has also dangled hundreds of millions of dollars for any companies that develop advanced nuclear technology, which promises to be cheaper and safer — and to produce less radioactive waste. Critically, the Energy Department has been working to supercharge the production of the enriched uranium needed to fuel advanced reactors.

Now, the Advance Act addresses a key hurdle to nuclear projects: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s arduous permitting process.

The soon-to-be law will enlarge the NRC’s chronically inadequate workforce. It also endeavors to simplify the agency’s permitting process. For example, it will lower the burdensome fees that companies must pay in the review process, helping relatively small, innovative companies enter the market.

It will also direct the NRC to more quickly license nuclear plants at retired fossil fuel sites. This is just common sense: Retrofitting a former coal-fired power plant, which is already hooked up to the electrical grid, could save on construction costs and avoid lengthy siting reviews. It could also return jobs to communities that have lost them. A 2022 Energy Department study identified more than 300 retired or operating fossil fuel sites that could be converted to nuclear.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Tuesday, (06/25/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

June 24, 2024: How the U.S. is updating its ‘geriatric’ nuclear arsenal | Colorado Public Radio

Colorado Public Radio

All Things Considered · View News Schedule. CPR Classical. Concerto in c. Alessandro Marcello. Performed by: Scottish Ensemble / Jonathan Morton.Nuclear war looms closer amid confrontation – China Military

China Military

To make things worse, except two UN treaties, all other bilateral nuclear … nuclear arms race is all but on. As the Russia-Ukraine conflict drags on …

US and allies clash with Tehran and Moscow over Iranian nuclear program at UN Security Council

FOX 8 News

Wood said the U.S. is prepared to use all means to prevent a nuclear … about its capacity to assemble a nuclear weapon.” Iran’s U.N. Ambassador …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Opinion | Biden is preparing for an American nuclear power revolution – Washington Post

Washington Post

Though the United States produces more nuclear energy than any other country, it has lately been shedding reactors like crazy. Story continues below …

Increased nuclear energy production legislation sent to Biden to help lower Americans’ energy bills

New York Post

ANR is an acronym for advanced nuclear reactor. Advertisement. “Increasing domestic production of affordable, clean energy will lower your energy …

Congress Just Passed Legislation to Greenlight Nuclear Energy

Independent Women’s Forum

The ADVANCE Act is more than a year in coming and constitutes a compromise between different factions concerned with the future of nuclear power …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Officials to conduct simulated emergency exercise at Prairie Island nuclear plant

Republican Eagle

Officials will participate in a simulated emergency exercise at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant on Tuesday, June 25.

Duke Energy Supports First Responders With $500000 in Grants for Emergency …

CSRwire

Duke Energy’s Emergency Preparedness and Storm Resiliency Grant Program was … power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Former emergency committee chairman Han Dong-hoon and lawmaker Na Kyung-won, who …

mk.co.kr

“North Korea is virtually recognized as a nuclear power, and if former President Trump returns to power, the U.S. will also change its attitude,” he …

Nuclear War

NEWS

US and allies clash with Tehran and Moscow over Iranian nuclear program at UN Security Council

AP News

Israel-Hamas war · Stanley Cup · Midwest flooding · World News. US and allies … Iravani reiterated Iran’s rejection of nuclear weapons, and insisted …

Nuclear war looms closer amid confrontation – China Military

China Military

Russia announced on May 21 the beginning of its phase-one non-strategic live-fire nuclear exercises, getting ready for the use of non-strategic …

The 2024 Presidential Race and the Nuclear Weapons Threat | Arms Control Association

Arms Control Association

But the records and policies of the leading contenders, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, offer some clues. The Goal: Avoiding …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

The 2024 Presidential Race and the Nuclear Weapons Threat | Arms Control Association

Arms Control Association

… threats of nuclear use, Biden also faced the specter of nuclear conflict. Since Russia’s invasion, Biden has not issued nuclear counterthreats …

Iran’s New Nuclear Threat | Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs

… nuclear doctrine had not changed, but added a caveat. Following an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the mission threatened, Iran might …

World should take threat of WWIII seriously: FM Fidan | Daily Sabah

Daily Sabah

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned about the risk of World War III, amid the escalation of regional crises and the threat of nuclear war, as he.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 25, 2024

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FILE PHOTO: View shows Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Monday, (06/24/2024)

What is happening at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine during the Russian invasion is simply increasingly the suspense of waiting for a horrible nuclear “accident” that could threaten the lives of much of Ukraine and large areas of Europe. That is one issue that has been ongoing for more than two years and continues to grow more carelessly dangerous as time goes by until now it is at the critical issue point of no return. It is like Nero fiddling while Rome burns, but much, much, worse.

But the Russia/Ukraine war, with the USA and now NATO apparently supporting Ukraine, increasing the threats from Russia’s Putin and others, makes Ukraine a hotbed for the beginning of WWIII, and, if that happens, Armageddon happens. The leaders of nuclear armed nations all know this, but does their seemingly lack of apparent care mean if they cannot have it all, they will take the rest of humanity and other life with them to their final destinations?

This lying world, reeking of the stench of humanity’s hatred for one-another, filling every day to the putrid hilt of wishful but hopeless ‘deterrence’ of nuclear threats that they and we know cannot continue forever, so the answer to my question has two current answers only: 1) unite and remove ‘all things nuclear’ from the Earth’s environment forever, or 2) remain divided and use nuclear weapons, including nuclear power plants, to quickly create the 6th Extinction. ~llaw

IAEA urges halt to attacks on town near Ukrainian nuclear plant

Reuters

Sun 23 June 2024 at 3:47 pm GMT-7·2-min read

IAEA urges halt to attacks on town near Ukrainian nuclear plant

(Reuters) – The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog called on Sunday for a halt to attacks on Enerhodar, a town near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station after drone strikes this week hit two electricity substations serving the area.

The plant’s Russian-installed officials accused Ukraine of staging two drone strikes that destroyed one substation, damaged another and cut power to residents for a time.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made no reference to Ukraine and said the incidents had no affect on the Zaporizhzhia plant’s operations.

But he said the attacks had to stop.

“Whoever is behind this, it must stop. Drone usage against the plant and its vicinity is becoming increasingly more frequent,” Grossi said in a statement on the IAEA website.

“This is completely unacceptable and it runs counter to the safety pillars and concrete principles which have been accepted unanimously.”

Power had been cut to Enerhodar, a few kilometres from the plant, for 16 hours, he said. But neither of the attacks, which occurred on Wednesday and Friday, had any impact on the power lines that the nuclear plant uses to keep operating.

The Zaporizhzhia plant’s Russia-installed management said some “infrastructure facilities” including the transport department and print shop experienced disruptions, but that nuclear safety measures remained fully operational.

Ukrainian officials have made no comment on the incidents and Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the attacks exposed Ukraine’s disregard for nuclear safety.

Russian troops seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in the early days of the February 2022 invasion, and Moscow and Kyiv have since regularly accused each other of endangering safety around the facility. It produces no electricity at the moment.

The IAEA maintains inspectors at the station.

Russia launched mass attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the first winter of the conflict and resumed a long series of attacks in March. Kyiv says the renewed attacks have knocked out half of its energy-generating capacity.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Monday, (06/24/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

The Coalition says its nuclear plants will run for 100 years. What does the … – The Guardian

The Guardian

The average age of an active nuclear reactor worldwide is about 32 … all over the place at the same time, or you get a very serious safety or …

Australia politics live: Chris Bowen calls Dutton’s nuclear policy ‘a scam’ – The Guardian

The Guardian

Both were also asked about nuclear energy. Lambie … Now the criticisms of the CSIRO report were that it was not running the nuclear all the time.

The Coalition talks so much about its nuclear energy plan but provides so little evidence

The Guardian

The problem for people and the planet is that electricity from coal and gas is still growing at all. Nuclear might seem ideal on paper to replace …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Big Tech wants nuclear power but doesn’t want to foot the bill | The Seattle Times

The Seattle Times

Big technology companies including Microsoft and Google are eager to see more nuclear energy feeding their power-hungry data centers but are far …

Committee to evaluate nuclear power option for Norway

World Nuclear News

There is therefore a need to obtain an updated and solid knowledge base on nuclear power as a possible energy source in the Norwegian power system.

Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan surrounded by false claims – but people are listening

The Sydney Morning Herald

Australians are still paying a price for the energy policy disputes of the past. The nuclear proposal is unlikely to end the argument.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

IAEA urges halt to attacks on town near Ukrainian nuclear plant – Yahoo News UK

Yahoo News UK

IAEA Board holds emergency meeting on Zaporizhzhia attacks. 1 / 2. IAEA … But neither of the attacks, which occurred on Wednesday and Friday, had any …

‘We’re in a climate emergency‘: Labor MP says country does ‘not’ have time for nuclear

YouTube

Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite says Australia does “not” have time to adopt nuclear energy because the world is “in a climate …

‘The devastation is severe’: Parts of Iowa underwater amid flood emergency | WKRG.com

WKRG

… nuclear–powered aircraft carrier · Supreme Court will take up Hungary’s bid to end lawsuit … The Supreme Court is seen on Thursday, June 13, 2024 …

Nuclear War

NEWS

NATO’s Endgame Is Nuclear War – Compact Magazine

Compact Magazine

The world is at its most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Back then, the fear of total destruction consumed the public; …

Why it’s too late to stop World War 3 – Yahoo

Yahoo

Imagine, for a moment, that the Iranian government announces it has developed a nuclear bomb and threatens to use it on Israel.

Russia is revising its nuclear doctrine, Kremlin says – Reuters

Reuters

The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Get the latest news and …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Nuclear doomsday threat is ‘great and growing,’ scientists urgently warn – MSN

MSN

But recently, these threats are becoming much more concrete. Nuclear doomsday threat is ‘great and growing, …

Putin is revising Russia’s nuclear doctrine due to ‘current realities’ – NBC News

NBC News

… nuclear weapons if it believes that threats are increasing. President … The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia …

Russia Can Reduce Decision-Making Time For Using Nuclear Weapons If Threats Increase …

Times Now

Russia Can Reduce Decision-Making Time For Using Nuclear Weapons If Threats Increase, Lawmaker Says ; Moscow: Russia ; The war in Ukraine has triggered …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Mount St. Helens Acting Up But Unlikely To Trigger Yellowstone Supervolcano

Cowboy State Daily

There are 560 miles between Yellowstone National Park and Mount St. Helens. That’s a sizeable distance between the two volcanoes, but Yellowstone is …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 24, 2024

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Peter Zelei Images via Getty Images

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (06/23/2024)

A must read far beyond fantasy! I am just finishing up my 2nd full reading (with mindful notes) of Annie Jacobsen’s, perhaps prophetic, book “Nuclear War: A Scenario” of a well-put-together extremely logical nuclear war from years of interviews and working within governmental documents and knowledgeable individuals who have or had a reason to know what they are or were (some have passed away) talking about when it comes to the next war. It will be WWIII and it will be nuclear, and it won’t take very long.

Her book demonstrates and proves without doubt that we humans absolutely fail to understand the earth-shaking news (or the reality) of a nuclear war ending virtually all life on planet Earth within a very short period of time if some leader in some country pushes the 1st nuclear war button. As an informed species we humans are entirely in the dark, unaware of the immanent danger of both nuclear arms and nuclear power plants, and most articles we read from the mass-media editors and writers have no idea that nuclear war today will be like no other war in the history of the world — potentially as dangerous and far more explicitly sudden, asteroid collision over 65 million years ago, as the last (5th) Earth Extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs and other life on Earth before mankind showed up and eventually discovered uranium. We, mankind, are about to cause the 6th Extinction if just one nuclear armed country fires on another with an ICBM carrying a single multi-kiloton nuclear bomb.

We read ridiculously childish uninformed articles every day from the media about how we have reduced the number of nuclear weapons since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, for instance, implying that the world is a safer place now than then, but the article editor or author has no idea that the ‘number’ of nuclear weapons has nothing at all to do with the ‘power’ of nuclear weapons between then and now. And that story, among daily dozens of others with long outdated knowledge and perceptions, is like listening to a ‘goodnight, sweet dreams’ story from a parent when we were small children compared to the reality of it all in our day-to-day nuclear-based waking hours now. Armageddon is a forgone conclusion unless we do an immediate about face and get rid of ‘all things nuclear’ forever with no exceptions, or even more doubtfully, some unknown but intelligent ‘life-force’ comes along and does it for us. ~llaw (Read on . . .)

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• THE GRAY AREA

What nuclear annihilation could look like

“The survivors would envy the dead.”

by Sean Illing

Jun 23, 2024, 4:00 AM PDT

Peter Zelei Images via Getty Images

How often do you think about all the ways the world could end?

As the host of The Gray Area, I find myself engaged in this macabre exercise more than most. We’ve done episodes on runaway AI and climate change and extinction panics. One of the few topics we haven’t covered, however, is nuclear war. Which is surprising because this scenario is near the top of basically every list of existential threats — and now feels newly salient with recent news involving North Korea, Iran, and China.

Annie Jacobsen is a reporter and the author of a new book called Nuclear War: A Scenario. I read a lot of books for the show and this one stuck with me longer than any I can recall. It’s a book that clearly wants to startle the reader, and it succeeds.

Jacobsen walks you through all the ways a nuclear catastrophe might unfold, and she gives a play-by-play breakdown of the terrifying choreography that would ensue in the minutes immediately after a nuclear missile launch.

So I invited Jacobsen on The Gray Area to talk about what a nuclear exchange would really look like and how perilously close we are to that reality. As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so listen and follow The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you find podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Sean Illing

I suspect the image most of us still have of nuclear bombs is the image of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but that was a long time ago. How much more powerful are the thermonuclear weapons we’re talking about today?

Annie Jacobsen

To give you an idea of a thermonuclear weapon, I went to one of the ultimate sources, a 93-year-old nuclear weapons engineer named Richard Garwin, probably the most famous nuclear weapons engineer, physicist, presidential adviser, still alive. Garwin drew the plans for the very first thermonuclear weapon. Its code name was Ivy Mike; it’s on the cover of my book. It was 10.4 megatons. 

AD

So consider that the Hiroshima bomb that you referenced was 15 kilotons and then think about 10.4 megatons. It’s about 1,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs detonating at the same time from the same center point. Garwin explained it to me in the simplest of terms when he asked me to visualize this fact: A thermonuclear weapon uses an atomic bomb as its fuse inside of the weapon. That’s how powerful it is.

Sean Illing

Paint the picture for me, as you do in the opening pages of the book, where you imagine a nuke is dropped on Washington, DC. What happens next?

Annie Jacobsen

So with a 1-megaton bomb on Washington, DC, what happens in the very first millisecond is that this thermonuclear flash expands into a ball of fire that is one mile of pure fire. It’s 19 football fields of fire. 

Then the fireball’s edges compress into what is called a steeply fronted blast wave — as dense wall of air pushing out, mowing down everything in its path three miles out, in every direction, because it is accompanied by several-hundred-mile-an-hour winds. 

It’s like Washington, DC, just got hit by an asteroid and the accompanying wave. When you think about this initial 9-mile diameter ring, imagine every single engineered structure — buildings, bridges, etc. — collapsing.

There’s also a thermonuclear flash that sets everything on fire and melts lead, steel, and titanium. Streets nine miles out transform into molten asphalt lava. The details are so horrific; it’s important to keep in mind these are not from my imagination. These are sourced from Defense Department documents because the Atomic Energy Commission and the Defense Department have been keeping track of what nuclear bombs do to people and to things ever since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings of 1945.

Sean Illing

When all that happens, we’re in what you call “Day Zero,” and then the nuclear winter begins. What does that look like?

Annie Jacobsen

One of the big premises of the book was to take readers from nuclear launch to nuclear winter and the nuclear launch up to Day Zero takes place over this horrifying 72-minute period. As STRATCOM Commander General [C. Robert] Kehler said to me in an interview when we were talking about a nuclear exchange between Russia and the United States: “Yes, Annie, the world could end in the next couple of hours.” 

AD

So nuclear winter begins in essence after the bombs stop falling and there is a process of mega-fires. The area around every nuclear detonation is going to ultimately result in what is known now as a mega-fire. You’re talking about 100 to 300 square miles of fire per bomb where everything in that area is burning until it doesn’t exist anymore. This is because, of course, there are no first responders anymore. There are no fire trucks, there’s no way to put anything out. 

With all of these explosions, 330 billion pounds of soot gets lofted into the troposphere. That is enough soot to block out 70 percent of the sun, creating a dramatic temperature plunge up to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, certainly in the mid-latitudes. 

Those areas, for example, from Iowa to Ukraine, that whole band of the mid-latitudes, the bodies of water in those areas become frozen over in sheets of ice. With that temperature drop, you have the death of agriculture and that is why nuclear winter after nuclear war will result in what is now estimated to be 5 billion dead.

Sean Illing

And if I remember correctly, those models also estimated that in places like Iowa and Ukraine temperatures basically wouldn’t go above freezing for something like six years at least. Is that right?

Annie Jacobsen

That’s right. 

I was reading Carl Sagan, who was one of the original five authors of the nuclear winter theory, who wrote about how after these bodies of water that get frozen over for years, after they thaw out and expose all the dead people, you then have to deal with the pathogens and the plague. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier during the Kennedy administration, once said to Kennedy when the two of them talked about this, that “after a nuclear war, the survivors would envy the dead.”

Sean Illing

After all the reporting you did, are you confident that there are enough checks and guardrails in place to ensure that we’ll avoid a nuclear exchange if it’s at all possible?

Annie Jacobsen

Let me answer that question with a quote from the current secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres, who said, “The world is one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away, from nuclear annihilation.”

Sean Illing

What does that really mean?

Annie Jacobsen

What it means is exactly what he said: that we could just have a mishap. We could have a mishap caused by a misinterpretation. A miscalculation would be one nuclear-armed nation thinking another nuclear-armed nation was doing something that maybe it wasn’t doing. 

AD

This gets us into some of the crazy policies that exist on the books, things like “launch on warning” whereby once the United States learns that it is being attacked by an ICBM or a sub-launched ballistic missile, the president then has six minutes to decide how he should respond, with nuclear weapons. That’s what Guterres is talking about when he talks about a miscalculation. 

Sean Illing

How much room is there for human agency in these command and control protocols? You always hear people say in presidential elections, “Do we really trust that guy with the nukes?” But is that the right way to think about this? 

Annie Jacobsen

You’re raising an existential question that everyone should be raising. 

We’ve been living in what some call a 79-year experiment. Yes, you could say, “Deterrence has held all these years.” Never mind the fact that there used to be two nuclear-armed nations, and there are now nine; never mind the fact that you have new technology factors coming into the mix. 

Never mind the fact that nuclear saber-rattling has suddenly become acceptable among world leaders. This is astonishing. If you look at history, this was never part of the rhetoric, particularly out of the mouth of a US president, as happened with the former President Trump.

When I began reporting this book, the fundamental question that I was trying to answer was not, “Is deterrence great?” but rather what if deterrence fails? The Defense Department predicates its nuclear arsenal on this idea that deterrence will hold. That is the fundamental assumption. It’s written everywhere. “Deterrence will hold.” 

Well, I also found a discussion with the deputy general of STRATCOM talking to his colleagues, not in a classified setting but in a somewhat rarified setting. What he said was this: “If deterrence fails, it all unravels.” 

Sean Illing

I think it was former CIA Director Michael Hayden who told you explicitly that this process is designed for speed and decisiveness. It is not designed to debate the decision. On some level, I get that. But the automaticity of the whole process, given the stakes, is more than a little terrifying.

Annie Jacobsen

You better believe it is. And Hayden actually told that to members of Congress. And by the way, I believe that with the rhetoric from the former president, Donald Trump, all that talk about “fire and fury” with North Korea, it worried Congress to such a degree that they issued a number of reports that drilled down on a couple concepts that the public was not clear on. 

AD

One of them had to do with what’s called sole presidential authority. So when Trump was saying, “I have a bigger button,” and that kind of rhetoric, Congress released a couple reports making clear that the president of the United States does have sole presidential authority. That means he needs to ask permission of no one to launch a nuclear war — not the secretary of defense, not the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and not Congress.

Sean Illing

You write something near the end of the book imagining that the secretary of defense, who’s the acting president in this hypothetical situation, what if this person has a crisis of conscience and wonders, “Is there really any point in firing these bombs and wiping out the other half of humanity?” 

And it’s pretty clear that there really isn’t any room for that because the whole logic of deterrence is predicated on the absolute promise that the process is fixed and automatic. That’s what makes it a deterrent. But then again, it imprisons the actors in this process so that they don’t really have any control over it.

Annie Jacobsen

Let me add something because Dr. Glen McDuff of the Los Alamos Laboratory, who is both a nuclear weapons engineer who worked on the Star Wars program during the Reagan administration and has served as the historian at the classified library at the lab. I asked him, “Do you think anyone would defy orders?” And he said, “Annie, you have a better chance at winning Powerball.”

Sean Illing

Is there some near-future where in order to further reinforce the automaticity of this process, we just have AI controlling the whole thing from start to finish? 

Annie Jacobsen

I can’t imagine a worse nightmare scenario than bringing AI, or more machine-learning technology, into the mix. There’s an incredible amount of machine learning that is built into the system. For example, the satellite detects the launch and then that data is processed in space. About one-tenth of the way to the moon is where a geosync satellite sits and that data is processed and streamed down to the nuclear command and control bunkers in the United States. This is happening in seconds. But to the idea of putting an “AI” into the mix on the human decision-making level or identifying level, that seems like a recipe for disaster and is a reason why so many of the systems within the triad are still analog, not digital. In other words, they continue to be similar systems to when they were invented decades ago so that they can’t be hacked.

Listen to the rest of the conversation and be sure to follow The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Sunday, (06/23/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

What nuclear annihilation could look like – Vox

Vox

How often do you think about all the ways the world could end? As the host of The Gray Area, I find myself engaged in this macabre exercise more …

PhD historian breaks down how anti-nuclear movement drastically impacted global energy sector

The Cool Down

… all for nuclear energy and had ideas about why some people are against it. One commenter said: “Nuclear energy is the most misunderstood thing ever.

Nuclear confusion: the Coalition’s power plan is becoming less and less clear

The Guardian

After comparing all the scenarios, the same report says there is “no role for nuclear energy unless costs are constrained and renewable energy growth …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Coalition won’t say how much nuclear power its plan will generate until after an election

ABC

The Coalition is unable to say how much nuclear energy it plans to generate, its energy spokesperson says. The amount of power is one of many details …

Dutton defends nuclear power plan, takes aim at Albanese – ABC News – ABC

Full Coverage

Coalition reveals plan for independent authority to rule on nuclear power plant output

The Guardian

Ted O’Brien says Labor must respect mandate for nuclear if opposition wins election, but will not say if Coalition will drop policy if Labor …

Coalition’s nuclear gamble | Insiders | ABC News – YouTube

YouTube

00:00 Welcome to Insiders. 00:39 We now know where the Coalition wants to build reactors. We don’t know the cost, the impact on power prices.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Room for improvement at US nuclear plants-task force | Reuters

Reuters

… emergency planning for nuclear plants in this country,” Charles Miller, head of the NRC task force, said at a public briefing for the agency’s …

More than 1,000 without power in Bridgeport – WBOY.com

WBOY.com

The estimated restoration time is 6:30 p.m.. If you are at risk due to high temperatures and without power, contact your county or local emergency …

China’s first industrial nuclear–powered steam generation project goes online | The Star

The Star

… energy supply, China is already a global leader in nuclear power generation. … Hong Kong holds mass drill to prepare for crowds, emergencies at Kai …

Nuclear War

NEWS

What nuclear annihilation could look like – Vox

Vox

With that temperature drop, you have the death of agriculture and that is why nuclear winter after nuclear war will result in what is now estimated to …

Russia could reduce decision time for use of nuclear weapons, lawmaker says | Reuters

Reuters

Moscow and Washington have cut the number of their weapons as the Soviet Union crumbled, but the Cold War arms control architecture has crumbled …

Russia could reduce decision time for use of nuclear weapons, lawmaker says – Swissinfo

Swissinfo

The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, with President Vladimir …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia could reduce decision time for use of nuclear weapons, lawmaker says | Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear weapons if Moscow believes that threats are increasing, parliament’s defence committee chairman said. The war in Ukraine has triggered the …

Nuclear drills, threats to Western capitals…. and then a desperate peace offering – Daily Mail

Daily Mail

Vladimir Putin has stepped up the rhetoric over nuclear warfare and doubled down on threats to the West in recent months – at the same time as Russian …

What nuclear annihilation could look like – Vox

Vox

… nuclear war. Which is surprising because this scenario is near the top of basically every list of existential threats — and now feels newly …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 23, 2024

1

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U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), hold a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on September 20, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Saturday, (06/22/2024)

As civilians who have slim to no access to valuable information needed to conduct our lives, including our elected bureaucrats and ‘experts’ on nuclear war who are constantly making recommendations or even lawful decisions based on little more than hot air, e.g. approving an increase in financial support of nuclear power plants (new ones, those in use, and even those shut down and rising from the dead), and arbitrarily loosening NRC safety rules and regulations for allowing new on-line plants in the future, all for meeting the impossible-to-achieve 2050 deadline to reach ‘net zero’ carbon when a majority of politicians don’t even understand what the meaning of ‘net zero CO2’ is.

Only two bureaucrats, thank you both, voted against the nuclear plan — so how do we have any idea from the constant official ‘yes’/’no’ responses we see daily in the media, both concerning nuclear power and nuclear war, are worth considering? Following are examples of articles (one relating to nuclear power; the other relating to nuclear war) that can easily be described as meaningless (for totally different reasons) because we don’t know and won’t admit that we don’t know what we think we know, so we blindly move forward for no logical reason, or we simply say, “but on the other hand”, when we can’t have it both ways. . . ~llaw

88-2: Only Markey, Sanders Oppose ‘Expensive, Risky’ Nuclear Power Expansion

Calling the vote “disappointing,” one campaigner warned: “Nuclear is, at best, a waste of resources. At worst, it’s a meltdown.”

JESSICA CORBETT

Jun 19, 2024

Just U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders on Tuesday voted against legislation that one scientist warned this week “will only increase the danger to people already living downwind” of nuclear power facilities.

The Fire Grants and Safety Act—which now includes provisions from the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act—passed 88-2, with six Republicans, three Democrats, and one Independent not voting.

Speaking on the upper chamber’s floor Tuesday, Markey (D-Mass.)—who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety—stressed his support for the United States Fire Administration and firefighter assistance grant programs, and those working to keep U.S. communities safe.

“Unfortunately, the vote today is not just for the lifesaving programs that I am staunchly on record as supporting,” he explained. “On the coattails of this noncontroversial bill to protect our heroes, our colleagues in the House tacked on a dangerous additional 90-page package of provisions that merged the Senate’s ADVANCE Act and the House’s Atomic Energy Advancement Act.”

The legislation—now on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk—puts “corporate profits over community cleanup,” the senator said. “Notably, the provisions from the Senate bill that would have provided a much-needed $225 million for communities affected by nuclear closures and $100 million to clean up contaminated tribal communities are not in the legislation anymore, as it came back from the House of Representatives—but the provisions to prop up the nuclear industry, they remain.”

Highlighting that the bill would, among other things, require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to rewrite its mission statement to say that its regulation and oversight should “not unnecessarily limit… civilian use of radioactive materials and deployment of nuclear energy,” Markey declared that the NRC “shouldn’t be the Nuclear Retail Commission.”

“We have a duty to set the strongest possible standards for domestic and international nuclear activities, as an example to the rest of the world,” he said of the United States. “We also have to clean up our existing messes, particularly in tribal and environmental justice communities, before investing in anything that might make those messes worse. As a result, despite my strong and continued support for the fire safety grants and my respect for my colleagues working on this issue, I must vote no.”

“It’s disappointing that the Senate chose to promote nuclear power when America is flush with energy options that are better for people and the planet.”

Praising Markey and Sanders (I-Vt.), Beyond Nuclear on Wednesday urged the bill’s critics to call their offices “to thank them for their courageous, wise, and good NO votes, despite it all,” adding that “they spoke truth to power, and have kept some glimmer of hope alive, despite this very dark moment in the cause of anti-nuclear, environmental, and environmental justice activism.”

The Senate’s approval of the legislation was celebrated by the nuclear industry and its advocates. Environment America noted that in addition to the NRC mission statement rewrite, the bill “promotes nuclear power, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and highly concentrated nuclear fuel, and the export of nuclear materials and technology.”

Johanna Neumann, senior director of the group’s Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy, said after the vote, “It’s disappointing that the Senate chose to promote nuclear power when America is flush with energy options that are better for people and the planet.”

“Nuclear is, at best, a waste of resources. At worst, it’s a meltdown,” she continued. “Why are we choosing to split atoms when it’s cheaper, faster, and better for the environment to cut energy waste and power our lives with wind and solar?”

“Government officials should embrace energy efficiency and renewables as the best solutions to America’s challenges,” she added.

Isaac Bowers, federal legislative director of Public Interest Research Group, similarly said that “American consumers have better energy options than nuclear power. It makes no sense to perpetuate this expensive, risky industry when America has an abundance of cleaner, safer, and more affordable renewable energy sources.”

June 22, 2024 Topic: Security Region: Europe Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: RussiaUkraineWar In UkrainePutinNuclear WeaponsMilitaryDefense

World War III Coming Soon? Putin Makes A New Nuclear War Threat over Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear threats against Ukraine and NATO have raised concerns. Despite these threats, a nuclear strike seems unlikely as the war currently favors Russia, with its forces on the rise and Ukraine’s recent counteroffensive faltering.

by Stavros Atlamazoglou

Summary and Key Points: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear threats against Ukraine and NATO have raised concerns. Despite these threats, a nuclear strike seems unlikely as the war currently favors Russia, with its forces on the rise and Ukraine’s recent counteroffensive faltering.

-However, Putin’s unpredictability and the Kremlin’s historical willingness to take drastic measures make future actions uncertain.

-Should the situation deteriorate for Russia, the risk of nuclear escalation could increase, leaving global leaders wary of Putin’s next move.

Putin’s Nuclear Threats: Is Russia’s Advantage in Ukraine Keeping Them at Bay?

Are you certain Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t use nuclear weapons against Ukraine?

If you ask this question in Washington, D.C., and around the European capitals, you will get contradictory answers.

Putin and Kremlin officials have been making regular nuclear threats against not only Ukraine but also NATO.

The latest such threat came yesterday during a joint press conference with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in North Korea.

Nuclear Threats from Putin…Again

Putin implied in recent press statements that he could authorize the Russian military to launch a nuclear strike—most likely tactical—against Ukraine if the war goes against him.

“Putin implicitly threatened to use nuclear weapons if the West enables Ukraine to decisively defeat Russia in order to undermine the international community’s cohering strategic vision of support for Ukraine,” the Institute for the Study of War assessed in a recent update on the war in Ukraine.

Putin’s coded nuclear remarks likely came in response to recent statements by NATO officials about the need for increased nuclear readiness with an eye toward Russia.

The West has braced for a Russian nuclear strike before, and at some point, the CIA was working on contingency plans on how to prevent such an attack. As of now, however, it seems highly unlikely that Putin will order a nuclear strike for a simple reason: his forces are on the rise.

Currently, the war is going in Moscow’s favor. The last large-scale Ukrainian counteroffensive last summer failed to achieve the intended operational breakthrough, despite Kyiv throwing into combat its most elite units equipped with Western weapon systems, such as Leopard 2, Challenger 2, and M1 Abrams main battle tanks and M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

Not only did the Ukrainian military fail to achieve an operational breakthrough, but the Russian forces also went on the counteroffensive and are now pressuring the Ukrainians along the contact line.

Russia Wins in Ukraine – but at a Massive Cost 

To be sure, the Russian forces are taking devasting casualties. In May alone, Moscow lost close to 40,000 men, or more than 1,000 a day, killed, wounded, or captured. Overall, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense assesses—and is largely corroborated by Western intelligence services—that Moscow has lost more than 530,000 men in the fighting so far. Casualties in heavy weapon systems are also high, with the Russian military losing every day more than 100 main battle tanks, artillery pieces, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, and unmanned aerial systems.

However, Russia has shown a remarkable force generation capability. Despite losing more than twice the initial invasion force, the Russian military has as many as 500,000 men in Ukraine. Their quality isn’t the best, but they make do for the Kremlin’s purposes.

So, right now, the Kremlin doesn’t have a reason to launch a nuclear weapon against Ukraine. However, if the situation on the ground changes, then that is another issue, and no one can accurately predict what a dictator like Putin can do.

About the Author: Biography and Military Expertise 

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Saturday, (06/22/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Senate sends major nuclear reforms bill to White House – ExchangeMonitor

ExchangeMonitor

If signed, the bill would among other things: Require that the … Mandate that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission assess every three years …

Powering down: New York’s Indian Point debacle; nuclear energy is part of the green future

New York Daily News

We’re not talking about solar or wind or geothermal power, all of which are welcome, but nuclear, like Indian Point — which, especially with new …

Turner Doubles Down on Russian Nuclear ASAT Threat – SpacePolicyOnline.com

SpacePolicyOnline.com

… about Russia’s plans to place a nuclear weapon in orbit. … all known information concerning the status of Russia’s nuclear antisatellite weapons …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Vietnam and Russia discuss nuclear energy collaboration

World Nuclear News

A memorandum has been signed relating to the construction project for a Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology in Vietnam – with discussions …

Congress passes bill to jumpstart new nuclear power tech | Ars Technica

Ars Technica

The bill’s language focuses on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and its role in licensing nuclear reactor technology. The NRC is directed to …

U.S. Senate passes bill aimed at speeding up advanced nuclear deployments

Power Engineering

The ”Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2024,” or ADVANCE Act, aims to speed up permitting and create new …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Have a Go Bag ready in case of an emergency during hurricane season | CW39 Houston

CW39 Houston

… emergency or when you need to act fast, we can sometimes forget things … The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear–powered aircraft carrier, is …

A needless holiday – Newspaper – DAWN.COM

Dawn

THE government declared holiday on May 28 to commemorate Youm-i-Takbeer. I am proud of my country being a nuclear power, but people of the country …

JAL flight makes emergency landing in northern Japan – XM

XM

… emergency landing on Saturday, a company … Ukrainian drones knock out two substations near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Russia-installed…

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin Issues Nuclear Warning to West – Newsweek

Newsweek

Earlier this month, Vladimir Putin warned that his country’s nuclear doctrine is “a living instrument” that can be changed.

World War III Coming Soon? Putin Makes A New Nuclear War Threat over Ukraine

The National Interest

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear threats against Ukraine and NATO have raised concerns. Despite these threats, a nuclear strike …

Putin Gives Ominous Nuclear Triad Warning – Newsweek

Newsweek

Vladimir Putin used his speech before Russian military graduates to announce an upgrade to the country’s nuclear arsenal.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

World War III Coming Soon? Putin Makes A New Nuclear War Threat over Ukraine

The National Interest

Putin and Kremlin officials have been making regular nuclear threats against not only Ukraine but also NATO. The latest such threat came yesterday …

There won’t be a debate on nuclear issues this election cycle. But if there were…

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

… threats of nuclear war, how would you protect America from such action? Speaking of Russia, the last treaty limiting nuclear weapons, the New …

Putin Gives Ominous Nuclear Triad Warning – Newsweek

Newsweek

Putin Issues New Ominous Nuclear Threat. By Hugh Cameron. Live News … Israel at War Vladimir Putin Russia-Ukraine War Donald Trump. Subscriptions …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Human

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 22, 2024

1

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From the left, clockwise, Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, the leaders of the U.S., Russia, China and North Korea, respectively. A Harvard expert has suggested that we are closer to… More PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NEWSWEEK/GETTY IMAGES

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Friday, (06/21/2024)

For the complete text of Harvard Professor Bunn’s click on the link to the journal “Science” in the third paragraph of the Newsweek article.

My problem with these kinds of stories is that they almost always bring up the issue of elapsing treaties and half-way civilized leaders of the 9 countries that have nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Neither issue is the case so far as relying on avoiding nuclear war is concerned. Pretending that humans are humanitarian and will do the right thing has disappeared forever (if, in fact, it ever existed, which I doubt). We are now faced with nuclear weapons capable of destroying all life on planet Earth hundreds if not thousands of times over with nothing more than the presently existing nuclear weapons. The reduction in quantity since 1962 is meaningless, having been replaced by incredibly more powerful bombs. An entire city and its surrounds, such as Washington, D.C. can be totally destroyed with just one of several thousand nuclear bombs presently in existence and ready to launch.

The only effective avoidance of nuclear war thus far, especially in recent years, has been a thing called ‘deterrence’, which consists of world leaders’ lying, threatening one another with “I am tougher than you” face-to-face threats like grade-school kids on a recess playground confrontation. But ‘deterrence’ cannot continue to be the spoiler of nuclear war because continuing to build more and more bigger, stronger, far more powerful nuclear weapons in order to threaten supposedly weaker nations becomes an impossible defense because such threats are already meaningless fabrications and have grown beyond belief as well as patently unaffordable to continue on in defense of an awaiting nuclear holocaust. As Annie Jacobsen writes in her book “Nuclear War: A Scenario”, “deterrence has failed.” In other words the ‘lying games’ are all over with, and nuclear war is inevitable. ~llaw

Published Jun 20, 2024 at 2:00 PM EDTUpdated Jun 21, 2024 at 7:03 AM EDT

01:03

Putin Warning: World ‘Close To Point Of No Return’

By Jess Thomson

Science Reporter

FOLLOW

A Harvard professor has warned the world is dangerously close to nuclear war at a time when leading experts key to preventing such conflicts are “aging out,” pleading with leaders to urgently seek help from a new generation of scientists and engineers.

Matthew Bunn, a professor of energy, national security and foreign policy, said “the risk of nuclear war has not been so high since the Cuban Missile Crisis” in 1962.

“Dark clouds loom on the nuclear horizon, with threats from all directions,” he wrote in an editorial for the scientific journal Science, released Thursday. “The world could soon face an unrestrained arms competition for the first time in over five decades—and a more complex one involving more countries and more technologies.”

In his editorial, Bunn warned the 2010 New START Treaty is the last remaining agreement limiting U.S. and Russian nuclear forces, but it expires in 2026, with Russia blocking required inspections and no new talks underway.

He pointed to a global landscape that is marked by heightened nuclear tensions, including: Russia’s nuclear threats in the Ukraine conflict; China’s construction of numerous missile silos; North Korea’s missile testing; ongoing nuclear rivalry between India and Pakistan; and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

In response to these events, U.S. policymakers are contemplating a potential nuclear arms buildup. Additionally, advancements in technologies like hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence are further destabilizing military balances.

As of 2024, there are more than 12,000 nuclear warheads around the world. According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has around 5,580 warheads, the U.S. has about 5,100, China has 500, and France and the U.K. have 290 and 225, respectively. India and Pakistan each have about 170, Israel has 90 and North Korea 50.

Historically, non-governmental dialogues among scientists and engineers have facilitated arms control agreements, Bunn said.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
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Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Friday, (06/21/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Opinion: The great powers are itching for another nuclear arms race. Who will stop them?

Los Angeles Times

More deployed nuclear weapons are an existential danger to us all. Don’t leave it to generals, bureaucrats and politicians to decide your fate.

Donald Trump’s horrifying thoughts on pressing nuclear button revealed in upcoming book …

The Economic Times

Former Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has made startling revelations about the horrifying thoughts of Donald Trump in his upcoming book …

Peter Dutton’s nuclear fiction ignores too many legal obstacles – Crikey

Crikey

I felt conflicted about treating Peter Dutton’s nuclear “policy” as serious enough to warrant any response at all. But then I read an ABC headline …

Nuclear Power

NEW

Coalition’s nuclear power plant proposal draws mixed opinions from Port Augusta community – ABC

ABC

… nuclear power plants it has pledged to build if elected. Mayor Linley Shine says a number of energy and infrastructure proposals have been …

Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan is an economic disaster that would leave Australians paying …

The Guardian

Almost all nuclear power plants in Europe and North America were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s.

A bipartisan energy bill boosting nuclear power heading to President Biden’s desk

The Mercury News

Democrats and Republicans just passed legislation aimed at promoting the growth of future nuclear power plants, and President Joe Biden is …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Army’s Nuclear teams trained with Rangers and Green Berets – Task & Purpose

Task & Purpose

A unique team of Army soldiers who train to defuse nuclear emergencies … NDTs train for doomsday-style scenarios like sabotaged nuclear power plants …

Nuclear War

NEWS

U.S. and China hold first informal nuclear talks in five years | Reuters

Reuters

Beijing’s representatives told U.S. counterparts that they would not resort to atomic threats over Taiwan.

Harvard Expert Issues Urgent Nuclear War Warning: ‘Dark Clouds Loom’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

The world could soon face “unrestrained arms competition…involving more countries and more technologies,” Harvard nuclear tension expert Matthew …

Joe Biden must publicise Russian nuclear threat to avoid ‘day zero’: US lawmaker

South China Morning Post

Ominous words from chairman of House Intelligence committee uttered amid reports Moscow is developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon.

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Harvard Expert Issues Urgent Nuclear War Warning: ‘Dark Clouds Loom’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

… nuclear war has not been so high since the Cuban Missile Crisis” in 1962. “Dark clouds loom on the nuclear horizon, with threats from all …

Putin’s threat of nuclear war is ‘not a joke’ – YouTube

YouTube

Putin’s threat of nuclear war is ‘not a joke’. 3K views · 5 hours ago … Biden’s FTC Chair SHAKING After Jim Jordan Details Her Threats Against Witness.

Putin Issues Nuclear Warning to West – Newsweek

Newsweek

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Thursday to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine over claims that the West is “lowering the threshold …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Unveiling The Threat: How Yellowstone Volcano Could Affect Texas – KLAQ

KLAQ

Even though Yellowstone is miles away in Wyoming, the Yellowstone Caldera is still considered one of the BIGGEST supervolcanoes in the world. Now …

A Big Volcano near Idaho Could be ready for a New Eruption

News Radio 1310 KLIX

It may also be nothing, but seismic activity beneath Yellowstone has calmed. We’re told that it’s pretty close due to an eruption. It goes up roughly …

Models Show What Could Happen in Montana if Mount St. Helens Erupts Again

Newstalk KGVO

Living in Montana and our proximity to the Yellowstone caldera, we’re aware that volcanic features regularly produce small earthquakes. While the …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 20, 2024

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Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump . . . Would you trust Trump to avoid nuclear war?

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Thursday, (06/20/2024)

Just one question in response to the “The Hill” article below: Would you trust Trump to be in charge of the the nuclear button, or ‘football’, as it is called these days? ~llaw

Bo

ok recalls Trump’s quip on pressing nuclear button: US ‘won’t be second’

BY BRETT SAMUELS – 06/20/24 7:30 AM ET

Former President Trump said many controversial things in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, but it was something he told then-Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló about nuclear war while touring storm damage that stunned Rosselló.

In a memoir due out Tuesday, Rosselló recounts Trump’s visit to the island to tour damage from the Category 5 storm that killed thousands of people and devastated the island’s infrastructure.

In an excerpt obtained exclusively by The Hill, Rosselló details a conversation with Trump during a helicopter tour.

“‘Nature has a way of coming back,’ Trump said. ‘Well, it does until it does not. Who knows with nuclear warfare what will happen…,’” Rosselló writes in “The Reformer’s Dilemma.”

“And then, he said the one thing that made me more concerned than anything else in the entire visit. ‘But I tell you what…’ He paused for effect. ‘If nuclear war happens, we won’t be second in line pressing the button.’ This statement floored me. I could not believe what I was hearing. It was surreal. Was he really talking about total annihilation as we flew over the ravaged sights of the island?” Rosselló wrote.

During Trump’s presidency, lawmakers and activists frequently raised concerns about the prospect that he might trigger a nuclear war. Those concerns were particularly heightened over his rhetoric toward North Korea, such as when he posted in 2018 that he had a “much bigger & more powerful” nuclear launch button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump has in recent years warned of the dangers of a nuclear war, citing the conflict in Europe after Russia invaded Ukraine and suggesting it could bring about the start of World War III.

The Trump campaign in a statement defended his foreign policy record and said the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee for November “abhors the idea of nuclear war.”

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the world was safer and more peaceful than any time in decades. President Trump abhors the idea of nuclear war,” campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Hill. “That’s why his historic diplomacy with North Korea stopped the regime’s nuclear tests and long range missile launches, which resumed after Biden took office.

“President Trump negotiated historic UN Security Council sanctions on Iran that left the regime weak and broke—until Biden enriched them,” he continued. “And it’s Joe Biden who is leading the world to the precipice of World War 3. President Trump’s top priority will be the safety and security of the American People. He is determined to return the world to peace.” ​​​​

Hurricane Maria was one of the early flash points of Trump’s term, as he visited the island to tour damage but also disparaged some local officials and cast doubt on an official death toll, while his administration was slow to deliver aid.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are two Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Thursday, (06/20/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Tova podcast on All things nuclear: War, fallout and NZ’s nuke-free stance | Stuff

Stuff

Tova podcast explores how a nuclear war could play out, how catastrophic it would be, how likely and where NZ fits into it all.

Nuclear isn’t just talk anymore in Kemmerer, Wyoming. It’s now a new lease on life | KUER

KUER

All Things Considered. Next Up: 7:00 PM Marketplace. 0:00. 0:00. All Things … “I don’t know too much about the nuclear stuff. I just don’t. I’m just …

Book recalls Trump’s quip on pressing nuclear button: US ‘won’t be second’ – The Hill

The Hill

Ricardo Rosselló about nuclear war while touring storm damage that stunned Rosselló … All rights reserved. This material may not be published …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

The Senate just passed a critical clean energy bill to pave the way for more nuclear | CNN

CNN

Democrats and Republicans in a bitterly divided Congress can agree on one thing: the US needs more nuclear to power America’s rapidly growing …

Dutton’s nuclear power plan relies on convincing the states and managing waste, but first … – ABC

ABC

A nuclear cooling plant with a bird flying in front of it. Peter Dutton has finally unveiled his nuclear energy plan but getting the states and …

Nuclear reactor safety constantly improving: expert – ABC listen – ABC

Full Coverage

‘No credible reason’ to expect cheaper power bills under Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy plan …

The Guardian

… power bills under Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy plan, experts say. Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute rejects Coalition’s claim electricity prices …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

New England Power Grid Declares Emergency as Temperatures Soar – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

… Nuclear PowerThe UK’s Muddy Fields Are Latest Climate Threat to Food Security. Level 1 grid emergencies indicate that more power supplies are …

New England Power Grid Declares Emergency as Temperatures Soar – Energy Connects

Energy Connects

(Bloomberg) — New England’s power grid operator declared a level 1 emergency alert in a bid to shore up supplies, as a powerful heat wave gripped the …

Focus on reliability for coolant pumps – Nuclear Engineering International

Nuclear Engineering International

Recent improvements in reactor core isolation cooling (RCIC) emergency cooling pump technology are designed to ensure that nuclear power stations …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Book recalls Trump’s quip on pressing nuclear button: US ‘won’t be second’ – The Hill

The Hill

President Trump abhors the idea of nuclear war,” campaign spokesperson Steven Chueng said in a statement to The Hill. “That’s why his historic …

Putin says Russia is considering changing its nuclear doctrine | Reuters

Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was thinking about possible changes to its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Terrorism ‘Risks Are High,’ Researchers Warn – Newsweek

Newsweek

“We had a war on terror after 9/11, but that didn’t succeed in eliminating the terrorism threat,” Flynn said. “Terrorism continues to morph.” Read …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Asian Fears Come True as North Korea’s Russia Pact Amplifies Threat

The New York Times

… threat that North Korea and its nuclear arsenal poses to its neighbors. But the stunning revival of a Cold War-era mutual defense agreement during …

Putin: Russia is considering changing its nuclear doctrine – Al Arabiya

Al Arabiya

… war Middle East; 3 Cyprus not part of Mideast war, its president says after Hezbollah threats 3 Cyprus not part of Mideast war, its president says …

China can exploit the US fear of nuclear escalation & create trouble at borders – ThePrint

ThePrint

… attack and Israel’s subsequent horrible war in Gaza, and the continuing threat of China’s attack in the South China Sea and Taiwan. The sense of …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

There were 806 fewer earthquakes in the Yellowstone region in 2023 than prior year, report says

Idaho Capital Sun

Every year since 2017, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory has summarized yearly geological activity — earthquakes, ground deformation, geyser …

There were 806 fewer earthquakes in the Yellowstone region in 2023 than prior year, report says

News From The States

Every year since 2017, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory has summarized yearly geological activity — earthquakes, ground deformation, …

End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 19, 2024

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What would our planet Earth look like after a nuclear WWIII and an eternal nuclear winter?

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Wednesday, (06/19/2024)

This article from the European Leadership Network caught my eye today as I was glancing through the headlines, wondering why two of my categories had no articles at all in the ‘Nuclear Power Emergencies’ and the ‘Nuclear War Threats’ sections. (Yet there was a relatively rare Yellowstone story) Go figure . . .

This presentation from the “ELN” is depressing, of course, as are all presentations of every kind about nuclear war and particularly a WWIII, but this one underestimates the initial blow to humanity from the very beginning and points out the after-affects of humanity attempting to recover from something similar, but much gentler, than most depictions of what a nuclear WWIII would be like — more like just one nuclear bomb dropped on one or two major cities in one or two major countries — with no further retaliation (which would not be the case) allowing that country or two along with the rest of the human world a chance at recovery struggling to survive, which in and of itself should not be underestimated difficulties associated with ongoing life, but none of which which fits into most WWIII scenarios.

But the story is worth reading, considering, pondering over, and acknowledging that even then, we might never succeed in restoring humanity and our ‘old’ comfortable ways of life, nor would we deserve to . . . I wonder if our beautiful Mother Earth would survive. Given enough time, I believe She would recover and support a more deserving kind of life. ~llaw

The European Leadership Network (ELN)

How would humans react to nuclear catastrophe?

Adam Thomson |Director

Paul Ingram |Research affiliate at the University of Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER)

Most people prefer not to think about the worst that can happen. Even those who talk of World War Three experience a mental block about imagining the aftermath.

But decisions taken over nuclear posture and potentially the use of nuclear weapons must fully account for the consequences. Ignorance weakens deterrence and exacerbates risk. We don’t plan national resilience so well. We reduce the chances of national survival, or at least human civilisation’s survival. We make recovery from catastrophe that much harder.

Scientists have been analysing what the physical consequences of an all-out nuclear war would be. Would soot in the atmosphere trigger a nuclear winter? What effects would a nuclear electro-magnetic pulse have on IT systems? Could nuclear survivors grow enough food to live? They have even tried to estimate the number of fatalities arising from different scales of nuclear war, concluding that fatalities from famine and climatic effects would likely be far greater than those from direct effects.

But if the concern is around deterrence, resilience, the survival of civilisation, and recovery, something is missing from their analysis. The cascading damage to human relations – social, economic, and political – could be just as destructive as the physical consequences. These social, economic, and political factors have barely begun to feature in the research, and (with some exceptions) there is little planning within governments for the aftermath of a nuclear exchange.

We can guess that in the face of extreme hardship, there would be heroism, compassion, inventiveness, and efforts at recovery. We can hope that there might be statesmanship and collaboration. But there would also be anarchy and chaos, driven by fear, misinformation, and tribalism.

Our complex world is now more vulnerable than it was when nuclear weapons were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The trains were running into Hiroshima within three days of the blast because nuclear radiation was not understood. Today, the fear of radiation is universal. It is easy to imagine that tens of millions would flee. It is harder to imagine borders being opened to them unless those borders were overwhelmed. Is Africa ready for the European migrant flood? Or Mexico for the American one?

Moreover, in 1945 only two cities were hit – with bombs relatively small by today’s standards. Each of the 40 or so UK nuclear warheads aboard a Trident submarine is more powerful by a factor of about six. There are thousands of weapons available to Russia and the US and hundreds to the other seven nuclear-armed states. The main nodes of civilisation in warring states – transport, shipping, energy, communications – might be hit multiple times.

Our highly interdependent modern systems of organisation, finance, and international trade mean that there are many more single points of failure. This risks triggering cascading disruptions through the value chains of the world’s economies.

At least 70% of global trade is in or with the North. Some 60% of the world’s servers are in the USA. The Euro-Atlantic and China account for over 50% of the world’s GDP. If all this were eliminated or massively disrupted, southern hemisphere societies might also implode.

Nuclear war would occur in the northern hemisphere. At least 70% of global trade is in or with the North. Some 60% of the world’s servers are in the USA. The Euro-Atlantic and China account for over 50% of the world’s GDP. If all this were eliminated or massively disrupted, southern hemisphere societies might also implode.

Even the leaderships within countries not immediately affected would experience severe challenges to governance – potentially without TV, radio, internet, social media, finances or even functioning economies.  Evidence is mixed on how humans react when in mortal crisis. But it seems likely that those local communities that still retained some resources and capabilities would prioritise their own survival in possibly self-defeating protectionism.

The nature, scale, and longevity of climatic, radiation and electromagnetic pulse effects from a nuclear Armageddon would be harder to forecast than a pandemic or rising sea levels.  And compared to climate change or a bio disaster its effects could be quite sudden and simultaneous, leaving little or no time for most of the international community to brace for the shock, let alone to adapt. Those areas unaffected directly by blast and radiation would need rapidly to anticipate reduced sunlight and cascading socio-economic impacts and take emergency action.

In summary, no communities, no corner of the planet would be immune. The second and third-order human effects could be massive. This includes vast population displacements, sudden disruptions to ordinary ways of life in countries far removed from the conflict, extreme dislocations of economies, acute tensions between affected nations, and significant loss of leadership and coordination capacity. Human civilisation might continue. But it could be a pale shadow, constrained, localised, and diminished.

So, what to do?

Avoiding nuclear catastrophe in the first place is the best answer. However, better understanding the full consequences of failure would enable us to factor the risk into our strategies going forward. ~Adam Thomson and Paul Ingram

Subscribed

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies (no stories today)
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats (no stories today)
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this evening’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Wednesday, (06/19/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

What to expect out of Putin’s visit to North Korea – WJCT News

WJCT News

It’s also concerned about North Korea’s nuclear program. … Michael Levitt is a news assistant for All Things Considered who is based in Atlanta, …

The Coalition’s nuclear power plan offers the worst of all energy worlds – The Guardian

The Guardian

We are blessed in Australia with ideal resources of sunshine, wind and land for renewable generation. That is our big comparative advantage. But what …

What to expect out of Putin’s visit to North Korea – NPR

NPR

Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. ANGELA STENT: Great to be on … It’s also concerned about North Korea’s nuclear program. It’s not quite …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Senate sends package bolstering nuclear power sector to Biden’s desk – The Hill

The Hill

The vote was 88-2. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opposed the measure.

U.S. Senate passes bill to support advanced nuclear energy deployment – Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear reactor technologies. Expanding nuclear power has broad bipartisan support, with Democrats seeing it as critical to decarbonizing the power …

Peter Dutton names seven potential nuclear power station sites but avoids questions on cost

The Guardian

Peter Dutton has announced the Coalition proposes to build seven nuclear power plants and two proposed small modular reactors, but dodged questions …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Is a nuclear conflict possible? – Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

Nuclear warhead stockpiles have reduced since the peak of the Cold War. But soaring new expenditures beg the questions of why these countries are …

Is a nuclear conflict possible? | Inside Story – YouTube

YouTube

spent by the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations in a single year. Nuclear warhead stockpiles have reduced since the peak of the Cold War. But new …

How would humans react to nuclear catastrophe? – European Leadership Network

European Leadership Network

Most analyses of the effects of nuclear war focus on the impacts in terms of casualties and climate shocks. But there would be many second-order …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

The YVO 2023 Annual Report Has Hit The Streets! – National Parks Traveler

National Parks Traveler

Editor’s note: Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.