Climatic effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Covey, C.

1985-01-01

Global climatic consequences of a nuclear war have, until recently, been assumed to be insignificant compared with the obviously devastating direct effects from blast, heat, and short-term fallout. But a number of investigations carried out over the past few years indicate that climatic impact could actually be severe enough to threaten the global ecosystem significantly, including regions that may not have been directly involved in the war. This change in perception comes as researchers realize that the fires ignited by nuclear explosions would generate so much smoke that, even spread over a large portion of Earth's surface, densities could be high enough to block most of the sunlight normally reaching the ground. As a result, temperatures could decrease below freezing in a nuclear winter lasting weeks to months. Smoke from fires is what would make nuclear winter so severe. Of necessity, theoretical models are relied upon to estimate the climatic impact of nuclear war. The models incorporate many uncertain assumptions, particularly regarding the small-scale details of smoke production by fires

A Nuclear Dilemma--Korean War Deja Vu

Science.gov (United States)

2006-03-08

USAWC STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT A NUCLEAR DILEMMA—KOREAN WAR DEJA VU by Lieutenant Colonel Trent A. Pickering United States Air Force Colonel William...Lieutenant Colonel Trent A. Pickering TITLE: A Nuclear Dilemma—Korean War Deja Vu FORMAT: Strategy Research Project DATE: 8 March 2006 WORD COUNT: 19,270...1. REPORT DATE 15 MAR 2006 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2005 to 00-00-2006 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Nuclear Dilemma--Korean War Deja

After nuclear war - a nuclear winter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tangley, L.

1984-01-01

The environmental and biological consequences of nuclear war were discussed by more than 100 eminent biologists, physicists and atmospheric scientists at the recent World after Nuclear War conference. The long-term effects were determined to be worse than the well-known immediate effects. They predicted that 225 million tons of smoke would be generated within a few days in their baseline scenario. As a result, the amount of sunlight reaching the earth would be reduced to a few percent of normal and temperatures would fall to -23 0 C. About 30% of the northern middle latitudes would receive more than 250 rads radiation dose for several months and about 50% of the land area would receive more than 100 rads. Dangerous levels of solar ultraviolet light would burn through the atmosphere. It was also determined that these effects would be felt in the southern hemisphere. Those who survived the blast, fire and prompt radiation would face starvation from shutdown of plant photosynthesis and inhibition of phytoplankton photosynthesis. Huge wildfires and acid rains would stress any surviving plants and animals. Conference participants agreed that scientists had taken a new and significant step toward understanding the full consequences of nuclear war

Widespread after-effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teller, E.

1984-01-01

Radioactive fallout and depletion of the ozone layer, once believed catastrophic consequences of nuclear war, are now proved unimportant in comparison to immediate war damage. Today, ''nuclear winter'' is claimed to have apocalyptic effects. Uncertainties in massive smoke production and in meteorological phenomena give reason to doubt this conclusion. (author)

Nuclear strategy: the doctrine of just war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raman, Sudha

2006-01-01

It is essential that there be growth in a man's moral standing if he has to deal with the great powers given to him-the greatest being the power to destroy. The bequest of history, diplomacy and war is undeniably disconcerting for the evidence it provides on the role of morality, in life. A return to the ancient and forgotten art of moral reasoning, especially while formulating strategic policies, is de rigueur. The discovery of the nuclear weapons has indeed been serendipitous. And the environment in which one fashions the strategic doctrine for use of nuclear weapons is dynamic. The usefulness of these nuclear weapons is narrow and specific in that its sole purpose is to deter a nuclear attack. History has been witness to strategies been woven around this central theme of deterring a rival or enemy nation, in the process forgetting the existence of the moral threshold. Deterrence is a policy that fashions a situation whereby war can be limited if not averted. It rests on the capability of a nation to deter the enemy and ensure that the credibility of the threat is maintained and respected and employed when necessary. Nuclear weapons deter but there is the pursuit of the absolute means to seek foolproof deterrence. Herein lies the dilemma. The stakes involved in a nuclear war and the use of these weapons stimulate varied and worried debates. To justify a war, arguments tend to get grounded on 'justwar'. The doctrine of Just War is concerned not with what men did in war but what they ought to do or refrain from doing; the jus ad bellum or justification of war and the jus in bello or the limitation of war. The U.S. now stands as the sole 'super' power that is willing to use its military and technical might for a 'just cause'. This has only ensured that though the uniquely perilous results of the use of nuclear weapons have been understood, its use remains entrenched in the mind while future policy decisions are being made. And nuclear weapons 'explode the theory of

Station blackout at nuclear power plants: Radiological implications for nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shapiro, C.S.

1986-12-01

Recent work on station blackout is reviewed its radiological implications for a nuclear war scenario is explored. The major conclusion is that the effects of radiation from many nuclear weapon detonations in a nuclear war would swamp those from possible reactor accidents that result from station blackout

The atmospheric and climatic consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sagan, C.

1984-01-01

The author discusses his recent research that has uncovered the fact that nuclear war may carry in its wake a climatic catastrophe, which he calls ''nuclear winter.'' He says the effects of nuclear war would not be restricted to the combatant nations. Agriculture in the Northern Hemisphere would be devasted by even a ''small'' nuclear war. The propagating ecological consequences all over the Earth are likely to be severe. The Southern Hemisphere will be cold and dark. Global arsenals, now about twenty times the nuclear winter threshold, are growing

Nuclear war as false memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Timberlake

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper Timberlake outlines aspects of his creative practice as an artist, explaining his fascination for the ‘fictions of nuclear war’ – a war that never happened and so became the subject of ‘false memory’. Highlighting discontinued historical trajectories, the author shows how the cultural legacy of Britain’s nuclear test programme of the 1950s and ’60s may be explored meaningfully in paintings and photography resulting from his archival research at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Living in the Nuclear Age: Families and the threat of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demorest, D.M.

1991-01-01

The main interest of this research was to add to the body of knowledge about the possible psychological impact of the nuclear threat on the family unit. Data were utilized from the Family Interaction, Stress and Nuclear War study conducted by Jules Riskin, M.D. and Victoria Dickerson, Ph.D. at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. The sample consisted of ten families who were recruited for this study. In order to examine family-interaction variables and the impact of the threat of nuclear war, a standardized semi-structured family interview was conducted. Topics ranged from ordinary activities to external, non-nuclear stresses such as landslides or hurricanes, to the topic of nuclear war. A distinction is drawn between a family's level of nuclear concern while they discuss nuclear issues and a family's level of nuclear concern when viewed in the context of their overall pattern of family communication. In terms of family coping, family nuclear concern was found to be significantly related to two family-coping strategies. Families who utilized the coping strategies of seeking spiritual support and mobilizing the family to acquire and accept help were significantly less concerned about the threat of nuclear war

Ecological principles relevant to nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hutchinson, T.C.; Cropper, W.P. Jr.; Grover, H.D.

1985-01-01

The ecological principles outlined are very basic ones; the authors anticipate a readership trained in a broad range of disciplines, including those unfamiliar with the academic discipline of ecology. The authors include substantial discussion on ecophysiology (i.e., the responses of organisms to their environment) because this is relevant to the new understanding of the potential climatic consequences of nuclear war. In particular, the physiological sensitivity of organisms to reduced levels of light and temperature are a key part of the analysis of the potential ecological effects and agricultural effects of nuclear war. Much of the ecological analysis has been organized around major biological units called biomes. The authors describe the biome concept and discuss some of the environmental-climatic factors that are believed to control biome distribution. Emphasis is given to plants because of their controlling influence on ecosystem functions through their role as primary producers. Future reports are needed to address more fully the potential effects on animals. Much more research needs to be done on both plant and animal responses to the types of perturbations possible for the aftermath of a nuclear war. Another important element for analysis of the potential ecological consequences of nuclear war concerns recovery processes. As the post-nuclear war environmental extremes ameliorate, ecological communities in devastated regions would begin to reorganize. It is not possible to predict the course of such a succession precisely, but some principles concerning post-perturbation replacement (such as seed banks and germination), relevant successional patterns, and organism strategies are discussed

Conference on disarmament: prevention of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butler, R.

1985-01-01

Australia's Ambassador for Disarmament urges the Conference to establish an appropriate means for ensuring that practical work under Item 3 - the prevention of nuclear war - is carried out. The text of the Australian reply to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the prevention of nuclear war follows the Ambassador's speech

Nuclear deterrence and disarmament after the Cold War

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehman, R.F. II

1995-03-01

During the Cold War, nuclear arms control measures were shaped significantly by nuclear doctrine. Consequently, the negotiation of arms control agreements often became a battleground for different nuclear strategies. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union has been declared over. Today, both nuclear weapons policies and arms control objectives are again being reviewed. This document discusses points of this review.

Medical profession and nuclear war: a social history

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Day, B.; Waitzkin, H.

1985-01-01

Since World War II, individual physicians and medical organizations in the US have cooperated with the federal government in preparing for nuclear war. While most physicians have maintained a neutral stance, a minority have resisted federal policies. Health professionals participated actively at the wartime laboratories that developed the atomic bomb and in the medical research that followed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Professional organizations helped with civil defense planning for nuclear conflict during the Cold War of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Medical resistance to nuclear war began in the same period, gained wide attention with the growth of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the early 1960s, declined during the Vietnam War, and vastly increased in the early 1980s. Activism by health professionals usually has responded to government policies that have increased the perceived risk of nuclear conflict. The recent return of civil defense planning has stimulated opposition in medical circles. Ambiguities of medical professionalism limit the scope of activism in the nuclear arena. These ambiguities concern the interplay of organized medicine and government, tensions between science and politics, and the difficulties of day-to-day work in medicine while the arms race continues

Genetic consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oftedal, P.

1986-01-01

In the aftermath of a nuclear war, genetic effects may appear trivial in comparison with the enormity of the catastrophic development in the survivors' health and the environment. Gross effects are immediately or subtly demonstrable on the basis of diverse war scenarios. On the other hand, in a great number of organisms, genetic effects of radiation have been shown to occur according to a no-threshold dose-effect curve, thus implying that effects may be found even in situations and population groups where other direct effects are small. The discussions on the effects of nuclear war have indicated that whatever sector of effects is focused on, closer examination has, in each case - be it treatment of casualties, effects on climate, or effects on world trade - led to a picture of possible and often probable catastrophic collapse

How Nuclear South Asia is Like Cold War Europe:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cohen, Michael David

2013-01-01

Conventional wisdom states that the stability-instability paradox does not explain the effect of nuclear proliferation on the conflict propensity of South Asia and that nuclear weapons have had a different and more dangerous impact in South Asia than Cold War Europe. I argue that the paradox...... Europe and South Asia. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf may have adopted more moderate foreign policy towards India after experiencing fear of imminent nuclear war during the ten month mobilised crisis in 2002 as Nikita Khrushchev did forty years earlier. I argue that the stability-instability...... explains nuclear South Asia, that the similarities between nuclear South Asia and Cold War Europe are strong, and that conventional instability does not cause revisionist challenges in the long run. I develop and probe a psychological causal mechanism that explains the impact of nuclear weapons on Cold War...

The environmental effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacCracken, M.C.

1988-09-01

Substantial environmental disruption will significantly add to the disastrous consequences caused by the direct thermal, blast, and radiological effects brought on by a major nuclear war. Local fallout could cover several percent of the Northern Hemisphere with potentially lethal doses. Smoke from post-nuclear fires could darken the skies and induce temperature decreases of tens of degrees in continental interiors. Stratospheric ozone could be significantly reduced due to nitric oxide injections and smoke-induced circulation changes. The environmental effects spread the consequences of a nuclear war to the world population, adding to the potentially large disruptive effects a further reason to avoid such a catastrophe. 27 refs., 4 figs

Fear of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radil, T.

1987-01-01

Problem of psychological consequences of nuclear war threat is considered. Two categories of persons are distinguished: persons who are not decision-making but whose life is threatened, and persons who make decisions but are not responsible for them. An active approach to problems, related to a possible nuclear disaster, appears to be a powerfull socio-political means against nuclear danger and also has both psychotherapeutic and preventive meaning from the viewpoint of at least a partial liberation and protecion of people against the fear of nuclear death. By their effective activity among people, physicians and psychologists can effectively struggle against the fear of nuclear death

Effects of nuclear war on health and health services

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

This report reviews the findings since 1987 in the field of research related to the possible impact of nuclear war and nuclear explosions on health and health services. An annex contains the finding and conclusions of a 1989 United Nations study on the climatic and other effects of nuclear war. 1 tab

The effects of nuclear war. 2. rev. enl. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodejohann, J.

1982-01-01

Possible and probable effects of a nuclear war in Europe are described on the basis of a study by the Office of Technology Assessment, US Kongress ('The effects of nuclear war', Wash. D.C. 1979). (HP) [de

Sizing Post-Cold War Nuclear Forces

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Oelrich, I

2001-01-01

This study addresses the utility of, and need for, nuclear weapons a decade after the end of the Cold War with special focus on the numbers and types of nuclear weapons appropriate for particular requirements...

Technology of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broda, E.

1973-01-01

This Article is the Note of a lecture, which was hold by Engelbert Borda at the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna in 27. 03. 1973. The author describes the development of modern nuclear weapon systems and the resulting war strategies. He is concerned about a possible end of the ‚balance of terror’ and the development in automation of nuclear strike back strategies. (rössner) [de

Impacts of Geoengineering and Nuclear War on Chinese Agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, L.; Robock, A.

2011-12-01

Climate is one of the most important factors determining crop yields and world food supplies. To be well prepared for possible futures, it is necessary to study yield changes of major crops under different climate scenarios. Here we consider two situations: stratospheric sulfate geoengineering and nuclear war. Although we certainly do not advocate either scenario, we cannot exclude the possibilities: if global warming is getting worse, we might have to deliberately manipulate global temperature; if nuclear weapons still exist, we might face a nuclear war catastrophe. Since in both scenarios there would be reductions of temperature, precipitation, and insolation, which are three controlling factors on crop growth, it is important to study food supply changes under the two cases. We conducted our simulations for China, because it has the highest population and crop production in the world and it is under the strong influence of the summer monsoon, which would be altered in geoengineering and nuclear war scenarios. To examine the effects of climate changes induced by geoengineering and nuclear war on Chinese agriculture, we use the DSSAT crop model. We first evaluate the model by forcing it with daily weather data and management practices for the period 1978-2008 for all the provinces in China, and compare the results to observations of the yields of major crops in China (middle season rice, winter wheat, and maize). Then we perturbed observed weather data using climate anomalies for geoengineering and nuclear war simulations using NASA GISS ModelE. For stratospheric geoengineering, we consider the injection of 5 Tg SO2 per year into the tropical lower stratosphere. For the nuclear war scenario, we consider the effects of 5 Tg of soot that could be injected into the upper troposphere by a war between India and Pakistan using only 100 Hiroshima-size atomic bombs dropped on cities. We perturbed each year of the 31-year climate record with anomalies from each year of

Ecological and demographic consequences of a nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Svirezhev, Y.M.

1987-01-01

The impact of a nuclear war upon ecological and demographic processes is estimated. The direct effect of nuclear detonations, the radioactive contamination of territories, the pollution by heavy metals and acid rain, as well as the effect of the sharp decline in temperature of the atmosphere ('nuclear winter') are taken into consideration. Estimated is the extent of destruction for the ecosystems of different types. The recovery of ecosystems is shown to be extremely slow or impossible. Demographic and genetic predictions for the nuclear war consequences are presented for various regions of the world. (author)

Humanity can survive a nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greene, J.C.

1985-01-01

In this paper, the author expresses his belief that while a nuclear war would be a horrendous experience, the United States could still survive and ultimately recover. The author describes what the United States would be like two weeks after a full-scale attack against major military targets and population centers. He says about one half of the population will survive but their lifestyles will be drastically different. Although water distribution systems could be damaged and water service interrupted, analysis has shown that in most cases enough drinking water would be available. Food would also not be a serious complicating factor. With the right precautions, there is no intrinsic reason why life-support requirements for the survivors of a nuclear attack should not be met. The author also discusses how epidemics and diseases could be avoided. He also explains why the genetic effects of radiation are misunderstood and why a nuclear war would not cause sufficient mutations to threaten the survival of the society. The author concludes that the argument that a nuclear war could eliminate the human species or bring an end to civilization as we know it has not stood up to the light of objective and scientific examination

Licence prolongations of US nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-04-01

Licences of US nuclear reactors were initially attributed for a 40 years duration. However, the vast majority of the reactors can benefit of a licence prolongation for a period of 20 years maximum. This article recalls first the procedure to follow for the licence prolongation demands (safety analysis, components aging, environmental impact statement), and then it makes a status of the accepted prolongations, of the demands under examination, and of the demands that should be presented in the next 5 years. (J.S.)

Clausewitz Nuclear War and Deterrence

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Barr, Alan W

1991-01-01

.... The advent of nuclear weapons and their role in the evolving east-west struggle following the second world war created a situation, however, unforeseen by Clausewitz, where the most basic political...

Planet earth in jeopardy: environmental consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dotto, L.

1986-01-01

An attempt is made to describe the details of what nuclear war could actually mean for the world. The events during and following a possible large-scale exchange of nuclear weapons and all the associated uncertainties are presented. The first major uncertainty involves how many nuclear weapons could be used in the event of war. The discussion chooses half the world's stockpile, or 6000 megatons, as a basis for judging nuclear war's effects. Shock waves, an electromagnetic pulse, searing heat, and ionizing radiation account for the initial deaths and destruction. Petroleum and other organic materials combust to set up a nuclear winter and all the disturbances to agriculture, forests, waters, etc. This is where the book's greatest message comes through: the seriousness of the aftereffects, especially on agriculture, could far exceed the immediate effects

Nuclear War Education: Teaching the Most Important Academic Subject.

Science.gov (United States)

Ringler, Dick

1983-01-01

The state of nuclear war education in the college curriculum is briefly discussed, and a successful interdisciplinary course is described. Readings are listed for each course emphasis: nuclear science and weapons; consequences of their use; visions and nightmares; paths toward war: language, psychology, and politics; and paths toward peace. (MSE)

Climatic consequences of nuclear war: Working Group No. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knox, J.B.

1985-12-01

Research needs on the climate consequences of nuclear war were discussed. These include: (1) a better definition of the emissions from massive urban fires; (2) the exploration of prescribed forest burns; (3) the dirty cloud problem; (4) microphysical studies of soot; and (5) simulation of the second summer season after nuclear war

Biological effects of nuclear war. I. Impact on humans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harwell, M.A.; Grover, H.D.

1985-01-01

The studies of the effects of nuclear war over the last four decades have concentrated almost exclusively on immediate consequences like these, primarily because these were by far the dominant effects on humans and the environment in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Long-term and indirect effects have not been obvious. Detailed studies of the individual detonations over Japan and of nuclear tests since then have characterized well the immediate direct effects of blast, ionizing radiation, and thermal radiation. Such studies form the bases decision makers rely on to develop nuclear policies for the major powers. But the consequences of a large-scale nuclear war cannot be so readily extrapolated from the limited experiences in Japan. In this paper the authors review how the indirect and longer-term consequences for humans and the environment are now becoming better understood. This information fundamentally changes the way a modern nuclear war should be perceived

The biological consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehrlich, P.R.

1984-01-01

The author presents the consensus of a group of biologists on the likely biological effects of a large-scale nuclear war. Such a war would leave, at most, scattered survivors in the Northern Hemisphere. Those survivors would be facing extreme cold, hunger, water shortages, heavy smog and darkness without the support of an organized society. The ecosystems would be severly stressed and changing in ways that can't be predicted. In the Southern Hemisphere, events would depend on the degree of propagation of the atmospheric effects from North to South. People living in those areas will be very strongly affected by the war

9. Nuclear power plant service life prolongation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evropin, S.V.

1998-01-01

The problem of prolongation of nuclear power plant service life duration is discussed. A schematic diagram of the program developed in the course of activities dealing with NPP service time prolongation is shown and analyzed in details. It is shown that the basic moment when determining the strategy for NPP service time prolongation is the positive confirmation of the agreement between the NPP safety provisions and modern safety requirements. The other very important aspect of the problem is engineering substantiation of the measures assuring the reactor operation prolongation. The conclusion is made that available methods of recovering reactor materials properties, main components repair and replacement, the modern techniques for nondestructive testing of metals and NPP pipelines, as well as the developed approaches to reactor facility safety improvements make the prolongation of the Russian NPP service lifetimes possible from engineering viewpoint and economically desirable

The biomedicalisation of war and military remains: US nuclear worker compensation in the 'post-Cold War'.

Science.gov (United States)

Krupar, Shiloh

2013-01-01

This paper analyses the recent legislation and administration of United States nuclear worker compensation--the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Programme Act (EEOICPA)--in order to show the domestic impacts of war and the social order that has been established to respond to the Cold War legacy of occupational exposures, illness, and death. Examining the epistemological politics and material effects of compensation, an insufficiently analysed aspect of the Cold War, I argue that the system designed to redress the occupational exposures of nuclear workers accomplishes something else: obscuring the ethical problem of misinformation and missing data from the Cold War era; mobilising an industry of knowledge and market-economic opportunities in the arena of biomedical exposure assessment and dose reconstruction for parts of the former US nuclear complex; and, lastly, dematerialising and depoliticising geographies of the Cold War and its differential impacts through an individualistic epidemiological reprocessing of radiation exposures. The paper shows how the general claims procedure, combined with two methods mandated by EEOICPA--dose reconstruction and the probability of causation--effectively de-link workers from each other, and worksites from homes, pin compensation to a cost-benefit logic, implicate genuine scientific complexity and uncertainty in an ongoing denial of the toxic legacies of war, and ethically undermine the social justice aims of the legislation. The article ends by considering some of the ways that US nuclear workers have responded to living as the remains of both US bomb production and the compensation system.

Public perspectives of nuclear weapons in the post-cold war environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jenkins-Smith, H.C.; Herron, K.G. [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Institute for Public Policy; Barke, R.P. [Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). School of Public Policy

1994-04-01

This report summarizes the findings of a nationwide survey of public perceptions of nuclear weapons in the post-cold war environment. Participants included 1,301 members of the general public, 1,155 randomly selected members of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and 1,226 employees randomly selected from the technical staffs of four DOE national laboratories. A majority of respondents from all three samples perceived the post-cold war security environment to pose increased likelihood of nuclear war, nuclear proliferation, and nuclear terrorism. Public perceptions of nuclear weapons threats, risks, utilities, and benefits were found to systematically affect nuclear weapons policy preferences in predictable ways. Highly significant relationships were also found between public trust and nuclear weapons policy preferences. As public trust and official government information about nuclear weapons increased, perceptions of nuclear weapons management risks decreased and perceptions of nuclear weapons utilities and benefits increased. A majority of respondents favored decreasing funding for: (1) developing and testing new nuclear weapons; (2) maintaining existing nuclear weapons, and (3) maintaining the ability to develop and improve nuclear weapons. Substantial support was found among all three groups for increasing funding for: (1) enhancing nuclear weapons safety; (2) training nuclear weapons personnel; (3) preventing nuclear proliferation; and (4) preventing nuclear terrorism. Most respondents considered nuclear weapons to be a persistent feature of the post-cold war security environment.

Just war and nuclear weapons : just war theory and its application to the Korean nuclear weapons issue in Korean Christianity

OpenAIRE

Son, Changwan

2009-01-01

This thesis is primarily an application of the Christian tradition of Just War to the problems arising from the basing of US nuclear weapons in South Korea and the development of nuclear weapons by the regime in the North. The Christian theology of Just War has developed over the last two thousand years, adapting as first Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, through the break down of any enforceable norms in Europe‘s 'Dark Ages‘, to the emergence of the concept of th...

Licence prolongations of US nuclear power plants; Les prolongations de licence des centrales nucleaires americaines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-04-01

Licences of US nuclear reactors were initially attributed for a 40 years duration. However, the vast majority of the reactors can benefit of a licence prolongation for a period of 20 years maximum. This article recalls first the procedure to follow for the licence prolongation demands (safety analysis, components aging, environmental impact statement), and then it makes a status of the accepted prolongations, of the demands under examination, and of the demands that should be presented in the next 5 years. (J.S.)

Ukrainian Hybrid War – Quo Vadis?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rotărescu Carmen

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Although it is known for a long time, hybrid war taken place in Ukraine under the umbrella of Russian Federation surprised the whole world and produced the greatest worry for humankind’s fate since the World War II. The political and military analysts appreciate if the World War III does not come will at least follow a long time of a new cold war. Remembering the hybrid war is not declared, can be prolonged in time and the adversary is unknown, thus neither the aggressor state, it is hard to settle which are the countermeasures and how should be act when this clever adversary attacks you using hostile propaganda, to the limit of trick and war perfidy (the first is allowed as method of war, the latter is not, influences the political decision-makers by blackmail, military, economic and energetic deterrence or nuclear bombardments and undergoes subversive, clandestine actions and particularly it is hard to predict their consequences.

The nuclear lion: What every citizen should know about nuclear power and nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jagger, J.

1991-01-01

The stupendous energy in the atomic nucleus can be used to advance human welfare, and it has been so used ever since we learned how to release it. Nuclear medicine has revolutionized medical diagnosis and treatment, notably in dealing with cancer. Nuclear reactors have provided us with valuable radioactive atoms (radioisotopes) for use in research and industry, and they have given us cheap, clean power, which can drive a ship around the world on a tiny charge of fuel. On the other hand, we have unleashed the awesome power of nuclear weapons, and we must now face the almost incomprehensible devastation that awaits the world as it contemplates nuclear war. An all-out nuclear war would end modern civilization, and might well end humankind, to say nothing of countless other species of plants and animals. It would be, without question the greatest disaster of the last million years of the history of the Earth

Superpower nuclear minimalism in the post-Cold War era?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graben, E.K.

1992-07-01

With the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, the strategic environment has fundamentally changed, so it would seem logical to reexamine strategy as well. There are two main schools of nuclear strategic thought: a maximalist school, which emphasizes counterforce superiority and nuclear war-fighting capability, and a MAD-plus school, which emphasizes survivability of an assured destruction capability along with the ability to deliver small, limited nuclear attacks in the event that conflict occurs. The MAD-plus strategy is the more logical of the two strategies, because the maximalist strategy is based on an attempt to conventionalize nuclear weapons which is unrealistic

Peace and nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schweitzer, A.

1981-01-01

In the fifties and sixties, Albert Schweitzer fought for a policy of peace and warned of the dangers of nuclear war in speeches and publications. Reading his appeals again today, we find that they have lost nothing of their uncanny up-to-dateness. Just the opposite: The disaster predicted by Albert Schweitzer is a stronger threat now than it was at his time. (orig./HP) [de

Australia and nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denborough, M.A.

1985-01-01

This volume compiles the papers presented in the conference held in May 1983 under the auspices of the Center for Continuing Education at the Australian National University. It also includes some previously unpublished scientific research. The papers range from analyses of the atmospheric and medical consequences of nuclear war to summaries of the efforts of people in all walks of life to prevent a global catastrophe

The myth of nuclear deterrence: The lessons of the Cold War

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Yasuhiro

1997-01-01

The end of the Cold War has provided a great opportunity and an urgent need for recasting a long-range policy for nuclear weapons. At the moment, however, there is not much prospect of nuclear disarmament by the United States and Russia beyond START II, and no prospect of nuclear disarmament by the other states, while the chances of nuclear proliferation remain high. This paper explores the implications of the Cold War for further nuclear disarmament and preventing future nuclear proliferation, focusing on the notion of nuclear deterrence and the 'crystal ball effect' of nuclear weapons

Additional potential effects of nuclear war on ecological systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hutchinson, T.C.; Harwell, M.A.; Cropper, W.P. Jr.; Grover, H.D.

1985-01-01

The authors summarize biological and ecosystem responses to enhanced UV-B, air pollutants, radiation, and fire. The concentrations and biological responses associated with these perturbations are based on current experience and experimentation. Additional research is needed to quantify probable post-nuclear war exposures and potential responses. A summary is provided of all the potential effects of nuclear war on the variety of the Earth's ecosystems, including perturbations from climatic alterations, radiation, pollutants, and UV-B

Nuclear De-Alerting and the Search for Post-Cold War Nuclear Policy

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Fortney, Michael

1999-01-01

...... you just can't seem to get rid of it." While no longer the predominant defense issue, many still grapple with the strategic nuclear issue, wondering what we need to do with our "Cold War" nuclear arsenal...

The peace and nuclear war dictionary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, S.R.

1989-01-01

The Peace and Nuclear War Dictionary is organized so that entries and supplementary data can be located easily and quickly. Items are arranged alphabetically throughout, rather than grouped into chapters. When doubtful about how to locate an entry, consult the general index. Page numbers for terms appear in the index in heavy black type; subsidiary concepts discussed within entries can be found in the index, identified by page numbers in regular type. For study purposes, numerous entries have also been subsumed under major topical headings in the index, affording the reader access to broad classes of related information. The reader can also fully explore a topic by employing the extensive cross-references included in all entries. Many entries can be found as subsidiary terms, but in each case the concept is related to the main entry. The author has adopted the format of this book to provide the reader a variety of useful applications. These include its use as a dictionary and ready reference guide to the global language of peace and nuclear war; a study guide for introductory courses in Nuclear War and Peace of International Relations, or for any specialized course in the area; a supplement to a textbook or a group of paperback monographs adopted for use in these courses; a source of review material for the political science major enrolled in advanced courses; and a social science aid for use in business, education, government, policy sciences, and journalism

Atmospheric effects of a nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birks, J.W.

1983-01-01

The subject is discussed under the headings: nuclear war scenario (assumptions of size and place of explosions); fires; urban and forest fires; smoke and soot; darkness; meteorological and climatic effects; photochemical smog; ozone shield depletion; conclusions. (U.K.)

Medicine and nuclear war - helpless

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-01-01

At the end of the ''2nd Medical Congress for the Prevention of Nuclear War'' attention is again drawn to the fact that erroneous or intended use of nuclear weapons can kill hundreds of millions and make the earth unlivable. What physicians are refusing here is not to give whatever help they can or are obliged to. They are on strike against politicians and journalists who ascribe them an ability they do not possess. They refuse to be the objects of false praise pretending that they could be helpers or rescuers in the, unfortunately, not only possible but probable nuclear catastrophe. (orig./HSCH) [de

Climatic effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crutzen, P.J.

1987-01-01

Although considerable further research has been conducted since the writing of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) study, the main conclusions reached in early 1986 about the potential climatic, atmospheric, chemical, ecological, and agricultural consequences of a nuclear war are still valid, also taking into account the latest research results by Thompson and Schneider (1986). The main finding of the SCOPE study is that severe, large-scale, possibly global, climatic disturbances could result from a nuclear war in which a substantial fraction (10% or more) of the combustible materials in the NATO and Warsaw Pact nations would burn, producing several tens of million tonnes of soot. This could be caused by nuclear attacks on less than a hundred of the most important urban and industrial centres of these nations. As a consequence, it is estimated that surface temperatures might drop by more than 10 deg. C over a large fraction of the continents in the northern hemisphere and that rainfall could also be strongly reduced. These effects could last for weeks, maybe years. In many parts of the northern hemisphere agricultural productivity would be severely reduced, contributing to serious food shortages. 37 refs, 5 figs, 4 tabs

The history of Finnish nuclear non-proliferation policy during the cold war. What did the Finns know about nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahosniemi, A.

2004-03-01

This article is a summary of the Finnish historical survey during the Cold War. In the article, I try to show how the Finnish Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy during the Cold War is linked to the broader context of the Finnish foreign and security policy. In the research report I have focused on several questions. One of the most important is the following: What did the Finns know about nuclear weapons during the Cold War? And in this context scientific knowledge is meant by knowing something about nuclear weapons. Basically, the Finnish national based survey of nuclear non-proliferation policy attempted to investigate issues like the kind of research concerning Nuclear Technology in general, Nuclear weapons, and Nuclear weapon policies of super powers in Finland during the Cold War era. (author)

The possibility of nuclear war: Appraisal, coping and emotional response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanofsky, S.

1989-01-01

This study used Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) model of appraisal and coping to explore people's emotional response to the possibility of nuclear war. Sixty-seven women and 49 men participated in a questionnaire study. The sample represented a cross-section of Americans by age and ethnic group but had more education and higher occupational status scores than is typical for the greater population. Sampling limitations and the political climate at the time of questionnaire administration suggested that the present findings be interpreted cautiously. Nevertheless, results suggested the importance of appraisal, defined in this study as the estimated probability of nuclear war and beliefs that citizen efforts to reduce the likelihood of nuclear war can be effective, and coping as factors in people's nuclear threat related emotional response. Six of the study's 11 hypotheses received at least partial confirmation. One or more measures of nuclear threat-related emotional distress were positively correlated with probability estimates of nuclear war, individual and collective response efficacy beliefs, and seeking social support in regard to the nuclear threat. Negative correlations were found between measures of threat-related distress and both trust in political leaders and distancing. Statistically significant relationships contrary to the other five hypotheses were also obtained. Measures of threat-related distress were positively, rather than negatively, correlated with escape avoidance and positive reappraisal coping efforts. Appraisal, coping, and emotion variables, acting together, predicted the extent of political activism regarding the nuclear arms race. It is useful to consider attitudes toward the nuclear arms race, distinguishing between intensity and frequency of emotional distress, and between measures of trait, state, and concept-specific emotionality in understanding emotional responses

The meaning of nuclear war to adult men: A developmental approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miles, P.B.

1991-01-01

The study investigated the contextual and thematic meaning of nuclear war. Age-related differences were also investigated by sampling 36 male subjects in three age groups (20-27, 40-50, and above 60). Contextual meaning was measured by asking subjects to rate the meaning of nuclear war and three other threats (personal death, earthquake, and economic depression) on two questionnaires designed to explore personal meaning. Thematic meaning was measured by asking subjects to answer two open-ended questions. In terms of contextual meaning, the study found that, when compared to all other threats, nuclear war has a more extreme emotional meaning. In addition, meaning of nuclear war was found to shift across the adult lift span. In terms of thematic meaning, the study identified five themes describing causation and five themes describing effects. Age differences were found in thematic meaning. Oldest subjects emphasized rational causation, while middle-aged and younger subjects emphasized hopelessness and the impact on either inter-generational or intra-generational relationships. Age differences in meaning are discussed in terms of Eriksonian theory of adult development.

The meaning of nuclear war to adult men: A developmental approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miles, P.B.

1991-01-01

The study investigated the contextual and thematic meaning of nuclear war. Age-related differences were also investigated by sampling 36 male subjects in three age groups (20-27, 40-50, and above 60). Contextual meaning was measured by asking subjects to rate the meaning of nuclear war and three other threats (personal death, earthquake, and economic depression) on two questionnaires designed to explore personal meaning. Thematic meaning was measured by asking subjects to answer two open-ended questions. In terms of contextual meaning, the study found that, when compared to all other threats, nuclear war has a more extreme emotional meaning. In addition, meaning of nuclear war was found to shift across the adult lift span. In terms of thematic meaning, the study identified five themes describing causation and five themes describing effects. Age differences were found in thematic meaning. Oldest subjects emphasized rational causation, while middle-aged and younger subjects emphasized hopelessness and the impact on either inter-generational or intra-generational relationships. Age differences in meaning are discussed in terms of Eriksonian theory of adult development

Nuclear war would cause total destruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caldicott, H.

1985-01-01

In this paper, the author urges everyone to become better informed about the nuclear hazard humanity faces and challenges the reader to take action to ensure human survival on Earth. The author explains what would happen in the event of a nuclear war. Population centers would be smashed flat. Firestorms would rage over millions of acres. People near the center of the blast would die immediately. Those who survived would reenter a totally devastated world, lacking the life-support systems on which the human species depends. Epidemics would be rampant. Only if we abolish nuclear weapons and permanently halt the nuclear power industry can we hope to survive

Strategy for terminating a nuclear war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abt, C.C.

1985-01-01

Avoiding a nuclear war, or ending one if avoidance fails, is an important but relatively unexplored aspect of nuclear doctrine. Dr. Abt examines the feasibility of antagonists agreeing to exclude their open cities from nuclear targeting and to replace strategic bombardment with retaliatory invasion to create less of a hair-trigger deterrent. Critical net assessments by US strategists and the effects of such a strategy on the Soviet Union and the US allies are considered, along with problems implementation might pose. The author contends that both deterrence and the potential for limiting damage are strengthened by prewar plans for a nuclear ceasefire and stalemate short of holocaust.

Superpower nuclear minimalism in the post-Cold War era?. Revised

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Graben, E.K.

1992-07-01

With the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, the strategic environment has fundamentally changed, so it would seem logical to reexamine strategy as well. There are two main schools of nuclear strategic thought: a maximalist school, which emphasizes counterforce superiority and nuclear war-fighting capability, and a MAD-plus school, which emphasizes survivability of an assured destruction capability along with the ability to deliver small, limited nuclear attacks in the event that conflict occurs. The MAD-plus strategy is the more logical of the two strategies, because the maximalist strategy is based on an attempt to conventionalize nuclear weapons which is unrealistic.

Decadal reduction of Chinese agriculture after a regional nuclear war

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Lili; Robock, Alan; Mills, Michael; Stenke, Andrea; Helfand, Ira

2015-02-01

A regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan could decrease global surface temperature by 1°C-2°C for 5-10 years and have major impacts on precipitation and solar radiation reaching Earth's surface. Using a crop simulation model forced by three global climate model simulations, we investigate the impacts on agricultural production in China, the largest grain producer in the world. In the first year after the regional nuclear war, a cooler, drier, and darker environment would reduce annual rice production by 30 megaton (Mt) (29%), maize production by 36 Mt (20%), and wheat production by 23 Mt (53%). With different agriculture management—no irrigation, auto irrigation, 200 kg/ha nitrogen fertilizer, and 10 days delayed planting date—simulated national crop production reduces 16%-26% for rice, 9%-20% for maize, and 32%-43% for wheat during 5 years after the nuclear war event. This reduction of food availability would continue, with gradually decreasing amplitude, for more than a decade. Assuming these impacts are indicative of those in other major grain producers, a nuclear war using much less than 1% of the current global arsenal could produce a global food crisis and put a billion people at risk of famine.

Vulnerability of the nuclear power plant in war conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stritar, A.; Mavko, B.

1992-01-01

In the summer 1991 the Nuclear Power Plant Krsko in Slovenia found itself in the area of military operations. This way probably the first commercial nuclear power plant, to which it was threatened with the air jet attack. A number of never before asked questions had to be answered by the operating staff and supporting organizations. In this paper some aspects of the nuclear power plant safety in war condition are described: the selection of the best plant operating state before the attack and the determination of plant system vulnerability. It was concluded, that the best operating mode, into which the plant should be brought before the attack, is the cold shutdown mode. The problem of Nuclear Power Plant safety in war conditions should be addressed in more detail in the future. (author) [sl

The threat of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

This report aims to describe the present threat of nuclear war, with particular reference to New Zealand, and the increasing concern felt by many scientists, from a scientific viewpoint but in non-technical language. It surveys what is known about nuclear weapons and the consequences of their use, and attention is drawn to the importance of penetrating the language and examining the assumptions made in the propaganda about n uclear deterrence . The tasks involved in maintaining the present peace and attempting to establish an agreed disarmament is examined. The report pays particular attention to the roles of scientists in these endeavours

Effects of nuclear war on health and health services. 2. edition.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-01-01

In 1981 the World Health Assembly decided to establish an international committee of scientists and experts to study and report on the effects of nuclear war on health and health services. The first report, published in 1984, concluded that it was impossible to prepare health services to deal in any systematic way with a catastrophe resulting from nuclear warfare. This second report incorporates the results of new studies using modern analytical techniques. It focuses not only on the direct effects of nuclear conflict on human beings, but also on the environmental effects - on climate, agriculture and social and economic infrastructure, all of which would profoundly influence human life in both the short- and long-term. The psychological effects of living under the threat of nuclear war are also examined. The experts concluded that no health service anywhere in the world would be able to deal significantly with the appalling health consequences of nuclear war, especially since the health services themselves would be largely destroyed or incapacitated. In the circumstances the experts emphasized the importance of preventing a nuclear conflict. Refs, figs and tabs

Nationalism, Nuclear Policy and Children in Cold War America.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Sharon

1997-01-01

Theorizes the place of children in America's "Cold War Consensus" of the 1950s-60s. Counterposes dominant Cold War images of abstract, generic children (inevitably white middle class) to actual children most vulnerable to risks associated with nuclear weapons production and testing. Concludes that in various ways, these children were all…

Prevention of nuclear war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lifton, R.J.

1980-10-01

Physicians are exercising their responsibility as healers in their efforts to prevent nuclear war. Death for Hiroshima survivors was experienced in four stages: the immediate impact of destruction, the acute impact of radiation, delayed radiation effects, and later identification as an atomic bomb survivor. Each phase had its physical and psychological impacts and negates Hiroshima as a model for rational behavior despite those who claim survival is possible for those who are prepared. The psychic effects of modern nuclear, chemical, and germ warfare need to be challenged with a symbolization of life and immortality. Studies of psychological reactions to the terror children felt during practice air-raid drills indicate that the fears can be surpressed and re-emerge in adult life as a linking of death with collective annihilation. Other themes which emerge are feelings of impermanence, craziness, identification with the bomb, and a double existence. Psychic numbing and the religion of nuclearism cause dangerous conflicts with the anxieties caused by increasing awareness of death. (DCK)

Prevention of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lifton, R.J.

1980-01-01

Physicians are exercising their responsibility as healers in their efforts to prevent nuclear war. Death for Hiroshima survivors was experienced in four stages: the immediate impact of destruction, the acute impact of radiation, delayed radiation effects, and later identification as an atomic bomb survivor. Each phase had its physical and psychological impacts and negates Hiroshima as a model for rational behavior despite those who claim survival is possible for those who are prepared. The psychic effects of modern nuclear, chemical, and germ warfare need to be challenged with a symbolization of life and immortality. Studies of psychological reactions to the terror children felt during practice air-raid drills indicate that the fears can be surpressed and re-emerge in adult life as a linking of death with collective annihilation. Other themes which emerge are feelings of impermanence, craziness, identification with the bomb, and a double existence. Psychic numbing and the religion of nuclearism cause dangerous conflicts with the anxieties caused by increasing awareness of death

Is it possible to limit or control a nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voigt, K.D.

1983-01-01

A controlled response after a limited aggression by using strategic nuclear weapons is improbable alone for reasons relating to political institutions and political psychology. As long as it is in the least possible that a threat with selective nuclear strikes may result in a great atomic war and by that in mutual destruction the threat itself is - according to rational standards - unbelievable. Plans to prepare oneself technically and politically to make a nuclear war for several months at an controlled extent are the expression of a wrong way of peaceful policy and military strategy. The money spent for such plannings is at best wasted money. (orig./HSCH) [de

Recent assessments of the environmental consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turco, R.P.

1986-01-01

Since late 1984 a number of important scientific studies have considered the global-scale consequences of a major nuclear war. These studies look beyond the immediate and direct effects of nuclear explosions (blast, thermal radiation, and local radioactive fallout) to investigate the more widespread effects of dispersed radioactivity and severe climatic disturbances - the nuclear winter. Assessments of the relevant phenomena have been carried out by the U.S. National Research Council, the Royal Society of Canada, and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment of the International Council of Scientific Unions. Numerous physicists, atmospheric scientists, biologists, and physicians from around the world have contributed to these projects. In each case the findings are similar. While cautioning that significant uncertainties remain to be resolved, each report concludes that a nuclear winter is a clear possibility following a nuclear exchange. The SCOPE report goes even further, describing the biological, ecological, and human implications of a nuclear war and its aftermath. This unique treatise is summarized in the paper by M. Harwell in this volume

Environmental consequences of nuclear war (SCOPE 28), Vol. 1: Physical and atmospheric effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pittock, A.B.; Ackerman, T.P.; Crutzen, P.J.; MacCracken, M.C.; Shapiro, C.S.; Turco, R.P.

1986-01-01

This book presents an interdisciplinary look at current scientific knowledge of the possible environmental consequences of a nuclear war. The authors assess the likely magnitude of changes in sunlight, temperature, precipitation, atmospheric chemistry, and more. Volume One reviews existing nuclear arsenals, war scenarios, immediate and subsequent effects

The medical consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geiger, H.J.

1983-01-01

The author says no one person can successfully communicate what the reality of a nuclear war would be, let alone something smaller, like the reality of a single or a small number of thermonuclear explosions. The author focuses on the effects of a single explosion and what would happen if it occurred in New York City

Locus of Control and Likelihood of Nuclear War: Two Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Erdahl, Paul; Rounds, James B.

The Nuclear Locus of Control (NLOC) scales were constructed to assess beliefs as to whether nuclear war and nuclear policy decisions are, or can be, influenced by oneself, powerful others, or chance. Three scales measuring internal, powerful others, and chance nuclear LOC show internal consistency estimates (Cronbach's Alpha) of .87, .76, and .85,…

Japan's anti-nuclear weapons policy misses its target, even in the war on terrorism.

Science.gov (United States)

DiFilippo, Anthony

2003-01-01

While actively working to promote the abolition of all nuclear weapons from the world since the end of the cold war, Japan's disarmament policies are not without problems. Promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons as Japan remains under the US nuclear umbrella creates a major credibility problem for Tokyo, since this decision maintains a Japanese deterrence policy at the same time that officials push for disarmament. Tokyo also advocates a gradual approach to the abolition of nuclear weapons, a decision that has had no effect on those countries that have been conducting sub-critical nuclear testing, nor stopped India and Pakistan from carrying out nuclear tests. Consistent with Article 9 of the Constitution, the Japanese war-renouncing constitutional clause, Tokyo toughened Japan's sizeable Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme in the early 1990s. Because of the anti-military guidelines included in Japan's ODA programme, Tokyo stopped new grant and loan aid to India and Pakistan in 1998 after these countries conducted nuclear tests. However, because of the criticism Japan faced from its failure to participate in the 1991 Gulf War, Tokyo has been seeking a new Japanese role in international security during the post-cold war period. Deepening its commitment to the security alliance with the US, Tokyo has become increasingly influenced by Washington's global polices, including the American war on terrorism. After Washington decided that Pakistan would be a key player in the US war on terrorism, Tokyo restored grant and loan aid to both Islamabad and New Delhi, despite the unequivocal restrictions of Japan's ODA programme.

Beyond the cold war nuclear legacy: offense-defense and the role of nuclear deterrence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunn, L.A.

2001-01-01

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the defense community of the United States focused overwhelmingly on countering the threat of global terrorism. This focus rightly reflects the danger of additional terrorist attacks against the American homeland, including conceivably even with nuclear weapons or radiological devices. At the same time, the December, 2001 announcement of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty after the six month waiting period serves as a reminder that there still is considerable other outstanding 'defense business' confronting the United States and its European allies. In particular, it is increasingly essential to re-craft the Cold War nuclear weapons legacy, not only in its own right but because doing so can also have important payoffs for the success of the U.S.-led global anti-terrorist campaign. The following paper first describes some of the main features of the Cold War nuclear legacy. It then sketches a number of different schools of thought or camps that exist within the U.S. defense community in answer to the question, 'what next with nuclear weaponry?' In light of those contending positions, it then sets out a possible way ahead - moving to re-craft U.S. strategic dealings with Russia toward a non-adversary relationship, to avoid a new Cold War with China, and to put in place the right mix of offensive and defensive, nuclear and non-nuclear capabilities to contain 21. century proliferation dangers. (author)

Beyond the cold war nuclear legacy: offense-defense and the role of nuclear deterrence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunn, L.A

2001-07-01

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the defense community of the United States focused overwhelmingly on countering the threat of global terrorism. This focus rightly reflects the danger of additional terrorist attacks against the American homeland, including conceivably even with nuclear weapons or radiological devices. At the same time, the December, 2001 announcement of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty after the six month waiting period serves as a reminder that there still is considerable other outstanding 'defense business' confronting the United States and its European allies. In particular, it is increasingly essential to re-craft the Cold War nuclear weapons legacy, not only in its own right but because doing so can also have important payoffs for the success of the U.S.-led global anti-terrorist campaign. The following paper first describes some of the main features of the Cold War nuclear legacy. It then sketches a number of different schools of thought or camps that exist within the U.S. defense community in answer to the question, 'what next with nuclear weaponry?' In light of those contending positions, it then sets out a possible way ahead - moving to re-craft U.S. strategic dealings with Russia toward a non-adversary relationship, to avoid a new Cold War with China, and to put in place the right mix of offensive and defensive, nuclear and non-nuclear capabilities to contain 21. century proliferation dangers. (author)

Beyond the cold war nuclear legacy: offense-defense and the role of nuclear deterrence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunn, L A

2001-07-01

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the defense community of the United States focused overwhelmingly on countering the threat of global terrorism. This focus rightly reflects the danger of additional terrorist attacks against the American homeland, including conceivably even with nuclear weapons or radiological devices. At the same time, the December, 2001 announcement of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty after the six month waiting period serves as a reminder that there still is considerable other outstanding 'defense business' confronting the United States and its European allies. In particular, it is increasingly essential to re-craft the Cold War nuclear weapons legacy, not only in its own right but because doing so can also have important payoffs for the success of the U.S.-led global anti-terrorist campaign. The following paper first describes some of the main features of the Cold War nuclear legacy. It then sketches a number of different schools of thought or camps that exist within the U.S. defense community in answer to the question, 'what next with nuclear weaponry?' In light of those contending positions, it then sets out a possible way ahead - moving to re-craft U.S. strategic dealings with Russia toward a non-adversary relationship, to avoid a new Cold War with China, and to put in place the right mix of offensive and defensive, nuclear and non-nuclear capabilities to contain 21. century proliferation dangers. (author)

Nuclear war and climatic catastrophe: Some policy implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sagan, C.

1986-01-01

Apocalyptic prediction require, to be taken seriously, higher standards of evidence than do assertions on other matters where the stakes are not as great. Since the immediate effects of even a single hermonuclear weapon explosion are so devastating, it is natural to assume - even without considering detailed mechanism - that the more or less simultaneous explosion of 10,000 such weapons all over the Northern Hemisphere might have unpredictable and catastrophic consequences. And yet, while it is widely accepted that a full nuclear war might mean the end of civilization at least in the Northern Hemisphere, claims that nuclear war might imply a reversion of the human population to prehistoric levels, or even the extinction of the human species, have, among some policymakers at least, been dismissed as alarmist or, worse, irrelevant

Problems of deontology in the assessment of psychological consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gus'kova, A.K.; Chinkina, O.V.

1987-01-01

A person's psychological reactions, conditioned by nuclear bombardment of the Japanese cities in 1945 and subsequent era of constant threat of nuclear disaster recurrence, as well as the reactions of population social community are considered. Occurence of various psychical and psychophathological distruction in people who have directly overcome a nuclear blast, as well as among the population of the region, involved into a nuclear conflict, is referred to indirect effects of nuclear war. These consequences will as well take place among the population of states, which have not directly participated in the nucelar conflict. In this connection, the struggle against the nuclear war threat appears to be the professional duty of physicians in their struggle for physical, psychical health of contemporary and future generations

Soviet civil defense plans make nuclear war winnable

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goure, L.

1985-01-01

In this paper, the author expresses his opinion that the U.S. is naive and suicidal in its lack of civil defense preparation for nuclear war. The Soviets' extensive civil defense planning is evidence that they plan to use their nuclear weapons and survive a counterattack by the U.S. The author compares the two systems and explains why the Soviets' system is superior

Nuclear Winter: Uncertainties Surround the Long-Term Effects of Nuclear War. Report to the Congress.

Science.gov (United States)

General Accounting Office, Washington, DC.

Nuclear winter, a term used to describe potential long-term climate and environmental effects of nuclear war, has been a subject of debate and controversy. This report examines and presents scientific and policy implications of nuclear winter. Contents include: (1) an executive summary (highlighting previous and current studies on the topic); (2)…

The longest illness. Effects of nuclear war in children

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kappy, M.S.

1984-01-01

The destruction of civilization that would follow a nuclear war would render any disaster ever recorded insignificant. Millions of people would perish during the first few hours, and many more would die in the months to come. Survival would exist only in the strictest sense of the word, since societal disorganization, famine, drought, darkness, and nuclear winter would envelope the earth. The comparative frailty of children and their dependence on adults would render them most susceptible to the acute effects of a nuclear holocaust. Furthermore, studies of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan bombings showed a disproportionate propensity for children to experience leukemias and other cancers years after the bombings. There were also great increases in perinatal deaths and cases of microcephaly and retardation in children exposed in utero to the bombs. In the event that there are future generations after a nuclear war, the issue of heritable genetic effects will become important. Suggestions of permanent genetic damage are emerging from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki studies. By comparison, the genetic effects of modern weaponry will be incalculable

Warning against nuclear war. Documentation of the 5th medical congress to prevent a nuclear war. Wir warnen vor dem Atomkrieg. Dokumentation zum 5. medizinischen Kongress zur Verhinderung des Atomkrieges in Mainz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bastian, T [ed.

1986-01-01

The 5th medical congress to prevent a nuclear war of November 1985 was to give an outline of the current knowledge concerning the status of the nuclear arms race and the chances for preventing a nuclear war. The documentation comprises 20 papers by medical experts and members of the Peace Movement, e.g. on space wars, the nuclear winter, a stop of nuclear weapons tests as the world's only chance, benefits and dangers of the Act Concerning the Protection of the Civilian Population, civil disobedience, dioxin in wartime and peace, the young and the nuclear age. The central issue of the congress, 40 years after Hiroshima, was an attempt to get the so-called 'security policy' out of its deadlock. The dream of nuclear disarmament is still far from realisation, and the arms race is still going on. Both sides have by now reached a level of dozenfold overkill, so that a stop to nuclear weappons tests would not threaten the security of either party. Technical supervision would be no great problem. If the attempted nuclear weapons test stop were to fail, a great historical chance for terminating the nuclear arms race would have been missed. (orig./HSCH).

War protected underground siting of nuclear power plants -a summary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1974-06-01

In connection with studies concerning the need of war protected nuclear power production the technical and economical conditions with war protection of nuclear power plants have been studied within CDL. Comprehensively one have shown that no technical construction obstacles for siting a nuclear power plant underground exist that the additional costs for underground siting with price level mid 1973 are some 175-250 MSwCr (In today's price level 250 MSwCr will probably correspond to some 300 MSwCr per unit) and that the construction time is some one year longer than for an above ground plant. A study ought to examine more closely the consequences of underground siting from a radiological point of view and what demands on that occasion ought to be put on the technical design. (author)

Vulnerability of ecological systems for nuclear war climatic consequences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kharuehll, M.; Khatchinson, T.; Kropper, U.; Kharuehll, K.

1988-01-01

Vulnerability of ecological systems of Northern hemisphere (terrestrial, aquatic and tropical) as well as Southern one in relation to climatic changes following large nuclear war is considered. When analyzing potential sensitivity of ecological systems to climatic changes, possible consequences are considered for different stress categories under various war scenarios. The above-mentioned stresses correspond to those adopted in published work by Pittok and others. To estimate the less important climatic disturbances a few additional computer-simulated models are developed

Long-term biological consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehrlich, P.R.; Harte, J.; Harwell, M.A.

1983-01-01

Subfreezing temperatures, low light levels, and high doses of ionizing and ultraviolet radiation extending for many months after a large-scale nuclear war could destroy the biological support systems of civilization, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Productivity in natural and agricultural ecosystems could be severely restricted for a year or more. Postwar survivors would face starvation as well as freezing conditions in the dark and be exposed to near-lethal doses of radiation. If, as now seems possible, the Southern Hemisphere were affected also, global disruption of the biosphere could ensue, In any event, there would be severe consequences, even in the areas not affected directly, because of the interdependence of the world economy. In either case the extinction of a large fraction of the Earth's animals, plants, and microorganisms seems possible. The population size of Homo sapiens conceivably could be reduced to prehistoric levels or below and extinction of the human species itself cannot be excluded. These conclusions are the concensus from the meeting on Long-Term Worldwide Biological Consequences of Nuclear War

Some aspects of nuclear power plant safety under war conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stritar, A.; Mavko, B.; Susnik, J.; Sarler, B.

1993-01-01

In the summer of 1991, the Krsko nuclear power plant in Slovenia found itself in an area of military operations. This was probably the first commercial nuclear power plant to have been threatened by an attack by fighter jets. A number of never-before-asked questions had to be answered by the operating staff and supporting organizations. Some aspects of nuclear power plant safety under war conditions are described, such as the selection of the best plant operating state before the attack and the determination of plant system vulnerability and dose releases from the potentially damaged spent fuel in the spent-fuel pit. The best operating mode to which the plant should be brought before the attack is cold shutdown, and radiological consequences to the environment after the spent fuel is damaged and the water in the pit is lost are not very high. The problem of nuclear power plant safety under war conditions should be addressed in more detail in the future

Nuclear power plants in post-war thought

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toya, Hiroshi

2015-01-01

This paper overviews how nuclear power plants have been talked about in the post-war thought. Science and technology sometimes significantly change the thinking way of humans, and nuclear power generation is an extreme technology. This paper overviews how nuclear power plants and humans are correlated. The following three points are discussed as the major issues of contemporary thought over nuclear power plants. First, on the danger of nuclear power plants, the risk of destructive power that nuclear energy has, and the danger of unreasoning development in science and technology civilization are discussed. Second, on the ethics issues surrounding nuclear power plants, the ethics that are based on unbalanced power relations, and democratic responsibility ethics based on discussion ethics are discussed. Third, on the issues of nuclear power plants and imagination, the limitations of democratic discussion surrounding nuclear power plants, the formation of imagination commensurate with the destructive power of nuclear power plants, and the formation of imagination that can represent the distant future are discussed. (A.O.)

Climatic Effects of Regional Nuclear War

Science.gov (United States)

Oman, Luke D.

2011-01-01

We use a modern climate model and new estimates of smoke generated by fires in contemporary cities to calculate the response of the climate system to a regional nuclear war between emerging third world nuclear powers using 100 Hiroshima-size bombs (less than 0.03% of the explosive yield of the current global nuclear arsenal) on cities in the subtropics. We find significant cooling and reductions of precipitation lasting years, which would impact the global food supply. The climate changes are large and longlasting because the fuel loadings in modern cities are quite high and the subtropical solar insolation heats the resulting smoke cloud and lofts it into the high stratosphere, where removal mechanisms are slow. While the climate changes are less dramatic than found in previous "nuclear winter" simulations of a massive nuclear exchange between the superpowers, because less smoke is emitted, the changes seem to be more persistent because of improvements in representing aerosol processes and microphysical/dynamical interactions, including radiative heating effects, in newer global climate system models. The assumptions and calculations that go into these conclusions will be described.

Technology and effects of a war with nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broda, E.

1981-01-01

The development and the status of the nuclear weapons systems and of the systems for their delivery are explained. It will be shown, that all these systems have made tremendous progress since the 1960s. Technical progress has had, especially through the MIRV principle and the cruise missile, a destabilizing influence and threatens the equilibrium of terror. New strategic doctrines for winning rather than preventing nuclear war have come to the foreground. Plans for the tactical first-use of nuclear weapons have been accepted. Alternatively, the retaliation capacity of the opponent could be destroyed by surprise attack - The First Strike. In a nuclear conflict, the commanders-in-chief are overburdened by the need for ultra-urgent decisions. This applies especially to a First Strike situation. As a consequence tendencies in the direction of increasing automatization become ever more conspicuous. The increasing automatization leads to further escalation of insecurity for the whole world. Solutions for the principal problem of the world, war or peace, cannot be found On the level of technology, but only on that of practical policy of detente, disarmament, collaboration and reconciliation. (nowak) [de

Commentary from Westminster. Medical effects of nuclear war.

Science.gov (United States)

Deitch, R

1983-03-12

A British Medical Association report on the medical consequences of nuclear war, scheduled for commercial publication in April 1983, could damage the Government's arguments for maintaining a nuclear deterrent. The gist of the BMA's findings is that Britain could not possibly cope with the aftermath of nuclear attack. Although Prime Minister Thatcher has made no comment, both the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Security have criticized the report's negative conclusions. The BMA is expected to take up the issue at its annual meeting, and the Labour party has called for a Parliamentary debate on the report and its implications.

Nuclear freedom and students' sense of efficacy about prevention of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliver, P.

1990-01-01

Questionnaire and interview responses of young New Zealanders, living in a nuclear-free zone, reveal general concerns about nuclear war but relatively little personal, subjective worry. Their sense of citizen and national efficacy is stronger than that reported by youngsters in other countries, but is not reflected in feelings of self-efficacy. Responses are compared to those reported in North American and European research, and the importance of adult role models in facilitating children's belief in the efficacy of antinuclear activities is highlighted

Climatic and other global effects of nuclear war: Summary of a United Nations study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

A major nuclear war would entail the high risk of disruption to the global environment, and the risk would be greatest if large cities and industrial centres in the northern hemisphere were to be targeted in the summer months. The report of the UN Study Group confirms that a nuclear war could not be won and must not be fought, and thus makes a strong argument for the pursuit of sharp reductions in, and the ultimate eradication of, nuclear weapons

Nuclear energy and danger of war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lovins, A.B.; Lovins, L.H.

1981-01-01

For decades the peaceful use of nuclear energy has been regarded as a blessing, the military use, however, as a curse. The scepticism, however, whether this principal difference is justified has increased with the criticism of nuclear energy. Can the one who disposes of nuclear power plants also build nuclear bombs. These questions are posed by Amory Lovins (Soft Energy) and his wife in this work. Against this background the world-wide export of nuclear reactors gains a special explosive effect. The exporters, among them also the Federal Republic of Germany, claim that the military use of the nuclear know-how can be stopped by controls. Reality looks quite different. The authors show that the plutonium being produced in the reactor can be used for military purpose without any big technical efforts and that an effective control of this military use does not exist. On the contrary: nuclear reactors may be the welcome civilian cloak for the production of nuclear bombs. The hard energy-political way which is oriented towards nuclear energy increases the military destruction potential and thus threatens the world peace. To-day, as only one bomb has the total explosive force being used during the Second World War more and more people are of the conviction: we all will explode, the question is only - when. (orig./HP) [de

Indirect environmental effects of nuclear war affecting health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leaf, A.

1984-01-01

The indirect effects of a nuclear war that will affect the health of survivors are considered to include consequences to: (a) the economies of nations, (b) food and nutrition, (c) water supplies, (d) the climate and the ecosphere, and (e) sanitation and public health; and they include long-term radiation effects

The evolution of American nuclear doctrine 1945-1980: from massive retaliation to limited nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richani, N.

1983-01-01

This thesis attempts to demonstrate the evolutionary character of American nuclear doctrine from the beginning of the nuclear age in 1945 until 1980. It also aims at disclosing some of the most important factors that contributed to the doctrine's evolution, namely, technological progress and developments in weaponry and the shifts that were taking place in the correlation of forces between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. The thesis tries to establish the relation, if any, between these two variables (technology and balance of forces) and the evolution of the doctrine from Massive Retaliation to limited nuclear war. There are certainly many other factors which influenced military doctrine, but this thesis focuses on the above mentioned factors. touching on others when it was thought essential.The thesis concludes by trying to answer the question of whether the purpose of the limited nuclear war doctrine is to keep the initiative in US hands, that is putting itself on the side with the positive purpose, or not. Refs

The evolution of American nuclear doctrine 1945-1980: from massive retaliation to limited nuclear war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Richani, N [Public Administration Dpt. American Univ. of Beirut (Lebanon)

1983-12-31

This thesis attempts to demonstrate the evolutionary character of American nuclear doctrine from the beginning of the nuclear age in 1945 until 1980. It also aims at disclosing some of the most important factors that contributed to the doctrine`s evolution, namely, technological progress and developments in weaponry and the shifts that were taking place in the correlation of forces between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. The thesis tries to establish the relation, if any, between these two variables (technology and balance of forces) and the evolution of the doctrine from Massive Retaliation to limited nuclear war. There are certainly many other factors which influenced military doctrine, but this thesis focuses on the above mentioned factors. touching on others when it was thought essential.The thesis concludes by trying to answer the question of whether the purpose of the limited nuclear war doctrine is to keep the initiative in US hands, that is putting itself on the side with the positive purpose, or not. Refs.

The psychosocial aspects of nuclear threat and nuclear war: Analogies from disaster research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, J.

1987-01-01

The report is about the human reaction to disasters. No disaster experienced in recorded history resembles the potential destruction of major nuclear war. Nevertheless, past disasters can give us pointers to the likely responses of those who survive the immediate effects. Refs, 1 tab

Nuclear war between Israel and Iran: lethality beyond the pale

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background The proliferation of nuclear technology in the politically volatile Middle East greatly increases the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear war. It is widely accepted, while not openly declared, that Israel has nuclear weapons, and that Iran has enriched enough nuclear material to build them. The medical consequences of a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel in the near future are envisioned, with a focus on the distribution of casualties in urban environments. Methods Model estimates of nuclear war casualties employed ESRI's ArcGIS 9.3, blast and prompt radiation were calculated using the Defense Nuclear Agency's WE program, and fallout radiation was calculated using the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA's) Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) V404SP4, as well as custom GIS and database software applications. Further development for thermal burn casualties was based on Brode, as modified by Binninger, to calculate thermal fluence. ESRI ArcGISTM programs were used to calculate affected populations from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's LandScanTM 2007 Global Population Dataset for areas affected by thermal, blast and radiation data. Results Trauma, thermal burn, and radiation casualties were thus estimated on a geographic basis for three Israeli and eighteen Iranian cities. Nuclear weapon detonations in the densely populated cities of Iran and Israel will result in an unprecedented millions of numbers of dead, with millions of injured suffering without adequate medical care, a broad base of lingering mental health issues, a devastating loss of municipal infrastructure, long-term disruption of economic, educational, and other essential social activity, and a breakdown in law and order. Conclusions This will cause a very limited medical response initially for survivors in Iran and Israel. Strategic use of surviving medical response and collaboration with international relief could be expedited by the predicted casualty

Sex and Drugs and Nuclear War: Secular, Developmental and Type A Influences upon Adolescents' Fears of the Nuclear Threat, AIDS and Drug Addiction.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkins, Robert; Lewis, Charlie

1993-01-01

Examined fear of nuclear war among 3,556 secondary school students. Results suggest that such concern is expressed differently according to age and sex and that subjects who expressed concern about nuclear war and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome were more likely to show significantly higher Type A identification. (Author/NB)

Prolonged exposure to particulate chromate inhibits RAD51 nuclear import mediator proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Browning, Cynthia L; Wise, John Pierce

2017-09-15

Particulate hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is a human lung carcinogen and a human health concern. The induction of structural chromosome instability is considered to be a driving mechanism of Cr(VI)-induced carcinogenesis. Homologous recombination repair protects against Cr(VI)-induced chromosome damage, due to its highly accurate repair of Cr(VI)-induced DNA double strand breaks. However, recent studies demonstrate Cr(VI) inhibits homologous recombination repair through the misregulation of RAD51. RAD51 is an essential protein in HR repair that facilitates the search for a homologous sequence. Recent studies show prolonged Cr(VI) exposure prevents proper RAD51 subcellular localization, causing it to accumulate in the cytoplasm. Since nuclear import of RAD51 is crucial to its function, this study investigated the effect of Cr(VI) on the RAD51 nuclear import mediators, RAD51C and BRCA2. We show acute (24h) Cr(VI) exposure induces the proper localization of RAD51C and BRCA2. In contrast, prolonged (120h) exposure increased the cytoplasmic localization of both proteins, although RAD51C localization was more severely impaired. These results correlate temporally with the previously reported Cr(VI)-induced RAD51 cytoplasmic accumulation. In addition, we found Cr(VI) does not inhibit interaction between RAD51 and its nuclear import mediators. Altogether, our results suggest prolonged Cr(VI) exposure inhibits the nuclear import of RAD51C, and to a lesser extent, BRCA2, which results in the cytoplasmic accumulation of RAD51. Cr(VI)-induced inhibition of nuclear import may play a key role in its carcinogenic mechanism since the nuclear import of many tumor suppressor proteins and DNA repair proteins is crucial to their function. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thinking about the threat of nuclear war: relevance to mental health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldenberg, S.; LaCombe, S.; Levinson, D.; Parker, K.R.; Ross, C.; Sommers, F.

1985-01-01

Ontario students in grades 7-13 responded to open-ended and multiple-choice questions about future concerns, particularly unemployment, job/career plans, and the nuclear threat. Although worries about nuclear war were more frequent than those in other areas, their expression was associated with a sense of social efficacy rather than with feelings of helplessness

Nuclear Italy. An International history of Italian Nuclear Policies during the Cold War

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bini, Elisabetta; Londer, Igor

2017-01-01

This book examines the history of Italy’s nuclear policies during the Cold War, by placing the Italian case in an international and comparative framework. It highlights the importance the international context had in shaping the country’s specific experience, and analyzes the ways in which international politics and economics, technological and scientific exchanges, as well as social and cultural movements, influenced Italian nuclear policies, both civilian and military. All the essays published in this volume assume that the history of nuclear energy should be written by adopting an international perspective. The spread of nuclear knowledge (scientific, civilian, as well as military), and the implementation of nuclear policies, have a specific international dimension that should be taken into consideration, since no nuclear program has ever had a distinctly national character, and every country pursuing a nuclear policy has been, in one way or another, deeply influenced by the international context.

Gender differences and the influence of classroom discussion on adolescents' relationship to the threat of nuclear war after international crisis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berger, G.B.

1987-01-01

The purpose of this research was to explore the differences in attitudes of females and males to the stress of living under the threat of nuclear war with respect to sex and nuclear education. The differences in attitudes of 231 adolescents, from five California schools, aged 15-18, were analyzed. They were asked three questions regarding nuclear war within 2 weeks of the shooting down of Korean Airliner 007 in 1983. A quantitative content analysis was used to assess gender and educational influences on the responses to the three questions which were: Do I think there will be a war? Do I care? Why? and What do I think about fallout shelters? Theoretical constructs of Chodorow and Gilligan were used to relate recent developments in the psychology of women to issues of war and peace. There were significant gender differences with respect to adolescents' opinions on nuclear war. Compared to males, the expression of loss of family or friends, fear, humanitarian concerns, and blaming was significantly higher in females, while knowledge of fallout shelters was significantly lower. For both males and females, verbal anger was expressed equally. One hundred twelve students who had no education on nuclear war were compared with 119 students who had informal classroom discussion on nuclear war. With informal nuclear education, females had decreased expression of local loss and males increased expression of self loss. Both males and females with informal nuclear education had decreased their expression of blame. For females, the knowledge of fallout shelters was increased. Both males and females cited the shooting down of KAL/007, only 12.6% suggesting that psyche numbing can occur for knowledge as well as affect. Both males and females offered few solutions to nuclear war, a possible manifestation of an attitude of hopelessness in our youth

Nuclear freedom and students' sense of efficacy about prevention of nuclear war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oliver, P. (Univ. of Auckland (New Zealand))

1990-10-01

Questionnaire and interview responses of young New Zealanders, living in a nuclear-free zone, reveal general concerns about nuclear war but relatively little personal, subjective worry. Their sense of citizen and national efficacy is stronger than that reported by youngsters in other countries, but is not reflected in feelings of self-efficacy. Responses are compared to those reported in North American and European research, and the importance of adult role models in facilitating children's belief in the efficacy of antinuclear activities is highlighted.

Medicine against Cold War. Physicians in the anti-nuclear peace movement of the 1980ies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kemper, Claudia

2016-01-01

The book on physicians in the anti-nuclear peace movement of the 19080ies covers the following issues: (I) Frame of the subject: methodology, research fields and actors; (II) The social dimension of the physician's movement; (III) IPPNW (International physicians for the prevention of nuclear war) - a political idea is medicalized and organized, 1980 - 1984; (IV) Borderlines of the international peace idea during the Cold War - IPPNW 1980 - 1986.

The political economics of the permanent war and the political economics of the nuclear war. Strategic approaches for Latin America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomez L, I.I.

2005-01-01

This work treats on the hypothesis that the American imperialism uses its nuclear arsenal for reforming geographical spaces that allow him to impel its economic development in the context of the progressive exhaustion of the natural resources of the planet and of the ferocious dispute for market niches and investment destinations, and like the political and military decisions crawl to the different scenarios of economic competition. In the chapter 1 it is insinuated like has been reproduced the Warlike-industrial Complex (CBI) American from the second world postwar period until the present time in the idea of explaining like it is that it is valorized to the capital in scale enlarged starting from the denominated sector producing of destruction means and understanding that the system specifically capitalist is a system where continually the is destroyed previously taken place to manufacture a new merchandise in a luck of creative destruction. In the chapter 2, the topic of the specific contradictions of the CBI is approached that disable him to be the tip of lance of the world imperialism. The chapter 3 try on the productive linkages in the production of nuclear bombs, as well as in the production of the vectors of nuclear transportation and on the implications derived for the world security of the different industries associated to the nuclear energy (as the petroleum, the electricity, the natural gas) and to the transportation vectors of these locating which you/they are the different States where the world supremacy is disputed and that they have like one of its so many negotiation-confrontation letters its nuclear strategic arsenals. What is looked for in a thermonuclear war is the enemy's total elimination, from their offensive capacity, their defensive capacity, until their supplies, their reservations, etc., with the result that the chapters 4 and 5 of this thesis are presented to offer a better understanding that they mean the nuclear arsenals in the

Soviet children and the threat of nuclear war: a preliminary study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chivian, E.; Mack, J.E.; Waletzky, J.P.; Lazaroff, C.; Doctor, R.; Goldenring, J.M.

1985-01-01

This study, the first undertaken by Western researchers with Soviet children on the subject of nuclear weapons, compared the questionnaire responses of 293 Soviet youngsters with those of 201 age-matched Californians. Interviews were conducted to supplement the questionnaire findings. Similarities and differences between the two samples are discussed in the context of how young people today perceive the threat of nuclear war

Gender differences and the influence of classroom discussion on adolescents' relationship to the threat of nuclear war after international crisis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berger, G.B.

1987-01-01

The purpose of this research was to explore the differences in attitudes of females and males to the stress of living under the threat of nuclear war with respect to sex and nuclear education. The differences in attitudes of 231 adolescents, from five California schools, aged 15-18, were analyzed. They were asked three questions regarding nuclear war within 2 weeks of the shooting down of Korean Airliner 007 in 1983. A quantitative content analysis was used to assess gender and educational influences on the responses to the three questions which were: Do I think there will be a war Do I care Why and What do I think about fallout shelters Theoretical constructs of Chodorow and Gilligan were used to relate recent developments in the psychology of women to issues of war and peace. There were significant gender differences with respect to adolescents' opinions on nuclear war. Compared to males, the expression of loss of family or friends, fear, humanitarian concerns, and blaming was significantly higher in females, while knowledge of fallout shelters was significantly lower. For both males and females, verbal anger was expressed equally. One hundred twelve students who had no education on nuclear war were compared with 119 students who had informal classroom discussion on nuclear war. With informal nuclear education, females had decreased expression of local loss and males increased expression of self loss. Both males and females with informal nuclear education had decreased their expression of blame. For females, the knowledge of fallout shelters was increased. Both males and females cited the shooting down of KAL/007, only 12.6% suggesting that psyche numbing can occur for knowledge as well as affect. Both males and females offered few solutions to nuclear war, a possible manifestation of an attitude of hopelessness in our youth.

Cancer induction as a result of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Land, C.E.; Oftedal, P.

1984-01-01

A major nuclear war would involve some increase in radiation exposure to the entire world population from delayed fallout, but the major exposures would occur locally from early fallout close to, and downwind of, nuclear detonations in which the fireball touched the ground. Given the preponderance of multi-megaton weapons in the armament carried by intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers, it is likely that early fallout would be by far the most important source of radiation exposure. Those surviving beyond the first few years after a nuclear exchange would be subject to an increased cancer risk as a result of their exposure to ionizing radiation. This annex represents an attempt to quantify roughly this excess cancer risk in terms of the numbers of cancer deaths and cases, and the expected years of life lost

Long-term consequences of and prospects for recovery from nuclear war: Two views. View II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anspaugh, L.R.

1986-01-01

The author comments on the information presented in this volume and speculates on the long-term consequences of nuclear war and the prospects for recovery. In order to do that, it might be useful to define long term. To him this means time frames of years to perhaps even hundreds of years in terms of the ultimate response and recovery of large-scale ecosystems. Such long time frames may seem excessive, but if some of the speculated efforts of nuclear war are actually realized, it may indeed take centuries before native ecosystems restabilize. Also, when referring to long-term effects of the magnitude required to have a major impact on entire ecosystems, it is clear that the driving force would not be the direct effects of nuclear war. Of potentially greater significance would be the secondary effects mediated by the intermediate-term impacts on global climate. Specifically, he refers to the speculative impacts of major decreases in the heat and light fluxes reaching the Earth's surface. Such changes are commonly referred to as ''nuclear winter.''

Impacts on Chinese Agriculture of Geoengineering and Smoke from Fires Ignited by Nuclear War

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, L.; Robock, A.

2013-12-01

Climate is one of the most important factors determining crop yields and world food supplies. To be well prepared for possible futures, it is necessary to study yield changes of major crops under different climate scenarios. Here we consider two situations: stratospheric sulfate geoengineering and nuclear war. Although we certainly do not advocate either scenario, we cannot exclude the possibilities: if global warming is getting worse, society might consider deliberately manipulating global temperature; if nuclear weapons still exist, we might face a nuclear war catastrophe. Since in both scenarios there would be reductions of temperature, precipitation, and insolation, which are three controlling factors on crop growth, it is important to study food supply changes under the two cases. We conducted our simulations for China, because it has the highest population and crop production in the world and it is under the strong influence of the summer monsoon, which would be altered in geoengineering and nuclear war scenarios. To examine the effects of climate changes induced by geoengineering and nuclear war on Chinese agriculture, we use the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) crop model. We first evaluated the model by forcing it with daily weather data and management practices for the period 1978-2008 for 24 provinces in China, and compared the results to observations of the yields of major crops in China (middle season rice, winter wheat, and maize). Then we perturbed observed weather data using climate anomalies for geoengineering and nuclear war simulations. For geoengineering, we consider the G2 scenario of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP), which prescribes an insolation reduction to balance a 1% per year increase in CO2 concentration (1pctCO2). We used results from ten climate models participating in G2. For the nuclear war scenario, we consider the effects of 5 Tg of soot that could be injected into the upper

Photographed by the Earth: War and media in light of nuclear events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Pringle

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article charts a media historical relation between radiation and celluloid film, ranging from the downwind 1956 production of The Conqueror to early scientific imaging practices, war photography, war documentaries, military industrial film, and contemporary artists working on radiation aesthetics. Posing the collection as a diagnostic media ecology, this article argues that the valuable evidence provided by the environmental metadata stored in celluloid film is the product of ecological warfare and violence. By turning to the material sciences for a better understanding of how nuclear weapons affect media on large spatial and temporal scales we gain a parallax view to how photographic practices – defined as the aesthetic exchange of light and energy – occur autonomously within our ecology, although some of these forces are mobilised in deadly and imperceptible ways. By demonstrating that non-human agencies released by Cold War energy policies have contaminated military industrial and commercial film archives alike, this article asserts that nuclear testing and warfare have contributed to a global condition of test-subjectivity that can be evidenced by diagnostic media ecology.

"A Hedge against the Future": The Post-Cold War Rhetoric of Nuclear Weapons Modernization

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Bryan C.

2010-01-01

Rhetoric has traditionally played an important role in constituting the nuclear future, yet that role has changed significantly since the declared end of the Cold War. Viewed from the perspectives of nuclear criticism and postmodern theories of risk and security, current rhetoric of US nuclear modernization demonstrates how contingencies of voice…

Why we must abolish nuclear weapons after the end of the Cold War

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohnishi, Hitoshi

1997-01-01

The end of the Cold War has offered a great opportunity to reduce or even abolish nuclear weapons, but the international community seemed to lose interest in nuclear weapons issues. Today, however, there are a lot of other major menaces to the survival of the mankind: pollution, hunger, poverty, ethnic conflicts. So the nuclear weapons issue is merely one of the most pressing threats to survival

The relationship between early ego strength and adolescent responses to the threat of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrekus, N.J.

1989-01-01

Ego resiliency and ego control, measured when subjects were 3 or 4 years old, were related to expectation of war, concern for the future, and activism in response to the threat of nuclear war, measured when subjects were 18 years old. Data from 92 participants in a longitudinal study of ego and cognitive development conducted by Jeanne and Jack Block at the University of California, Berkeley were used to test hypotheses. Assessments with the California Child Q-set, composited across multiple independent observers, provide measures of ego resiliency and ego control. Adolescent interviews regarding the perception of likelihood of nuclear war, how this affects their future, and their antinuclear and general political activism were scaled and rated. Early ego resiliency and ego under control were hypothesized to account for the variance in adolescent nuclear responses and activism. The only significant longitudinal relationships were in the female sample, where ego under control was found to be a significant predictor of both general political activism (p<.01) and ideas of the future being affected by the nuclear threat (p<.05). Among males, the relationship between early ego resiliency and adolescent antinuclear activism approached significance (p<.10). Adolescent personality was significantly related to several measures of nuclear response. In girls, adolescent ego under control related to perception of likelihood of nuclear war (p<.05) and antinuclear activism (p<.05), and the interaction of ego resiliency and ego under control predicted general political activism (p<.0005). In boys, adolescent ego resiliency correlated with antinuclear activism (p<.05). These findings were discussed in terms of antecedent parenting styles, and conceptual links were drawn between children's ego resiliency and security of attachment, perspective taking, and moral development

The relationship between early ego strength and adolescent responses to the threat of nuclear war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andrekus, N.J.

1989-01-01

Ego resiliency and ego control, measured when subjects were 3 or 4 years old, were related to expectation of war, concern for the future, and activism in response to the threat of nuclear war, measured when subjects were 18 years old. Data from 92 participants in a longitudinal study of ego and cognitive development conducted by Jeanne and Jack Block at the University of California, Berkeley were used to test hypotheses. Assessments with the California Child Q-set, composited across multiple independent observers, provide measures of ego resiliency and ego control. Adolescent interviews regarding the perception of likelihood of nuclear war, how this affects their future, and their antinuclear and general political activism were scaled and rated. Early ego resiliency and ego under control were hypothesized to account for the variance in adolescent nuclear responses and activism. The only significant longitudinal relationships were in the female sample, where ego under control was found to be a significant predictor of both general political activism (p<.01) and ideas of the future being affected by the nuclear threat (p<.05). Among males, the relationship between early ego resiliency and adolescent antinuclear activism approached significance (p<.10). Adolescent personality was significantly related to several measures of nuclear response. In girls, adolescent ego under control related to perception of likelihood of nuclear war (p<.05) and antinuclear activism (p<.05), and the interaction of ego resiliency and ego under control predicted general political activism (p<.0005). In boys, adolescent ego resiliency correlated with antinuclear activism (p<.05). These findings were discussed in terms of antecedent parenting styles, and conceptual links were drawn between children's ego resiliency and security of attachment, perspective taking, and moral development.

Shelter to provide protection from nuclear fallout and/or war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Northgreaves, K.R.

1982-01-01

A shelter to provide protection from nuclear fall-out and/or war gas is described. It has a flexible inflatable envelope containing its own life support system and can be stored in a collapsed condition until required. A sealable access is provided and an over-pressure within the envelope can be maintained by means of a hand-operated air compressor which draws in external air through an air inlet and through a dust and war gas filter. The shelter can be divided into two chambers of which one can form an air-lock chamber between the access opening and the other chamber. Sanitary and decontamination equipment can be provided in the air-lock chamber. (author)

Medical problems of survivors of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abrams, H.L.; Von Kaenel, W.E.

1981-01-01

The nature of the medical problems that may confront survivors of a nuclear war are discussed with emphasis on infection and the spread of communicable disease. Factors which will increase the risk and severity of infection include: radiation, trauma and burns, malnutrition and starvation, dehydration, exposure, and hardship. Factors which will increase the spread of disease include: crowded shelter conditions, poor sanitation, insects, corpses, free-roaming diseased animals. Shortages of physicians, the destruction of laboratories, and the general disorganization sure to follow the attack will also contribute to the problems. The authors recommend further study in this area

Testing times: A nuclear weapons laboratory at the end of the Cold War

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gusterson, H.

1992-01-01

This dissertation focuses on the role of discursive and other practices in the construction of two alternative regimes of truth in regard to nuclear weapons, and in the cultural production of persons at the Livermore Laboratory and in the local anti-nuclear movement. In the 1980s the scientists' regime of truth was challenged by a heterogeneous anti-nuclear movement recruited largely from the humanistic middle class - a class fragment profoundly hostile to the policies of the Reagan Administration. The movement attacked the Laboratory in a number of ways, ranging from local ballot initiatives and lobbying in Washington to civil disobedience at the Laboratory. By the end of the 1980s this movement, in combination with Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union and a decade of internal scandals at the Laboratory, left the Laboratory weakened - though Laboratory scientists and managers are currently working to adapt the system of ideas and practices evolved during the Cold War to legitimate continued weapons work in a post-Cold War environment

The biological consequences of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehrlich, P.R.

1985-01-01

A large-scale nuclear war, as far as we can see, would leave, at most, scattered survivors in the Northern Hemisphere, and those survivors would be facing extreme cold, hunger, water shortages, heavy smog, and so on, and they would be facing it all in twilight or darkness and without the support of an organized society. The ecosystems upon which they would be extremely dependent would be severely stressed, changing in ways that we can hardly predict. Their functioning would be badly impaired. Ecologists do not know enough about these complicated systems to be able to predict their exact state after they had ''recovered''. Whether the biosphere would ever be restored to anything resembling that of today is entirely problematical

The radiance of France; nuclear power and national identity after world war 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hecht, G.

2004-01-01

This book discusses the early history of French nuclear power within its social and political context from the end of world war 2 to 1970. The author describes the creation of the nuclear reactors, the work at the reactor sites, and the impact of nuclear power on local communities. Information on the French atomic bomb program is also included. The conflicts and negotiations surrounding the nuclear programs are detailed, and the importance of the programs to French national identity is made clear. An excellent bibliography and extensive footnotes are provided

Influence of prolonged nuclear fuel burnup on safety characteristics of advanced PWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spasojevic, D.; Matausek, M.; Marinkovic, N.

1989-01-01

Prolonged nuclear fuel burnup in advanced NPP with four or more instead of three one-year cycles, and/or with 15- to 18-month instead of standard 12-month cycles, requires the fresh fuel to have increased enrichment combined with burnable poisons. This causes changes in axial and radial distribution of power generation during the particular fuel cycles, so that detailed analyses of thermal reliability of reactor core becomes necessary. This paper presents the results of the analysis of the departure from nuclear boiling ratio DNBR for an equilibrium cycle of an advanced PWR. (author)

US policies on combating proliferation of nuclear weapons after the cold war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tosaki, Hirofumi

2005-01-01

Combating nuclear proliferation has been one of the top priorities for the international community in the post post-Cold War era, and the United States has been taking initiative for tackling the problems. The current Bush administration has placed value high on the effective and concrete actions - including the use of military forces - for such efforts. It is imperative that such actions should be taken in resolving the nuclear proliferation. However, the United States has been criticized that it has disregarded the existing nuclear non-proliferation regime, and that its non-proliferation policy has given negative implications to the regime. Combating nuclear proliferation should be pursued in balanced approach with legitimacy, in consideration of the discriminately nature of the regime as well as of its three pillars - nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear energy. (author)

Ten theses for Chernobyl. A friendly address before the 6. international congress of physicians to prevent a nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anders, Guenther

2006-01-01

After having recalled that he already published a first set of theses about the atomic hazard in 1957, and a second one in 1959, the philosopher Gunther Anders proposes a new one in which he evokes various notions like carelessness, panic, and emotional reactions, the threat of nuclear on human life, the consequences of nuclear war on health as there will no nurses or doctors any more, the opposition to the fabrication of weapons, the risk associated with the victory of nuclear energy, the meaning of revolution, the fact that the so-called peace is a war

Prolonged Wars: A Post-Nuclear Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

1994-10-01

within the transport corridors might well reflect irreversible urbanization. Quite apart from the logistical nightmare of holding universal franchise ... franchise at last into line with that of Britain; a points system based on need had been adopted for the allocation of houses; and a ministry of com- munity...example occurred in March 1972 when an explosion in a crowded cafe claimed 143 casualties. Continuing initiatives were buried completely by Bloody

Radiological consequences in New Zealand of a northern-hemisphere dominated nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lassey, K.R.

1987-01-01

The doses delivered to the New Zealand population as a result of a postulated nuclear war are estimated. The postulated war is dominated by northern hemisphere exchanges with some detonations also over Australia; New Zealand is spared direct attack. The doses are estimated conservatively using models from the literature and are of similar order (a few mSv) from both the northern hemisphere conflict and Australian attacks. The impact of the latter supposes a near worst-case prevailing meteorology. The typical somatic effects of such doses are a few hundred cancer inductions protracted over half a century, and perhaps a significant incidence of thyroid disorders if no countermeasures prevent the production and consumption of contaminated milk

Medical problems of survivors of nuclear war: Infection and the spread of communicable disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abrams, H.L.; VonKaenel, W.E.

1984-01-01

The nature of the medical problems produced by the aftermath of nuclear war is discussed. The survivors of nuclear war will live without the social structure needed to assure food, water, and shelter. They will experience malnutrition, exposure, and fatigue, which are all favorable to infection and the epidemic spread of communicable disease. The authors analyze the problem of infectious illness in the postattack period, assuming the 6,559 megaton attack scenario used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A particular contribution of this analysis is that it is based on government technical reports that describe the available computer modeling of postattack conditions. Such simulations allow a semiquantitative estimate of deaths due to infection. They estimate that postattack infectious disease mortality will be 25%. These studies are not accessible to the general reader and are difficult for health professionals to interpret

The long-term environmental and medical effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-03-01

Part 1 describes the physical structure of the atmosphere and reviews recent studies which have considered the atmospheric perturbations which could follow a nuclear war according to various scenarios. Part 2 describes the biological consequences of predicted atmospheric and climatic changes, concentrating on the long term implications for health and human well- being. Part 3 outlines some policy implications arising out of these environmental consequences and includes the conclusions and a summary of the report. (author)

Post-Cold War frameworks for US nuclear policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mackay, L.S. Jr.

1993-01-01

This thesis contends that the passing of the Cold War has produced a disintegration of the fit between the grand strategy of containment and the nuclear policy of strategic deterrence. The primary sources of that disintegration are: the altered political circumstances from both of largescale military conflict; and the emergence of nuclear proclivities and capabilities in developing states. This thesis uses a three step process to construct a framework for a successor U.S. nuclear policy given the national goals of economic liberty, conservation of national institutions, promotion of democratic principles, and collegiality with like-minded states. The first part is dedicated to the construction of a policy-relevant and paradigmatic description of the nascent security environment. The most useful description is one which emphasizes the structural antipathy between the coterie of economically advanced, culturally similar, and politicially liberal states of western Europe, North America, and northeast Asia, and other, lesser developed polities. The second part, with the aid of simple analytic models, examines the theory of nuclear weapons doctrine as it pertains to an archetypally defined deterrence. Further models incorporating sequential decision making, relative gains analysis, and power/preference asymmetries demonstrate the prevalence and relative strengths and limitations of Prisoner's Dilemma as a deterrence system. The third part integrates the core-periphery paradigm and the analytic insights into a two-tiered framework of companion U.S. nuclear policies. A fourth part summarizes the implications of this analysis for U.S. forces and doctrine

Reagan's energy war: can deregulation and the Pentagon save the nuclear industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feeney, A.

1981-01-01

Mr. Feeney feels that Administration energy policies claiming to protect democracy and reduce government interference will transfer money and political control from the people to the energy corporations and the Pentagon. Critics deplore the hard-path approach of downgrading conservation and solar energy in favor of nuclear energy, which some see as setting the stage for a nuclear war in this decade. They see the plan to abolish DOE as providing an opportunity to bail out the nuclear industry, bury environmental and alternative energy research, and block regulations. Critics question why Reagan's devotion to the free market is not applied to the nuclear industry, although they disagree on the linkage with nuclear weapons of new fuel cycle proposals and the use of national security to solve the waste disposal problem by nationalizing and militarizing the fuel cycle

War and Power

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carter, Dale

2018-01-01

Whether as context or prospect, reference or substance, warfare invariably features in Pynchon’s fiction: the war of American independence in Mason & Dixon; colonial wars in V.; world war one in Against the Day; world war two in Gravity’s Rainbow; the cold war in The Crying of Lot 49; various...... culture wars – hippies against straights, dopers versus The Man, nerds contra jocks – in Vineland and Inherent Vice; and the war on terror in Bleeding Edge. In these novels warfare occasions, illuminates and interrogates the lineaments of power, not only political or military but also social...... and representational – that mark the post-imperial, cold (and post-cold) war order; from the concentration camps and nuclear explosions of world war two to the ballistic missiles of the cold war, the irregular engagements of terrorism and counter-terrorism, and the digitalized fall-out of cyber-warfare....

Climate effects of a hypothetical regional nuclear war: Sensitivity to emission duration and particle composition

Science.gov (United States)

Pausata, Francesco S. R.; Lindvall, Jenny; Ekman, Annica M. L.; Svensson, Gunilla

2016-11-01

Here, we use a coupled atmospheric-ocean-aerosol model to investigate the plume development and climate effects of the smoke generated by fires following a regional nuclear war between emerging third-world nuclear powers. We simulate a standard scenario where 5 Tg of black carbon (BC) is emitted over 1 day in the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere. However, it is likely that the emissions from the fires ignited by bomb detonations include a substantial amount of particulate organic matter (POM) and that they last more than 1 day. We therefore test the sensitivity of the aerosol plume and climate system to the BC/POM ratio (1:3, 1:9) and to the emission length (1 day, 1 week, 1 month). We find that in general, an emission length of 1 month substantially reduces the cooling compared to the 1-day case, whereas taking into account POM emissions notably increases the cooling and the reduction of precipitation associated with the nuclear war during the first year following the detonation. Accounting for POM emissions increases the particle size in the short-emission-length scenarios (1 day/1 week), reducing the residence time of the injected particle. While the initial cooling is more intense when including POM emission, the long-lasting effects, while still large, may be less extreme compared to the BC-only case. Our study highlights that the emission altitude reached by the plume is sensitive to both the particle type emitted by the fires and the emission duration. Consequently, the climate effects of a nuclear war are strongly dependent on these parameters.

Canadians, nuclear weapons, and the Cold War security dilemma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eaton, M.A.

2007-01-01

This dissertation provides a history of Canadian ideas about nuclear weapons from the late 1950s until the end of the Trudeau era in 1984. Throughout this period, Canadians reacted to the insecurity they felt in the world around them by expressing many conflicting, often irreconcilable views about a range of nuclear weapon issues, including Canada's acquisition of nuclear warheads in 1963, the U.S. ABM program in the 1960s and early 1970s, the role of Canadian nuclear technology in the development of India's first nuclear explosion, and the Trudeau government's decision to allow the U.S. military to test cruise missiles in northern Canada The dissertation concludes with an examination of the emergence of a broadly-based, increasingly mainstream and influential anti-nuclear movement in the early 1980s, the clearest manifestation of the insecurity Canadians experienced at the time. .The nuclear debates examined in this dissertation reveal that Canadians were divided over nuclear weapons, nuclear strategy, the arms race, proliferation, and arms control and disarmament. In particular, they came to fundamentally different conclusions about how Canada's nuclear weapon policies, and its support for the nuclear policies of its alliances, would contribute to international stability and order. Some believed that their security rested on the maintenance of a strong Western nuclear deterrent and supported Canada contributing to its credibility; others believed that the constant modernisation of nuclear arsenals fuelled by the superpower arms race posed a serious threat to their security. This conceptual dilemma-the security through nuclear strength argument versus the fear that the quest for security through quantitative and qualitative improvements of nuclear stockpiles increased the likelihood of nuclear war-left Canadians divided over the value and utility of nuclear weapons and the strategies developed around them. At the same time, Canadians' ideas about nuclear weapons

Canadians, nuclear weapons, and the Cold War security dilemma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eaton, M.A

2007-07-01

This dissertation provides a history of Canadian ideas about nuclear weapons from the late 1950s until the end of the Trudeau era in 1984. Throughout this period, Canadians reacted to the insecurity they felt in the world around them by expressing many conflicting, often irreconcilable views about a range of nuclear weapon issues, including Canada's acquisition of nuclear warheads in 1963, the U.S. ABM program in the 1960s and early 1970s, the role of Canadian nuclear technology in the development of India's first nuclear explosion, and the Trudeau government's decision to allow the U.S. military to test cruise missiles in northern Canada The dissertation concludes with an examination of the emergence of a broadly-based, increasingly mainstream and influential anti-nuclear movement in the early 1980s, the clearest manifestation of the insecurity Canadians experienced at the time. .The nuclear debates examined in this dissertation reveal that Canadians were divided over nuclear weapons, nuclear strategy, the arms race, proliferation, and arms control and disarmament. In particular, they came to fundamentally different conclusions about how Canada's nuclear weapon policies, and its support for the nuclear policies of its alliances, would contribute to international stability and order. Some believed that their security rested on the maintenance of a strong Western nuclear deterrent and supported Canada contributing to its credibility; others believed that the constant modernisation of nuclear arsenals fuelled by the superpower arms race posed a serious threat to their security. This conceptual dilemma-the security through nuclear strength argument versus the fear that the quest for security through quantitative and qualitative improvements of nuclear stockpiles increased the likelihood of nuclear war-left Canadians divided over the value and utility of nuclear weapons and the strategies developed around them. At the same time, Canadians

Atmosphere after a nuclear war: twilight at noon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crutzen, P; Birks, J

1982-01-01

If a nuclear war occurs, serious atmospheric consequences will result from the production of large amounts of particulate matter due to the many fires that will start in cities, industry, and particularly in forests, agricultural fields, and oil and gas fields. The authors estimate that for most of the Northern Hemisphere the average intensity of sunlight reaching the surface of the earth would be reduced by a large factor as a result of light absorption by particles in the submicron diameter size range, and this darkness would persist for as long as the fires burn, which is expected to be many weeks. The screening of sunlight by the fire-produced aerosol over extended periods during the growing season would eliminate much of the food production in the Northern Hemisphere. Marine ecosystems may be particularly sensitive to the loss of sunlight that would result. The fires would also inject large quantities of oxides of nitrogen and reactive hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, creating the potential for a severe photochemical smog situation throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere. The production of strong oxidants such as ozone and peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN) as the aerosol is removed from the atmosphere would also negatively influence food production throughout the Northern Hemisphere during the first year following the war.

Climate not to blame for African civil wars

Science.gov (United States)

Buhaug, Halvard

2010-01-01

Vocal actors within policy and practice contend that environmental variability and shocks, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, drive civil wars in Africa. Recently, a widely publicized scientific article appears to substantiate this claim. This paper investigates the empirical foundation for the claimed relationship in detail. Using a host of different model specifications and alternative measures of drought, heat, and civil war, the paper concludes that climate variability is a poor predictor of armed conflict. Instead, African civil wars can be explained by generic structural and contextual conditions: prevalent ethno-political exclusion, poor national economy, and the collapse of the Cold War system. PMID:20823241

Climate not to blame for African civil wars.

Science.gov (United States)

Buhaug, Halvard

2010-09-21

Vocal actors within policy and practice contend that environmental variability and shocks, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, drive civil wars in Africa. Recently, a widely publicized scientific article appears to substantiate this claim. This paper investigates the empirical foundation for the claimed relationship in detail. Using a host of different model specifications and alternative measures of drought, heat, and civil war, the paper concludes that climate variability is a poor predictor of armed conflict. Instead, African civil wars can be explained by generic structural and contextual conditions: prevalent ethno-political exclusion, poor national economy, and the collapse of the Cold War system.

The nuclear present. A guide to recent books on nuclear war, weapons, the peace movement, and related issues, with a chronology of nuclear events, 1789-1991

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burns, G.

1992-01-01

The Nuclear Present brings the interested reader up-to-date on significant English-language books about nuclear weapons and related topics, identifying primarily important works of nuclear non-fiction that have come out since 1984. Each reference has a paragraph of comment about its subject and value. General organizational areas include the following: Reference Works; Nuclear weapons and Nuclear war (14 sub-headings including overviews, development, effects, tests, arms race, prospectives, legal considerations etc.); Strategy; proliferation; Stratigic Defense; Arms control and disarmament; ethical, pholosophical and religous perspectives; new paths to peace; periodic guide; the Chernobyl Disaster. An extensive Nuclear Chronology (1789-1991) written by the author allows a fairly detailed sense of the historical record of nuclear weapons, including testing, manufacture, use and movements for arms control and disarmament

WHY NATIONS GO TO WAR

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Francois Vrey

This 11th edition of Why nations go to war analyses ten case studies covering major ... of the time (Germany, Russia, Serbia and Austria in particular), Stoessinger depicts ... The section on the war in Vietnam depicts how five consecutive American ... to war. The nuclear option is available to both countries and the strategic.

Nuclear war and other catastrophes. Civil and catastrophe protection in the Federal republic of Germany and the United Kingdom after 1945

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diebel, Martin

2017-01-01

The book civil and catastrophe protection in the Federal republic of Germany and the United Kingdom after 1945 discusses the following issues: aerial defense and the atomic bomb (1945 - 1968), crises and catastrophes in the shadow of the bomb (1962 - 1978), civil defense and the comeback of the (nuclear) war (1976 - 1979), civil defense and the second ''Cold War'' (1979 - 1986), Chernobyl and the end of the Cold War (1979 - 1990), war, catastrophe and safety in the 20th century - a conclusion.

Nuclear materials control technology in the post-cold war world: Radiation-based methods and information management systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tape, J.W.; Eccleston, G.W.; Ensslin, N.; Markin, J.T.

1993-01-01

The end of the cold war is providing both opportunities and requirements for improving the control of nuclear materials around the world. The dismantlement of nuclear weapons and the growth of nuclear power, including the use of plutonium in light water reactors and breeder reactor programs, coupled with enhanced proliferation concerns, drive the need for improved nuclear materials control. We describe nuclear materials control and the role of technology in making controls more effective and efficient. The current use and anticipated development in selected radiation-based methods and related information management systems am described briefly

The political economics of the permanent war and the political economics of the nuclear war. Strategic approaches for Latin America; La economia politica de la guerra permanente y la economia politica de la guerra nuclear. Aproximaciones estrategicas para America Latina

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gomez L, I.I

2005-07-01

This work treats on the hypothesis that the American imperialism uses its nuclear arsenal for reforming geographical spaces that allow him to impel its economic development in the context of the progressive exhaustion of the natural resources of the planet and of the ferocious dispute for market niches and investment destinations, and like the political and military decisions crawl to the different scenarios of economic competition. In the chapter 1 it is insinuated like has been reproduced the Warlike-industrial Complex (CBI) American from the second world postwar period until the present time in the idea of explaining like it is that it is valorized to the capital in scale enlarged starting from the denominated sector producing of destruction means and understanding that the system specifically capitalist is a system where continually the is destroyed previously taken place to manufacture a new merchandise in a luck of creative destruction. In the chapter 2, the topic of the specific contradictions of the CBI is approached that disable him to be the tip of lance of the world imperialism. The chapter 3 try on the productive linkages in the production of nuclear bombs, as well as in the production of the vectors of nuclear transportation and on the implications derived for the world security of the different industries associated to the nuclear energy (as the petroleum, the electricity, the natural gas) and to the transportation vectors of these locating which you/they are the different States where the world supremacy is disputed and that they have like one of its so many negotiation-confrontation letters its nuclear strategic arsenals. What is looked for in a thermonuclear war is the enemy's total elimination, from their offensive capacity, their defensive capacity, until their supplies, their reservations, etc., with the result that the chapters 4 and 5 of this thesis are presented to offer a better understanding that they mean the nuclear arsenals in the

Nuclear rights - nuclear wrongs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paul, E.F.; Miller, F.D.; Paul, J.; Ahrens, J.

1986-01-01

This book contains 11 selections. The titles are: Three Ways to Kill Innocent Bystanders: Some Conundrums Concerning the Morality of War; The International Defense of Liberty; Two Concepts of Deterrence; Nuclear Deterrence and Arms Control; Ethical Issues for the 1980s; The Moral Status of Nuclear Deterrent Threats; Optimal Deterrence; Morality and Paradoxical Deterrence; Immoral Risks: A Deontological Critique of Nuclear Deterrence; No War Without Dictatorship, No Peace Without Democracy: Foreign Policy as Domestic Politics; Marxism-Leninism and its Strategic Implications for the United States; Tocqueveille War.

Nuclear winter: Global consequences of multiple nuclear explosions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turco, R.P.; Toon, O.B.; Ackerman, T.P.; Pollack, J.B.; Sagan, C.

1984-01-01

Concern has been raised over the short- and long-term consequences of the dust, smoke, radioactivity, and toxic vapors that would be generated by a nuclear war. The discovery that dense clouds of soil particles may have played a major role in past mass extinctions of life on Earth has encouraged the reconsideration of nuclear war effects. These developments have led the authors to calculate, using new data and improved models, the potential global environmental effects of dust and smoke clouds (henceforth referred to as nuclear dust and smoke) generated in a nuclear war. They neglect the short-term effects of blast, fire, and radiation. Most of the world's population could probably survive the initial nuclear exchange and would inherit the postwar environment. Accordingly, the longer-term and global-scale aftereffects of nuclear war might prove to be as important as the immediate consequences of the war

War and public health

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Levy, Barry S; Sidel, Victor W

2008-01-01

... and Prevention, the International Rescue Committee, and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, can reduce the impact of war and contribute to its prevention. The participation of respected and trustworthy intermediaries and the willingness of parties to communicate with each other are two key elements in preventing...

Nuclear deterrence in the 21. century. Lessons from the cold war for a new era of strategic piracy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delpech, Therese

2013-01-01

Deterrence remains a primary doctrine for dealing with the threat of nuclear weapons in the 21. century. In this book, the author calls for a renewed intellectual effort to address the relevance of the traditional concepts of first strike, escalation, extended deterrence, and other Cold War-era strategies in today's complex world of additional superpowers (e.g., China), smaller nuclear powers (e.g., Pakistan and North Korea), and non-state actors (e.g., terrorists), as well as the extension of defense and security analysis to new domains, such as outer space and cyber-space. The author draws upon the lessons of the bipolar Cold War era to illustrate new concepts of deterrence that properly account for the variety of nuclear actors, the proliferation of missiles and thermonuclear weapons, and the radical ideologies that all are part of the nuclear scene today. Contents: 1- Introduction, 2 - Why Is This Subject Important?, 3 - Concepts, 4 - Lessons from Crises, 5 - The Age of Small Powers, 6 - Ahead of Us: The Big Piracy Game?, 7 - Space and Cyber-deterrence

Long-term biological consequences of nuclear war.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrlich, P R; Harte, J; Harwell, M A; Raven, P H; Sagan, C; Woodwell, G M; Berry, J; Ayensu, E S; Ehrlich, A H; Eisner, T

1983-12-23

Subfreezing temperatures, low light levels, and high doses of ionizing and ultraviolet radiation extending for many months after a large-scale nuclear war could destroy the biological support systems of civilization, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Productivity in natural and agricultural ecosystems could be severely restricted for a year or more. Postwar survivors would face starvation as well as freezing conditions in the dark and be exposed to near-lethal doses of radiation. If, as now seems possible, the Southern Hemisphere were affected also, global disruption of the biosphere could ensue. In any event, there would be severe consequences, even in the areas not affected directly, because of the interdependence of the world economy. In either case the extinction of a large fraction of the Earth's animals, plants, and microorganisms seems possible. The population size of Homo sapiens conceivably could be reduced to prehistoric levels or below, and extinction of the human species itself cannot be excluded.

Misrepresentation of the Bosnian War by Western media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin Žohar

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper I intend to analyse war reporting in Bosnian War. I am working in Foucaultian tradition of understanding discourse as a tool of power and Lacanian tradition of understanding phantasm as a imaginary scenario that gives one understanding of his social role and his way of desiring. I intend to expose, how war reporting uses traditional stereotypes in explaining the war in Bosnia. In my research I go beyond narrative analysis and expose political value of such reporting. Relaying on the concept of phantasm I try to expose how the stereotypic reporting creates the passive position of reader: he is concerned but he cannot do much in this irrational, tribal war. In this way sensational, stereotypical reporting actually contributed to prevailing policy of passivity that was partially responsible for prolongation of the conflict.

The nuclear case book

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stephenson, M.; Hearn, R.

1983-01-01

The subject is covered in sections, entitled: the truth about nukes; disarmament, arms control and arms limitation; directory of nuclear weapons; tables of principal nuclear weapons; points of view 1 (Anglican); proliferation of nuclear technology; the just war; preventing proliferation; the numbers business; war scenario 1 (the Gulf); points of view 2 (Roman Catholic); deterrence; European Nuclear Balance; war scenario 2 (Germany); arguing about war and peace; points of view 3 (Jewish); is there a Soviet military threat; the view from Omsk; points of view 4 (Pugwash); the British deterrent; points of view 5 (generals for peace and disarmament); 'broken arrows'; costs of nuclear weapons; war scenario 3 (Pakistan); nuclear weapons - what is the moral response; non-use of nuclear weapons; points of view 6 (women and families for defence); dear Mr. Heseltine; why acquire nuclear weapons; the effects of nuclear weapons; war scenario 4 (Central America and the Middle East); civil defence; alternatives to nuclear defence; points of view 7 (Quaker). (U.K.)

Nuclear war: short-term chemical and radiative effects of stratospheric injections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luther, F.M.

1983-10-01

Earlier investigations of the atmospheric effects of a nuclear war focused primarily on the potential reduction in stratospheric ozone. The numerical models used in those assessments were one-dimensional and calculated the average ozone reduction over the Northern Hemisphere. The results presented here are the first assessment of the potential reduction in total ozone on a subcontinental scale. The purpose is to determine whether regions of large ozone reduction (sometimes called ozone holes) are possible, and to identify the important parameters affecting the magnitude of the ozone reduction and rate of recovery

Report of workshop on radiological effects of nuclear war, SCOPE-ENUWAR workshop, Moscow, USSR, March 21-25, 1988

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shapiro, C.S.

1988-03-01

The workshop on radiological consequences of nuclear war addressed specific issues that built on the foundation of the results that were published in the SCOPE-ENUWAR report (SCOPE-28) in 1986. 14 refs.

Report of workshop on radiological effects of nuclear war, SCOPE-ENUWAR workshop, Moscow, USSR, March 21-25, 1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shapiro, C.S.

1988-03-01

The workshop on radiological consequences of nuclear war addressed specific issues that built on the foundation of the results that were published in the SCOPE-ENUWAR report (SCOPE-28) in 1986. 14 refs

Environmental consequences of nuclear war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toon, Owen B. [Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado (United States); Robock, Alan [Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (United States); Turco, Richard P. [Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (United States)

2014-05-09

A regional war involving 100 Hiroshima-sized weapons would pose a worldwide threat due to ozone destruction and climate change. A superpower confrontation with a few thousand weapons would be catastrophic.

Economic Origins of War and Peace

OpenAIRE

Coe, Andrew

2012-01-01

Why do wars happen, and what do societies fight over? Why are international relations sometimes fearful and aggressive and other times harmonious? I show that these questions can be fruitfully explored by importing some basic economic theory into the existing bargaining theory of war. A separate essay analyzes the interactions between the United States and countries that may be pursuing nuclear weapons. "Costly Peace: A New Rationalist Explanation for War" posits a new explanation for war: so...

Nuclear Energy Futures: the Appropriation of the 'Atomic Age' in post-war Austria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bayer, F.

2015-01-01

While recent scholarship in Science and Technology Studies and Science and Technology Policy carved out that techno-scientific developments take distinct national styles and shapes, less attention has been payed to such differences in the scholarship on nuclear history in Austria. In the context of the struggles over the non-commissioning of the already completed nuclear power plant at Zwentendorf (1978) and in the aftermath of the reactor explosion in Chernobyl (1986) the formation of a specific technopolitical identity, revolving around the sociotechnical imaginary of keeping nuclear technologies out of Austrian territory, has been observed. At the backdrop of this imaginary the history of nuclear enthusiasm in Austria is only present in narratives about how 'the people' have resisted and rejected the implementation of nuclear technologies in Austria and thus overcome u nreasonable promises of the so called atomic age . On the other hand historical scholarship shows that Austria has a long history of nuclear research and nuclear (power) policy that was hardly questioned until the early 1970s. Departing from this discrepancy this master thesis investigates the appropriation of the 'atomic age' in Austria in the mid 1950s. When US President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his famous Atoms for Peace address in front of the UN General Assembly in late 1953 global nuclear enthusiasm in the immediate post--war era reached a new highpoint. Analyzing the following developments in Austria until late 1955 - of which the formation of an Austrian Commission on Atomic Energy and the participation in the UN Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy are to be considered milestones - thus enables me to observe how the appropriation of the 'atomic age' was deeply entangled with imaginations of national collectivity and different forms of imagining the future. In reference to the broader frameworks of 'appropriating' science and technology

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation (1943-1987): a case study of the interface between physics and biology during the cold war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Macuglia, Daniele [Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine, University of Chicago, IL (United States)

2011-07-01

During its active period (1943-1987) the Hanford Nuclear Reservation shaped the history of US nuclear research. It also constitutes an interesting case study of the interface between physics, biology and the politics of Cold War society. Although supposed to turn the US into a stronger military force during the Cold War, the remarkable biological consequences of the nuclear research carried out in the facility ended up overshadowing its original political purpose. The high-level of radioactive waste harmed thousands of people living in the area, causing relevant environmental disasters which make the site the most contaminated area in the US even today. Nuclear research is uniquely dangerous since radiation can cause severe consequences both in terms of lives injured and environmental damage. I address various ways in which nuclear physics and biology were used - and abused - at the Hanford Site to combine the needs of politics with the needs of a healthy society. This paper further investigates the moral responsibility of science to society and the way in which biological research informed nuclear physics about the deleterious consequences of radiation on environment and on the human body.

Nuclear dawn F. E. Simon and the race for atomic weapons in World War II

CERN Document Server

McRae, Kenneth D

2014-01-01

This book provides a rounded biography of Franz (later Sir Francis) Simon, his early life in Germany, his move to Oxford in 1933, and his experimental contributions to low temperature physics approximating absolute zero. After 1939 he switched his research to nuclear physics, and is credited with solving the problem of uranium isotope separation by gaseous diffusion for the British nuclear programme Tube Alloys. The volume is distinctive for its inclusion of source materials not available to previous researchers, such as Simon's diary and his correspondence with his wife, and for a fresh, well-informed insider voice on the five-power nuclear rivalry of the war years. The work also draws on a relatively mature nuclear literature to attempt a comparison and evaluation of the five nuclear rivals in wider political and military context, and to identify the factors, or groups of factors, that can explain the results.

The nuclear shield in the 'thirty-year war' of physicists against ignorant criticism of modern physical theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vizgin, Vladimir P

1999-01-01

This article deals with the almost 'thirty-year war' led by physicists against the authorities' incompetent philosophical and ideological interference with science. The 'war' is shown to have been related to the history of Soviet nuclear weapons. Theoretical milestones of 20th century physics, to wit, theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, suffered endless 'attacks on philosophical grounds'. The theories were proclaimed idealistic as well as unduly abstract and out of touch with practice; their authors and followers were labelled 'physical idealists', and later, in the 1940s and 1950s, even 'cosmopolitans without kith or kin'. Meanwhile, quantum and relativistic theories, as is widely known, had become the basis of nuclear physics and of the means of studying the atomic nucleus (charged particle accelerators, for instance). The two theories thus served, to a great extent, as a basis for both peaceful and military uses of nuclear energy, made possible by the discovery of uranium nuclear fission under the action of neutrons. In the first part, the article recounts how prominent physicists led the way to resisting philosophical and ideological pressure and standing up for relativity, quantum theories and nuclear physics, thus enabling the launch of the atomic project. The second part contains extensive material proving the point that physicists effectively used the 'nuclear shield' in the 1940s and 1950s against the 'philosophical-cosmopolitan' pressure, indeed saving physics from a tragic fate as that of biology at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL) session in 1948. (from the history of physics)

Research on the climatic effects of nuclear war: final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pittock, A.B.; Galbally, I.A.

1988-01-01

The major thrust of this work has been to investigate the surface climatic effects of a thin layer of smoke thought likely to move over Australia following a major nuclear war in the Northern Hemisphere. It was found that daily average surface coolings would be in the range of 2-4 deg C, but that daily maximum temperature could cool by 5 deg C or more over large areas of Australia, especially in the dry season. The most important effect over Australia would be a large reduction in summer monsoonal and convective rainfall. A computer model of the rising fireball was constructed. Simulations with this model suggested that some past estimates of nitrogen oxide injections into the upper atmosphere from near-surface nuclear explosions may be overestimated. Recommendations are made that a wider study be undertaken, which would take into account increases in ultraviolet radiation due to ozone depletion, and various socio-economic factors such as loss of vital imports, loss of economic incentives for farmers, and a possible controlled or uncontrolled influx of refugees. 24 refs., 3 figs

Limited war, limited autonomy: The state, domestic politics, and the evolution of U.S. nuclear weapons policy (Volumes 1 and 2)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mlyn, E.J.

1991-01-01

This study examines the nature of the relationship between state and society for the formation of US nuclear weapons policy. By looking at three case studies that cover the years 1960-1983, Mlyn, seeks to determine whether society and, in turn, domestic politics have been important for the formulation of US nuclear weapons policy. The theoretical approach, which applies the conceptual underpinnings of statism, draws on existing theory in American politics and international relations. The case studies are constructed from interviews with former government officials, archival research, and secondary sources. The substantive focus of the study is the relationship between declaratory policy and targeting policy. For much of the nuclear age, declaratory policy embraced mutual assured destruction (MAD) while actual targeting policy embraced war fighting, or the opposite of MAD. As the state moved toward a declaratory policy that embraced war fighting and limited nuclear options, it lost its autonomy from society in formulating nuclear weapons policy. This loss of autonomy coincided with a relative decline for the US vis a vis the Soviet Union in the overall strategic nuclear balance. The causes and consequences of this shift are explored

Strategic Stability Reconsidered: Prospects for Escalation and Nuclear War in the Middle East

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Russell, J.A.

2009-07-01

This paper addresses the prospect that nuclear weapons could be used in the Middle East - breaking the so-called 'taboo' against the use of these weapons since the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 and which remained unbroken throughout the Cold War and continues to endure. It argues that unstable dynamics of the coercive bargaining framework surrounding Iran's nuclear program may be pushing the world closer toward the use of nuclear weapons than is generally realized - perhaps closer than any time since the Cuban missile crisis - and proposes a number of near- and longer-term scenarios to illustrate the ways in which structural uncertainties in the regional interstate bargaining framework could result in the use of nuclear weapons. In itself, the 'taboo' against nuclear use is unlikely to prevent regional states and/or non-state actors from using these weapons to protect themselves and to secure their vital interests. While the very use of the word 'taboo' in connection with nuclear weapons offers an attractive metaphor, it has little use as a meaningful term to describe the policies and attitudes of states' and non-state actors toward the use of nuclear weapons. It is difficult to argue that any country has ever obtained nuclear weapons with the idea that the weapons would not be used. A case in point is the United States, for example, which, while embracing the concept of nuclear deterrence, has made a point of not forswearing the first use of nuclear weapons, and has repeatedly articulated a range of plausible conditions under which the weapons would be used. The paper agrees with political scientist Michael Mandelbaum, who declared more than a decade ago that: '..like all taboos, this one will be violated under necessity. Individuals will eat forbidden foods, even one another, if the alternative is starvation; nations will acquire and use forbidden weapons if they deem it necessary

Strategic Stability Reconsidered: Prospects for Escalation and Nuclear War in the Middle East

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russell, J.A.

2009-01-01

This paper addresses the prospect that nuclear weapons could be used in the Middle East - breaking the so-called 'taboo' against the use of these weapons since the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 and which remained unbroken throughout the Cold War and continues to endure. It argues that unstable dynamics of the coercive bargaining framework surrounding Iran's nuclear program may be pushing the world closer toward the use of nuclear weapons than is generally realized - perhaps closer than any time since the Cuban missile crisis - and proposes a number of near- and longer-term scenarios to illustrate the ways in which structural uncertainties in the regional interstate bargaining framework could result in the use of nuclear weapons. In itself, the 'taboo' against nuclear use is unlikely to prevent regional states and/or non-state actors from using these weapons to protect themselves and to secure their vital interests. While the very use of the word 'taboo' in connection with nuclear weapons offers an attractive metaphor, it has little use as a meaningful term to describe the policies and attitudes of states' and non-state actors toward the use of nuclear weapons. It is difficult to argue that any country has ever obtained nuclear weapons with the idea that the weapons would not be used. A case in point is the United States, for example, which, while embracing the concept of nuclear deterrence, has made a point of not forswearing the first use of nuclear weapons, and has repeatedly articulated a range of plausible conditions under which the weapons would be used. The paper agrees with political scientist Michael Mandelbaum, who declared more than a decade ago that: '..like all taboos, this one will be violated under necessity. Individuals will eat forbidden foods, even one another, if the alternative is starvation; nations will acquire and use forbidden weapons if they deem it necessary for survival'. The paper first draws upon

Physicians for the prevention of nuclear war. A portrayal of the Nobel prize winner. Betrifft: Aerzte gegen den Atomkrieg. Ein Portraet des Friedensnobelpreistraegers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jogschies, R.

1986-01-01

The publication abstracted reports on the history and aims of IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War). In recognition of their continuous and consistent international campaign of enlightenment its 140,000 members were awarded the peace Nobel prize in 1985. Emphasis is placed on the achievements and work of the Western Germany section of ''Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War''. The portrait is the first of its kind to comprehensibly acquaint even non-experts with the background, history and difficulties of the medical resistance to the dangers of nuclear war. Neither stopping at national or at political borders the medical hippocratic mission of fighting against a nuclear holocaust has brought about and developed a professional disinterestedness which is not equalled by any other kind of social and moral devotion. The publication analyses the worldwide threatening situation, the forgotten lesson taught by the past and the chances of medical protest. The result pointed out expresses an optimistic view. Chances are good if IPPNW does not only supply us with facts but also sets an example of modern morality. Interesting rudimentary attempts of initation can already be observed with other professions, for example among journalists.

Linking legacies: Connecting the Cold War nuclear weapons production processes to their environmental consequences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

In the aftermath of the Cold War, the US has begun addressing the environmental consequences of five decades of nuclear weapons production. In support of this effort, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to describe the waste streams generated during each step in the production of nuclear weapons. Accordingly, this report responds to this mandate, and it is the Department's first comprehensive analysis of the sources of waste and contamination generated by the production of nuclear weapons. The report also contains information on the missions and functions of nuclear weapons facilities, on the inventories of waste and materials remaining at these facilities, as well as on the extent and characteristics of contamination in and around these facilities. This analysis unites specific environmental impacts of nuclear weapons production with particular production processes. The Department used historical records to connect nuclear weapons production processes with emerging data on waste and contamination. In this way, two of the Department's legacies--nuclear weapons manufacturing and environmental management--have become systematically linked. The goal of this report is to provide Congress, DOE program managers, non-governmental analysts, and the public with an explicit picture of the environmental results of each step in the nuclear weapons production and disposition cycle

Linking legacies: Connecting the Cold War nuclear weapons production processes to their environmental consequences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-01-01

In the aftermath of the Cold War, the US has begun addressing the environmental consequences of five decades of nuclear weapons production. In support of this effort, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to describe the waste streams generated during each step in the production of nuclear weapons. Accordingly, this report responds to this mandate, and it is the Department`s first comprehensive analysis of the sources of waste and contamination generated by the production of nuclear weapons. The report also contains information on the missions and functions of nuclear weapons facilities, on the inventories of waste and materials remaining at these facilities, as well as on the extent and characteristics of contamination in and around these facilities. This analysis unites specific environmental impacts of nuclear weapons production with particular production processes. The Department used historical records to connect nuclear weapons production processes with emerging data on waste and contamination. In this way, two of the Department`s legacies--nuclear weapons manufacturing and environmental management--have become systematically linked. The goal of this report is to provide Congress, DOE program managers, non-governmental analysts, and the public with an explicit picture of the environmental results of each step in the nuclear weapons production and disposition cycle.

The Implications of Preemptive and Preventive War Doctrines: A Reconsideration

Science.gov (United States)

2007-07-01

geopolitics, ideology , and personality as combining to produce the fatal brew which resulted in 42 years of nuclear shadowed global menace.26 But...preventive war. 49 1. Preventive war is war, and preventive warfare is warfare. It is not a distinctive genus of war and warfare. The distinguishing

Biological effects of nuclear war: Acute effects of radiation; the LD-50 value

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohkita, T.; Rotblat, J.

1987-01-01

Recent surveys carried out in Japan in connection with the reassessment of the dosimetry for long-term effects provided an opportunity for another look at the acute effects of radiation and a recalculation of the LD-50 value. The recalculation gave an LD-50 value which is two to three times lower than had been assumed before. It means that in a nuclear war the number of fatalities due to exposure to radiation would be considerably higher than thought hitherto. 11 refs, 5 figs, 2 tabs

Long-term consequences of and prospects for recovery from nuclear war: Two views. View I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sagan, C.

1986-01-01

There is a kind of deadly embrace between the United States and the Soviet Union - their military establishments depend on each other - that goes back at least to 1945 and that has led to the construction of a kind of global doomsday machine, which has been almost entirely ignored until lately. The population of the plant has, by and large, been sleepwalking through the last 40 years. The consequences of nuclear war, even as they were known 20 or 30 years ago, did not permeate the public consciousness. And this is still the case, although less so, as a kind of race transpires between how fast and disquieting discoveries are made about the nature of nuclear war and and how fast these discoveries are absorbed, often with great reluctance, into the consciousness of the public and the government. In this summary, the author proceeds in rough serial order through some of the topics presented in this volume and gives a few impressions. On the nuclear winter issue itself, there now seems to be a fairly broad consensus after the original TTAPS study that is something worth worrying about, something probably very grave. Even the most conservative and carefully phrased reports on this subject make that apparent. The National Research Council's report states that nuclear winter is a ''clear possibility'' and that the probability that the severity winter would be worse than in the ''baseline case'' is roughly the same as the probability that it would be better. Despite uncertainties, ''the committee believes that long-term climatic effects with severe implications for the biosphere could occur.''

Nuclear war in the Middle East: where is the voice of medicine and public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Dallas, Cham E; Burkle, Frederick M

2011-10-01

Once again, the politically volatile Middle East and accompanying rhetoric has escalated the risk of a major nuclear exchange. Diplomatic efforts have failed to make the medical consequences of such an exchange a leading element in negotiations. The medical and academic communities share this denial. Without exaggeration, the harsh reality of the enormous consequences of an imminently conceivable nuclear war between Iran and Israel will encompass an unprecedented millions of dead and an unavoidable decline in public health and environmental devastation that would impact major populations in the Middle East for decades to come. Nuclear deterrence and the uncomfortable but real medical and public health consequences must become an integral part of a broader global health diplomacy that emphasizes health security along with poverty reduction and good governance.

Multi-lobulation of the nucleus in prolonged S phase by nuclear expression of Chk tyrosine kinase.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakayama, Yuji; Yamaguchi, Naoto

2005-04-01

Chk tyrosine kinase phosphorylates Src-family tyrosine kinases and suppresses their kinase activity. We recently showed that Chk localizes to the nucleus as well as the cytoplasm and inhibits cell proliferation. To investigate the role of nuclear Chk in proliferation, various Chk mutants were constructed and expressed. Nuclear localization of Chk-induced dynamic multi-lobulation of the nucleus and prolonged S phase of the cell cycle. The N-terminal domain of Chk and a portion of its kinase domain but not the kinase activity were responsible for induction of the multi-lobulation. Cell sorting analysis revealed that nuclear multi-lobulated cells were enriched in late S phase. Multi-lobulated nuclei were surrounded with lamin B1 that was particularly concentrated in concave regions of the nuclei. Furthermore, treatment with nocodazole or taxol disrupted multi-lobulation of the nucleus. These results suggest that nuclear multi-lobulation in late S phase, which is dependent on polymerization and depolymerization of microtubules, may be involved in nuclear Chk-induced inhibition of proliferation.

Multi-lobulation of the nucleus in prolonged S phase by nuclear expression of Chk tyrosine kinase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakayama, Yuji; Yamaguchi, Naoto

2005-01-01

Chk tyrosine kinase phosphorylates Src-family tyrosine kinases and suppresses their kinase activity. We recently showed that Chk localizes to the nucleus as well as the cytoplasm and inhibits cell proliferation. To investigate the role of nuclear Chk in proliferation, various Chk mutants were constructed and expressed. Nuclear localization of Chk-induced dynamic multi-lobulation of the nucleus and prolonged S phase of the cell cycle. The N-terminal domain of Chk and a portion of its kinase domain but not the kinase activity were responsible for induction of the multi-lobulation. Cell sorting analysis revealed that nuclear multi-lobulated cells were enriched in late S phase. Multi-lobulated nuclei were surrounded with lamin B1 that was particularly concentrated in concave regions of the nuclei. Furthermore, treatment with nocodazole or taxol disrupted multi-lobulation of the nucleus. These results suggest that nuclear multi-lobulation in late S phase, which is dependent on polymerization and depolymerization of microtubules, may be involved in nuclear Chk-induced inhibition of proliferation

War and bereavement: consequences for mental and physical distress.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nexhmedin Morina

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Little is known about the long-term impact of the killing of a parent in childhood or adolescence during war on distress and disability in young adulthood. This study assessed current prevalence rates of mental disorders and levels of dysfunction among young adults who had lost their father due to war-related violence in childhood or adolescence. METHODS: 179 bereaved young adults and 175 non-bereaved young adults were interviewed a decade after experiencing the war in Kosovo. Prevalence rates of Major Depressive Episode (MDE, anxiety, and substance use disorders, and current suicide risk were assessed using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The syndrome of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD was assessed with the Prolonged Grief Disorder Interview (PG-13. Somatic symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire. General health distress was assessed with the General Health Questionnaire. FINDINGS: Bereaved participants were significantly more likely to suffer from either MDE or any anxiety disorder than non-bereaved participants (58.7% vs. 40%. Among bereaved participants, 39.7% met criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 34.6% for PGD, and 22.3% for MDE. Bereaved participants with PGD were more likely to suffer from MDE, any anxiety disorder, or current suicide risk than bereaved participants without PGD. Furthermore, these participants reported significantly greater physical distress than bereaved participants without PGD. CONCLUSION: War-related loss during middle childhood and adolescence presents significant risk for adverse mental health and dysfunction in young adulthood in addition to exposure to other war-related traumatic events. Furthermore, the syndrome of PGD can help to identify those with the greatest degree of distress and dysfunction.

Nuclear war and its consequences for individuals, populations and total mankind. 4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David, H.

1989-01-01

Radiation effects of nuclear bomb explosions have been shown to be more complicated and lethal at a higher level than those after nuclear 'accident' under peace terms. This does not only apply to the number of people afflicted but also to the lowering of the fatal dose of radiation since other damage, such as injuries, burns, lack of food and infections are combined with it. Late radiation effects, such as increased tumor rates, genetic damage, sterility and malformations as well as organic disorders are discussed. Parts of late damages will be enhanced by prolonged radioactive contamination of drinking water. Investigations in the GDR and the FRG demonstrate that the reactor accident of Tchernobyl resulting in the surface contamination of large areas did not lead to genetic damage nor to an increased rate of malformations. (author)

Nuclear winter or nuclear fall?

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, André

Climate is universal. If a major modern nuclear war (i.e., with a large number of small-yield weapons) were to happen, it is not even necessary to have a specific part of the world directly involved for there to be cause to worry about the consequences for its inhabitants and their future. Indeed, smoke from fires ignited by the nuclear explosions would be transported by winds all over the world, causing dark and cold. According to the first study, by Turco et al. [1983], air surface temperature over continental areas of the northern mid-latitudes (assumed to be the nuclear war theatre) would fall to winter levels even in summer (hence the term “nuclear winter”) and induce drastic climatic conditions for several months at least. The devastating effects of a nuclear war would thus last much longer than was assumed initially. Discussing to what extent these estimations of long-term impacts on climate are reliable is the purpose of this article.

Nuclear war hazards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chazov, E.I.; Il'in, L.A.; Gus'kova, A.K.

1982-01-01

An attempt is made to forecast medical and bilogical and aftereffects of nuclear weapons application in a number of situations. In particular, the effects of a single high-yield air or surface nuclear explosion on a city with 1 mln population are considered as well as the aftereffects of the exposure of human beings to local radioactive fallouts outside the ground zero of a surface nuclear explosion. The aftereffects for the population of local and global radioactive fallouts caused by the realization of one of the adopted in the West variants of mass nuclear strives exchange between the hostile sides are estimated. Certain aspects of medical and biological aftereffects of neutron weapons application are discussed

Nuclear energy as a 'golden bridge'? Constitutional legal problems of the negotiation of the prolongation of the running time against skimming of profits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waldhoff, Christian; Aswege, Hanka von

2010-01-01

The coalition agreement of Christian Demographic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 26th October, 2009 characterizes the nuclear energy as a bridge technology. The coalition parties explain to prolong the running times of German nuclear power stations up to a reliable replacement by renewable energies. The conditions for the prolongation of the running times are to be regulated in agreement with energy supply companies. In the contribution under consideration, the authors report on the fiscal legal problems of the skimming of profits. Constitutional legal problems of the earmaking of a skimming of profits as well as a consensual agreement are discussed in this contribution. In the result, a financial constitutionally reliable way for the skimming of added profits due to prolongation of the running time is not evident. The legal earmaking of the duty advent for the promotion of renewable energies increases the constitutional doubts.

Burden of HIV/AIDS infection before and during the civil war in Somalia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, B H; Giovagnoli, M R; Mahad, H; Tarsitani, G G

2010-08-01

Somalia has suffered a massive internal population displacement and exodus that began in 1988 and is still ongoing during the prolonged and intermittent civil war. This review looks at the burden of HIV infection in Somali and the impact of civil war on its epidemiology. Serosurveys have indicated that HIV was not present in Somalia before the civil war and to date Somalia has had an HIV prevalence markedly below that of its neighbours. However, due to the ongoing war HIV sentinel surveillance cannot reach most of the affected areas in Somalia and the current HIV infection problem may be greater than the figures indicate.

Nuclear arms control in the post-Cold War era. New conditions, new requirements, and nonproliferation (with special emphasis on Japan and East Asia)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imai, Ryukichi

1994-01-01

The paper starts with a general survey of post-Cold War nuclear disarmament, pointing out Japan's positions, policies, and problems in the process. The discussion is not Japan-centered, nor is it an explanation of the Japanese view. It is useful, in this context, to recall that during the Cold War period, Japan was firmly in the ''Western Camp'', relying on the protection of the extended nuclear deterrence provided by the United States. This article is written with that history very much in mind, and by an author who for some years was in a position to represent Japan in such a context. (orig./DG)

The Gulf War Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Lessons Learned

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ugone, Mary

2001-01-01

This audit was requested by the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, Medical Readiness and Military Deployments, which has the authority to coordinate all aspects of Gulf War investigations for DoD...

The abolition of war as a goal of environmental policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Brian F; Ruyle, Leslie E

2017-12-15

Since the 1950s, select military and political leaders have had the capacity to kill all or nearly all human life on Earth. The number of people entrusted with this power grows each year through proliferation and the rise of new political leaders. If humans continue to maintain and develop nuclear weapons, it is highly probable that a nuclear exchange will occur again at some point in the future. This nuclear exchange may or may not annihilate the human species, but it will cause catastrophic effects on the biosphere. The international community has attempted to resolve this existential problem via treaties that control and potentially eliminate nuclear weapons, however, these treaties target only nuclear weapons, leaving the use of war as a normalized means for settling conflict. As long as war exists as a probable future, nations will be under pressure to develop more powerful weapons. Thus, we argue that the elimination of nuclear weapons alone is not a stable, long-term strategy. A far more secure strategy would be the elimination of war as a means of settling international disputes. Therefore, those concerned about environmental sustainability or the survival of the biosphere should work to abolish war. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Elements of a war-survival policy for the United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chester, C.V.

1978-01-01

The Soviet Union has been vigorously pursuing a war-survival policy for several years, whereas the United States has relied entirely on deterring nuclear war. This has resulted in a situation in which the U.S. population is of the order of ten times more vulnerable to nuclear war than is the Soviet population. Increasingly wide-spread perception of the disparity in vulnerability could undermine credibility of the U.S. deterrent forces and leave the United States in a very poor bargaining position in a confrontation. A program recommended to reestablish parity in vulnerability consists of the following: (1) make national survival in the event of nuclear war explicit policy, (2) develop crisis relocation plans for the population of all potential target areas, (3) teach a course in nuclear-war survival in high school, (4) assign to Minuteman and/or B-1 the role of preventing the reloading of Soviet pop-up silos, (5) reinstitute air defense in the United States if the Soviets continue to deploy the Backfire bomber, (6) continue policies encouraging relocation of population and industry outside cities, (7) avoid the development of new target concentrations especially in the new synthetic liquid fuel industry, and (8) develop and encourage integration of blast and fallout protection into new energy-conserving construction

Waging modern war: An analysis of the moral literature on the nuclear arms debate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmer-Fernandez, G.F.

1992-01-01

The primary aim was to examine the dominant views on the subject of deterrence and the use of nuclear weapons, to compare them with each other, and to consider objections that have or might be made against them. A second, more controversial and substantive, aim was to show that nuclear weapons and war-fighting plans engender some disturbing moral dilemmas that call into question fundamental ways of thinking about morality and some of the common intuitions on the relation of intentions and actions. The author examines the moral literature, both religious and secular, on nuclear arms policy written between the early 1960s and the late 1980s. Three different schools of thought, or 'parties,' are identified. To establish the differences among these parties, the author shows the various ways in which judgments on the use of nuclear weapons and on deterrence are linked either by a prohibitive moral principle which draws a moral equivalence going from action to intention or by a factual assumption about the nature of nuclear weapons. He concludes with the suggestion that the dilemmas that arise in the moral evaluation of nuclear deterrence represent a profound and much wider problem in moral theory between the ideals of character and the moral claims of politics

The Fukushima War

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelletier, Philippe

2012-01-01

We know that henceforth there will be a 'before' and an 'after' Fukushima, just as there is a before and an after Hiroshima-Nagasaki. However, these two nuclear-related events are quite different in nature, and the characteristics they do share are not those we might expect. Although atomic fission is the common denominator, the consequences of their respective origins diverge - an industrial accident for Fukushima, military attacks for Hiroshima-Nagasaki - even (paradoxically, as we shall see) with respect to radioactivity. Yet their catastrophic proportions and geopolitical implications draw them together. Represented in Japan by well-known numbers that refer to the dates on which they occurred - 3.11 for March 11, 2011; 8.6 and 8.9 for August 6 and 9, 1945 - Fukushima and Hiroshima-Nagasaki are geopolitical markers, each having both a temporal and a spatial dimension. In other words, to quote the late Pierre Gentelle, these are major spatial events generating widespread repercussions, both locally and globally, and affecting political action and ideological discourse in a number of countries. Their geography is fully fledged in that it comprises a physical and geophysical dimension, thus reflecting natural phenomena, nature itself, and the individualized perception that everyone has of it - scientists, individuals, and populations alike. This is also about war. An actual war that ended with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And a war now being fought against the invisible enemy of radiation at Fukushima and in other areas of Japan, with the country's 'hot spots' (hotto supoto), 'evacuation zones' (hinan kuiki), and other such 'exclusion zones' (haijo kuiki). A war with devastated landscape, theoretically unaffected hinterland, and a division of the land dictated by emerging battlefields; and with its front lines and a population caught in the crossfire or forced to leave. In this war against radiation, the 2011 US military (Japan's occupiers in 1945) limited Operation

The Threat of War and the Energy Problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broda, E.

1977-01-01

This document is part of the conference proceedings of the Pugwash conference 1977, held in Munich. The text written by E. Broda is about the threat of war (with a focus on nuclear war) and the prospective, worldwide energy problems. (nowak)

Anti-nuclear movement and art

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Go, Seung Woo; Yun, Beom Mo

1989-08-01

This book goes into in detail of nuclear weapon and independent unification in the Korean peninsula. So it describes how to build of peace of circumstances both inside and outside the Korean peninsula, how to deal with nuclear crisis of the Korean peninsula and to overcome nuclear crisis. Especially, this book deals with art which is used to resist nuclear and war including art activity for unity, anti-nuclear war, Kollwitz's etching as a connecting tool with public and a painting about atom bomb pictured by Maruky in Japan who worked for anti-nuclear war.

Towards the nuclear holocaust. 2. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryle, M.

1981-01-01

The subject is discussed under the headings: introduction; nuclear war ((a) the weapons (size, number, type, range); (b) how nuclear war will start (accident or intention, superpowers or others, first strike); (c) the effects of nuclear war); the nuclear industry ((a) nuclear power (relevance to energy needs; alternatives; economics); (b) nuclear weapons (production of Pu)); the military-industrial complex; the USA (US bases in UK and US-UK cooperation); obtaining public support; a return to democracy. (U.K.)

Nuclear education in public health and nursing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winder, A.E.; Stanitis, M.A.

1988-01-01

Twenty-three public health schools and 492 university schools of nursing were surveyed to gather specific information on educational programs related to nuclear war. Twenty public health schools and 240 nursing schools responded. Nuclear war-related content was most likely to appear in disaster nursing and in environmental health courses. Three schools of public health report that they currently offer elective courses on nuclear war. Innovative curricula included political action projects for nuclear war prevention

Nuclear energy and nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robertson, J.A.L.

1983-06-01

We all want to prevent the use of nuclear weapons. The issue before us is how best to achieve this objective; more specifically, whether the peaceful applications of nuclear energy help or hinder, and to what extent. Many of us in the nuclear industry are working on these applications from a conviction that without peaceful nuclear energy the risk of nuclear war would be appreciably greater. Others, however, hold the opposite view. In discussing the subject, a necessary step in allaying fears is understanding some facts, and indeed facing up to some unpalatable facts. When the facts are assessed, and a balance struck, the conclusion is that peaceful nuclear energy is much more part of the solution to preventing nuclear war than it is part of the problem

Is there a role for third parties in the prevention of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallensteen, P.

1991-01-01

Power has an important, but elusive, factor in mediation and conflict resolution. This is clear from a foregoing discussion of relations between parties of different status and of the participation of major powers as mediators. This paper discusses the two situations that are most relevant for the problem of nuclear war: the relations between major powers themselves, and the relations between major powers and regional conflicts with a potential of escalation. These situations differ in ways that affect the possibilities and usefulness of third-party activities. some conclusions on mediation can be drawn for each specific category and for more general ones

A radiological legacy. Radioactive residues of the Cold War period

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, A.J.

1998-01-01

A dominating feature of the historical period known as the Cold War was the large-scale production and testing, of nuclear weapons. These military activities brought with them an unprecedented generation of radioactive substances. A fraction of these 'Cold War residues' ended up in the atmosphere and were dispersed throughout the world. Some remained in relatively isolated states in underground geological environments at the production or test site. Others have contaminated areas at times accessible to humans. Augmenting this picture are other scenes of a Cold War legacy. Large amounts of radioactive waste and byproducts are in storage from the production of weapons material. At some point, they are expected to be converted to peaceful applications or sent for final disposal. Over the past decade, the IAEA has been asked to play a greater role in helping countries address this Cold War legacy. A number of scientific assessments of radiological situations created by the Cold War have been carried out by experts convened by the IAEA - at nuclear test sites, nuclear production facilities, and waste dumping sites. This edition of the IAEA Bulletin highlights these cooperative activities in the context of international developments and concerns

Understanding the Global Cold War Legacy: Narrating through Landscape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melanie Klein

2004-06-01

Full Text Available The end of the Cold War brought the shrinking and dismantling of vast nuclear weapons complexes. As a result, some landscape architects will find themselves reclaiming a new, very specific type of Cold War landscape: those degraded by nuclear arms testing, production and waste storage. Nuclear landscapes pose multiple and complex challenges. Before designing nuclear reclamations, one must ask: what are the issues? If designers misunderstand the nuclear landscape 'problem', it will be 'solved' in the wrong way. My position is based on the assumption that society desires these landscapes to be reclaimed safely and in ways that allow them to educate the public. Landscape architects can find ways to reclaim nuclear landscapes safely while leaving narratives for generations to come. Perhaps it is too early to describe how nuclear reclamations will look. It is not too early to discuss what designs for nuclear reclamations should accomplish. This paper raises questions critical to the design of nuclear reclamations, both globally and locally. Near precedents - past reclamations that narrate other types of degraded landscapes - are discussed, and it is noted how we can learn from them when considering nuclear landscape reclamation. This paper does not articulate a specific design theory or solution to Cold War nuclear landscapes, but rather, it seeks to pose critical questions that designers should ask. These questions will be broad because we consider nuclear landscapes globally. The questions will require in-depth investigation of local issues as each unique nuclear landscape is considered.

Children and war: risk, resilience, and recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, Emmy E

2012-05-01

This article reviews and reflects on studies that have explored the effects of war on children around the world. Most are cross-sectional and based on self-reports. They describe a range of mental health problems, related to dose effects and to the negative impact of being a victim or witness of violent acts, threats to and loss of loved ones, prolonged parental absence, and forced displacement. The more recent the exposure to war, and the older the child, the higher was the likelihood of reported posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Especially vulnerable to long-term emotional distress were child soldiers, children who were raped, and children who had been forcibly displaced. In adulthood, war-traumatized children displayed significantly increased risks for a wide range of medical conditions, especially cardiovascular diseases. Among protective factors that moderated the impact of war-related adversities in children were a strong bond between the primary caregiver and the child, the social support of teachers and peers, and a shared sense of values. Among the few documented intervention studies for children of war, school-based interventions, implemented by teachers or locally trained paraprofessionals, proved to be a feasible and low-cost alternative to individual or group therapy. More longitudinal research with multiple informants is needed to document the trajectories of risk and resilience in war-affected children, to assess their long-term development and mental health, and to identify effective treatment approaches.

Antisocial Personality Disorder and Pathological Narcissism in Prolonged Conflicts and Wars of the 21st Century.

Science.gov (United States)

Burkle, Frederick M

2016-02-01

The end of the Cold War brought with it many protracted internal conflicts and wars that have lasted for decades and whose persistent instability lies at the heart of both chronic nation-state and regional instability. Responsibility for these chronically failed states has been attributed to multiple unresolved root causes. With previous governance and parties to power no longer trusted or acceptable, the vacuum of leadership in many cases has been filled with "bad leadership." This Concept piece argues that in a number of cases opportunistic leaders, suffering from severe antisocial character disorders, have emerged first as saviors and then as despots, or as common criminals claiming to be patriots, sharing a psychological framework that differs little from those responsible for World War II and the Cold War that followed. I describe the identifying characteristics of this unique and poorly understood subset of the population who are driven to seek the ultimate opportunity to control, dictate, and live out their fantasies of power on the world scene and discuss why their destructive actions remain unabated in the 21st century. Their continued antisocial presence, influence, and levels of violence must be seen as a global security and strategic issue that is not amenable to conventional diplomatic interventions, negotiations, mediations, or international sanctions.

The legacy of the cold war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martellini, M.

1998-01-01

More than fifty-two years have elapsed since the atomic bomb-was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over this period, the United States and the Soviet Union have engaged in a constant nuclear arms-race, in an effort to build a growing number of warheads and launching systems of increasingly higher destructive power, reflecting the logic of the balance of terror and the threat of mutually assured destruction. The years of the Cold War have, in fact, been dominated by the incredibly rapid growth of nuclear arsenals. The end of the Cold War, which was marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, coincided with the beginning of the process of nuclear disarmament and a diversion of funds from the industrial military complex. Nevertheless, 45 years of development and sophistication in nuclear armaments can't be immediately wiped off, for many reasons, the most evident of which being that the nuclear materials that forms the heart of atomic weapons, more precisely known as weapon-grade materials, can't be simply eliminated, as will be explained later in this text. Their dismantlement requires special technical means, which are not yet available to all nuclear powers. There are also other reasons why nuclear disarmament is such a complex and uneven process

What About the Children? The Threat of Nuclear War and Our Responsibility to Preserve this Planet for Future Generations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawkes, Glenn W.

Part of a global effort, this brochure was written to increase understanding of the threat nuclear war poses to children. Several issues are raised and briefly discussed, including (1) the present capacity for annihilating the next generation or ending human life on this planet, (2) the inadequacy of deterrence, (3) the suffering of children after…

Vulnerability of ecological systems to climatic effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harwell, M.A.; Hutchinson, T.C.; Cropper, W.P. Jr.; Harwell, C.C.

1985-01-01

The authors' analyses are based on a suite of approaches: physiological information, historical analogs, simulation and statistical analyses, and expert judgment. Because of the great complexity of ecosystems across the global landscape and the temporal and spatial complexity of potential nuclear-war induced climatic disturbances, it is not possible uniquely to characterize the effects on ecosystems. A biome approach has been chosen as an appropriate level for generalization of potential effects. Northern Hemisphere temperate terrestrial ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, tropical ecosystems, and Southern Hemisphere extra-tropical ecosystems are addressed. The ecosystem discussions emphasize effects on the primary producers, in large part because those components are fundamental to the total ecosystem and are often especially vulnerable to the types of perturbations considered here. Estimates of effects on fauna are largely based on those mediated through changes in food supplies. Further study of effects on trophic structures and of indirect effects on species propagated through the complex interactions of ecosystems is required

International Context during and after World War II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A S Protopopov

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The author examines the international context of the Soviet Union and today's Russia during and after the World War II. Relations between the allies (the USSR, the US and the UK shortly after the end of World War II «gave a crack». Particular attention is paid to the development of the American nuclear program in an international context and objectives of the nuclear bombing of Japan, the expansion of NATO. The author concludes that the problem of military and economic development in the post-war period were largely dictated by the difficult international situation at that time. The Soviet Union was forced not only to establish a peaceful life, but also to take steps to create its own nuclear weapons and their means of delivery, strengthening the country's defense. After the troubled times of the second half of the 1980s and 1990s, in the XXI century Russia again began to strengthen its international position. The author proves the need for a consistent foreign policy.

Experts in the cold war. War experiences and peace conceptions of US-American physicists 1920-1963

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wunderle, Ulrike

2015-01-01

The study is dedicated to the American elite of nuclear physicists, which explained after the second world war the possibilities of their science for war and peace. What induced their thinking and handling? The focus lies on the scientific shapings and war experiences of the first really international generation of physicists, which began in the 1920th years their career before many of their representatives had to fly from the NS regime from Europe and cooperated in the Manhattan project in the construction of the atomic bomb. These experiences the author refers to in order to get on the track of the explanations of the exper elite in the immediate afterwar time and in the cold war. How far their internationally and by actual war experiences shaped thinking about their own contribution as scientist to the national security - in the sense of discouragement or the cooperative conflict regulation - found its expression in the cold war, is drawn on different action levels of the participants from the Geneve conference ''Atoms for Peace'' of 1955 until the signing of the so-called Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963.

Nuclear dilemma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Penn, J.

Declaring nuclear preparedness 'immoral' helps to recreate the pacifism of 50 years ago. War itself is a dilemma, not the weapons with which it is waged. We must ask of the anti-war proposals: whom do they benefit. On the whole people concerned are ordinary citizens who are fearful of nuclear incineration. But marching with them is a spectrum of forces with other motivations and purposes. In a real life situation of international tension or crises, numbers of weapons in combination with their particular charateristics could mean the difference between peace and outbreak of war.

The future of nuclear deterrence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quester, G.H.

1986-01-01

Nuclear deterrence has been in existence for almost four decades. Yet, analysts from the left and the right keep reemphasizing the dangers and problems with deterrence without always remembering its purpose-the prevention of nuclear war or the prevention of all war. In this book. George Quester analyzes the future of nuclear deterrence in light of its past, and discovers that the fundamental tenets of nuclear deterrence remain unchanged. George Quester considers the overwhelming tensions present in a society threatened by the prospect of a nuclear holocaust and a lingering nuclear winter. But he also acknowledges that nuclear deterrence has prevented a great deal of global and local warfare that otherwise would have occurred. He spotlights the basic military problems facing the world today, including the shadow cast on all levels of strategic planning by the threat of nuclear war. Quester warns against charging forth with radical new alternatives, such as the Strategic Defense Initiative and deep-cut disarmament. He argues that initiatives such as these reflect a return to traditional military thinking about waging and winning wars that pose serious possibilities for a breakdown in deterrence policy.

Physicians confront the apocalypse: the American medical profession and the threat of nuclear war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boyer, P.

1985-08-02

Physicians figured prominently in the resurgence of nuclear weapons activism and cultural awareness that swept the US in the early 1980s. This discussion seeks to place this activism in historical context. It explores the American medical profession's shifting engagement with the issue of nuclear war. Attention is focused on the period 1945 to 1954, with a brief evaluation of the period 1954 to 1963, the years to which the activism of the 1980s may be traced. Radiation studies are reviewed including Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. Radiological studies were begun within days of Japan's surrender. The delayed effects of radiation exposure on some 14,000 persons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki include hemorrhage, leukocyte destruction, bone marrow damage, anemia, sterility, and the suppression of menstruation. In contrast, the American medical profession in the late 1940s focused much attention on the atom's potential medical benefits, especially the diagnostic and treatment value of radioisotopes. 90 references.

Physicians confront the apocalypse: the American medical profession and the threat of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyer, P.

1985-01-01

Physicians figured prominently in the resurgence of nuclear weapons activism and cultural awareness that swept the US in the early 1980s. This discussion seeks to place this activism in historical context. It explores the American medical profession's shifting engagement with the issue of nuclear war. Attention is focused on the period 1945 to 1954, with a brief evaluation of the period 1954 to 1963, the years to which the activism of the 1980s may be traced. Radiation studies are reviewed including Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. Radiological studies were begun within days of Japan's surrender. The delayed effects of radiation exposure on some 14,000 persons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki include hemorrhage, leukocyte destruction, bone marrow damage, anemia, sterility, and the suppression of menstruation. In contrast, the American medical profession in the late 1940s focused much attention on the atom's potential medical benefits, especially the diagnostic and treatment value of radioisotopes. 90 references

Under-examined aspects of the potential environmental effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacCracken, M.C.; Penner, J.E.

1987-07-01

In addition to destroying the area near the explosions, a nuclear war would lead to injection of a wide range of substances into the environment, both as a result of the delivery systems and explosions themselves and as a consequence of the blast, fires, and resulting destruction and disruption. While addressing the many remaining uncertainties concerning the effects of smoke injections on climate is the major topic of present research, there are a number of other potential impacts that could have major consequences, but which are currently poorly understood and have not yet been carefully examined. These under-examined effects include perturbations to atmospheric chemistry, the effects of injections of dust and water (which could create ice particles), the consequences of emissions from the smoldering phase of the fires, resuspension of materials due to perturbed surface conditions, and a range of other potential consequences

Naval War College. Volume 60, Number 2, Spring 2007

Science.gov (United States)

2007-01-01

attacks of grave conse- quences. The aspiration of this small-wars force element is to prevent even one nuclear, biological , or chemical weapon attack...153 Preventive Attack and Weapons of Mass...Default screen Bioethics and Armed Conflict: Moral Dilemmas of Medicine and War, by Michael L. Gross reviewed by Arthur M. Smith, MD

Democracy, public opinion, and nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russett, B.

1989-01-01

To the degree that people's fears of nuclear war are deep and pervasive, they become subject to manipulation by cynical or politically utopian promises, whether those promises be to abolish nuclear weapons from the earth or to create a leakproof peace shield (SDI). But the basic yearning for protection could also be mobilized to support serious arms reduction and arms control agreements. Nuclear weapons provide the basis for a vivid form of symbolic politics, perhaps equivalent in foreign policy considerations to the Korean and Vietnam wars during their durations, and in similar ways (although not necessarily as severe) as unemployment does among domestic policy issues. This paper presents survey research directed specifically at the role of public opinion on nuclear imagery (difference between expectation of nuclear war versus any kind of weapon war; willingness to spend on nuclear weapons versus conventional ones or general defense spending) can help in understanding these phenomena

The nuclear dilemma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penn, J.

1983-01-01

Declaring nuclear preparedness 'immoral' helps to recreate the pacifism of 50 years ago. War itself is a dilemma, not the weapons with which it is waged. We must ask of the anti-war proposals: whom do they benefit On the whole people concerned are ordinary citizens who are fearful of nuclear incineration. But marching with them is a spectrum of forces with other motivations and purposes. In a real life situation of international tension or crises, numbers of weapons in combination with their particular charateristics could mean the difference between peace and outbreak of war

Risk assessment and nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bodansky, D.

1982-01-01

The range of risk perceptions involving nuclear power is so great that there is little hope of bridging extreme positions, but a consensus based upon reasoned discussion among uncommitted people could determine a sensible path. Our concerns over the uncertainties of risk assessment have made it increasingly difficult to make responsible decisions fast enough to deal with modern needs. The result is an immobility in energy matters that can point to a 2% reduction in oil use as its only triumph. The risk of nuclear war as a result of military action over energy issues suggests to some that the solution is to abolish nuclear power (however impractical) and to others that a rapid spread of nuclear power will eliminate energy as an incentive for war. If nuclear war is the major risk to consider, risk assessments need to include the risks of war, as well as those of carbon dioxide buildup and socio-economic disruptions, all of which loom larger than the risks of nuclear-plant accidents. Energy choices should be aimed at diminishing these major risks, even if they include the use of nuclear power. 26 references

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel: the head injury that may have prolonged the Second World War.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuhrman, Heather A; Mullin, Jeffrey P; Sloffer, Chris A

2016-07-01

War-related head injury, indeed neurological injury in general, has been a part of the history of humankind for as long as there has been warfare. Such injuries can result in the removal of the individual from combat, thus eliminating any subsequent contribution that he or she might have made to the battle. However, at times, the injuries can have more wide-reaching effects. In the case of commanders or leaders, the impact of their injuries may include the loss of their influence, planning, and leadership, and thus have a disproportionate effect on the battle, or indeed the war. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was a talented military strategist and leader who was respected by friends and foes alike. He held an honored reputation by the German people and the military leadership. His head injury on July 17, 1944, resulted in his being removed from the field of battle in northern France, but also meant that he was not able to lend his stature to the assassination attempt of Adolph Hitler on July 20. It is possible that, had he been able to lend his stature to the events, Hitler's hold on the nation's government might have been loosened, and the war might have been brought to an end a year earlier. The authors review Rommel's career, his injury, the subsequent medical treatment, and his subsequent death.

One hundred years of lessons about the impact of war on mental health; two steps forward, one step back.

Science.gov (United States)

McFarlane, Alexander C

2015-08-01

This paper outlines the substantial stigmatization of soldiers who suffered psychiatric disorders during World War I, and how there was little acceptance of the enduring impact of prolonged combat exposure once the war ended. Recent decades of research highlight the delayed impact of combat exposure and its long-term neurobiological consequences. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.

American nuclear physicists in campaign. The media coverage of the nuclear risk during the immediate post-war years in the USA (1945-1946)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinault, Michel

2005-01-01

In the aftermath of Hiroshima, American nuclear scientists won access to the mass media. Conscious that science had become part of the Cold War, they lobbied for a better-informed public and a peace policy for the US. They demanded, among other, the establishment of permanent international scientific organisations and a permanent representation for the scientific community near the head of government. Initially successful, the influence of their movement decreased, efforts at mobilising public opinion proved ineffective and negotiations at the UN's Atomic Energy Commission reached an impasse

New AgMIP Scenarios: Impacts of Volcanic Eruptions, Geoengineering, or Nuclear War on Agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Robock, A.; Xia, L.

2016-12-01

Climate is one of the most important factors determining crop yields and world food supplies. To be well prepared for possible futures, it is necessary to study yield changes of major crops in response to different climate forcings. Previous studies mainly focus on the impact from global warming. Here we propose that the AgMIP community also study the impacts of stratospheric aerosols on agriculture. While nature can load the stratosphere with sulfate aerosols for several years from large volcanic eruptions, humans could also put sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere on purpose through geoengineering or soot as a result of the fires from a nuclear war. Stratospheric aerosols would change the temperature, precipitation, total insolation, and fraction of diffuse radiation due to their radiative impacts, and could produce more ultraviolet radiation by ozone destruction. Surface ozone concentration could also change by changed transport from the stratosphere as well as changed tropospheric chemistry. As a demonstration of these effects, using the crop model in the NCAR Community Land Model (CLM-crop), we have studied sulfate injection geoengineering and nuclear war impacts on global agriculture in response to temperature, precipitation and radiation changes, and found significant changes in patterns of global food production. With the new ozone module in CLM-crop, we simulated how surface ozone concentration change under sulfate injection geoengineering would change the agriculture response. Agriculture would benefit from less surface ozone concentration associated with the specific geoengineering scenario comparing with the global warming scenario. Here, we would like to encourage more crop modelers to improve crop models in terms of crop responses to ozone, ultraviolet radiation, and diffuse radiation. We also invite more global crop modeling groups to use the climate forcing we would be happy to provide to gain a better understanding of global agriculture responses

Axiology of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawada, Tetsuo

2003-01-01

Nuclear energy was born in World War II and it has grown within the regime of Cold War. When the Cold War came to the end around early 1990 s, we who have benefited by the development of nuclear energy must have been challenged with a new tide of civilization change. Although it has not been so much closely questioned since then, such a new movement, that was submerging, abruptly manifested on September 11, 2001. Then, many of us realized that global circumstances, especially concerned with security, must have actually changed with the reordering of the world basic structures. This paper describes on the thoughts to reveal the cause and background of the event on September 11 with the linkage to nuclear energy development, or nuclear civilization in pursuit of the future regime of nuclear in harmonization with the global society in 21st century. (author)

Nuclear fear and children: the impact of parental nuclear activism, responsivity, and fear

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

LaGuardia, M.R.

1986-01-01

This study examines the extent to which parental nuclear fear, parental activism, and parental responsivity is associated with children's (age 10) nuclear fear. Other associated variables investigated include: nuclear denial, general anxiety and fear, and the personal characteristics of sex, socio-economic status, and academic aptitude. Findings indicate that children attend to nuclear issues when their parents attend to a significant degree. Children's hopelessness about the arms race is increased as parents' worry about nuclear war increases. Children's fear about not surviving a nuclear war increases as parents' worry about survivability decreases. Children who have more general fears also indicated that they have a high level of hopelessness, pervasive worry, and much concern about being able to survive a nuclear war. Children with a high degree of general anxiety did not indicate high degrees of nuclear fears. Children with high academic aptitude were more knowledgeable about nuclear issues and expressed more fears about the nuclear threat. Boys demonstrated more knowledge about nuclear issues than girls, and girls expressed much more frequent fear and worry about the nuclear threat than boys. Parents of lower socio-economic statues (SES) expressed more denial about the nuclear threat and were more pro-military than the higher SES parents.

The pastoral letter on war and peace emdash the challenge of peace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1988-01-01

This pastoral letter explains the criteria for distinguishing a just from an unjust war. It also contains a commentary on the conduct of war, including the use of nuclear weapons; and an assessment of the current US deterrence policy

Superpower nuclear minimalism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Graben, E.K.

1992-01-01

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in building weapons -- now it seems like America and Russia are competing to get rid of them the fastest. The lengthy process of formal arms control has been replaced by exchanges of unilateral force reductions and proposals for reciprocal reductions not necessarily codified by treaty. Should superpower nuclear strategies change along with force postures President Bush has yet to make a formal pronouncement on post-Cold War American nuclear strategy, and it is uncertain if the Soviet/Russian doctrine of reasonable sufficiency formulated in the Gorbachev era actually heralds a change in strategy. Some of the provisions in the most recent round of unilateral proposals put forth by Presidents Bush and Yeltsin in January 1992 are compatible with a change in strategy. Whether such a change has actually occurred remains to be seen. With the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, the strategic environment has fundamentally changed, so it would seem logical to reexamine strategy as well. There are two main schools of nuclear strategic thought: a maximalist school, mutual assured destruction (MAD) which emphasizes counterforce superiority and nuclear war- fighting capability, and a MAD-plus school, which emphasizes survivability of an assured destruction capability along with the ability to deliver small, limited nuclear attacks in the event that conflict occurs. The MAD-plus strategy is based on an attempt to conventionalize nuclear weapons which is unrealistic.

Lessons from nuclear disasters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shigematsu, Itsuzo

2005-01-01

The most severe and worst of all nuclear disasters is, needless to say, the explosion of an atomic bomb. The WHO committee on the effects of nuclear war, established in 1982, concluded that the only approach to the treatment of the health effects of nuclear warfare is primary prevention, that is, the prevention of nuclear war. Nuclear disasters have also occurred in nuclear power plants and nuclear facilities, causing various damage and acute anxiety among the workers and general public, but thus far the related health effects have not always been correctly evaluated. Such problems as exposed population, individual exposed dose and health risks which are associated with these evaluation efforts are discussed here. (author)

PTSD in Primary Care: A Physician’s Guide to Dealing with War-Induced PTSD

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Engel, C.C. (2007). Association of posttraumatic stress disorder with somatic symptoms, health care visits, and absenteeism among Iraq War veterans...L., Orazem, R., & Gutner, C. (2005). Can we cure PTSD? Five-year follow-up of a clinical trial comparing Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged

Nuclear war and other catastrophes. Civil and catastrophe protection in the Federal republic of Germany and the United Kingdom after 1945; Atomkrieg und andere Katastrophen. Zivil- und Katastrophenschutz in der Bundesrepublik und Grossbritannien nach 1945

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Diebel, Martin [Zentrum fuer Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam (Germany)

2017-07-01

The book civil and catastrophe protection in the Federal republic of Germany and the United Kingdom after 1945 discusses the following issues: aerial defense and the atomic bomb (1945 - 1968), crises and catastrophes in the shadow of the bomb (1962 - 1978), civil defense and the comeback of the (nuclear) war (1976 - 1979), civil defense and the second ''Cold War'' (1979 - 1986), Chernobyl and the end of the Cold War (1979 - 1990), war, catastrophe and safety in the 20th century - a conclusion.

THE ECONOMICS OF THE UNION DRAFT: INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE AND GOVERNMENT MANIPULATION OF THE LABOR MARKET DURING THE CIVIL WAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cady Alpert

1999-01-01

Full Text Available The Civil War is still the bloodiest of all wars in which the United States has fought. The number of men who died and the reduction in the labor force had profound effects on the economy for years. In this paper we examine the methods used by the Union Government to procure a fighting force. We argue that institutional failure by the Union Government to raise and put into battle a sufficient number of men in the early years of the war prolonged the inevitable. Had the North either raised the wages of soldiers or created an effective draft, which for various institutional reasons it did not do until late in the war, fewer lives would have been lost and the war would have come to an end sooner.

[The hardest battles begin after the war].

Science.gov (United States)

Sodemann, Morten; Svabo, Arndis; Jacobsen, Arne

2010-01-11

While psychic effects of war trauma are well-described, the somatic long-term consequences of war trauma have not previously been described. In three clinical cases from the Migrant Health Clinic at Odense University Hospital, we describe the complicated somatic problems which can be associated with a refugee status. The cross disciplinary team chose three cases that describe the long-term effects of war trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can appear 10-20 years after a primary war-related trauma and secondary trauma after the arrival in Denmark trigger and prolong post-traumatic stress symptoms with a range of somatic symptoms. Warning signs of an underlying PTSD disorder have often been present for many years, but overlooked or ignored. Many patients with PTSD and somatic symptoms loose previously acquired language skills, disintegrate and drop out of the labour market after 3-4 years in Denmark. Somatic symptoms along with PTSD can develop into a seriously complicated condition that requires skilled cross-disciplinary management. Experience from the Cross Disciplinary Migrant Health Clinic shows that by investing time in obtaining a full clinical and social history it is possible to increase the quality of life of these patients. Early screening and early specialized cross disciplinary and cross sectorial management are crucial to secure and maintain integration, but unfortunately the long waiting list to institutions that treat PTSD contributes to the high level of disintegration.

After fifty years of the nuclear age: Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons or elimination of them?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugie, Ei-Ichi

1997-01-01

Ever since the first test of the atomic bomb and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, mankind lived with nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons were inevitably connected with the Cold War, with its end new opportunity has come concerning prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons. Steps are to be undertaken in order to eliminate the nuclear weapons. First, would be the prohibition of the use or the threat of use of nuclear weapons. By excluding the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons, the world could be closer to nuclear disarmament than ever. The prohibition of the use of some type of weapons could be a breakthrough towards the elimination of such weapons. While the negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons would be difficult, as were those to ban chemical weapons, a ban on the use of nuclear weapons would eventually lead to their elimination. During the Cold War, the imminent goal of disarmament was to stop the nuclear arms race between the two superpowers. But in the post-Cold War era an opportunity has developed for further steps towards nuclear disarmament, the elimination of nuclear weapons

Atoms for war or peace?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forland, A.

1988-01-01

The first nuclear reactor built in Norway was a 100 kW experimental reactor which was put into operation at Kjeller in 1951. After the Ministry of Defence had granted 5 millions Nkr for the purpose of building a small research reactor, Institutt for atomenergi was established in 1947. The planning of the project took place at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. The main purpose of this study is to explain why a small power like Norway went ahead with a nuclear reactor project at the outset of the post-war period: How was it possible for Norway to undertake nuclear energy research, and what were the reasons for doing it?

Energy/war: breaking the nuclear link

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lovins, A.B.; Lovins, L.H.

1980-01-01

Policies to control the spread of nuclear weapons have assumed that the rapid worldwide spread of nuclear power is essential to replace oil, is both economically desirable and inevitable, and that the international political order must remain inherently discriminatory and dominated by the nuclear arms race. These assumptions are challenged as contrary to economic fact and market behavior. The authors feel that the link between nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs is inextricable, making proliferation inevitable and nuclear power a dangerous and costly alternative to oil. Instead, they suggest that nuclear power will collapse in response to market forces because only a few centrally-planned economies can override economic pressures. Acknowledgement of this collapse should be encouraged and the benefits of nuclear power accepted as illusory, according to the authors. 349 references, 2 figures

International Seminar on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies : 46th Session : The Role of Science in the Third Millennium

CERN Document Server

2014-01-01

Proceedings of the 46th Session of the International Seminars on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies held in "E. Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture, Erice, Sicily. This Seminar has again gathered, in 2013, over 100 scientists from 43 countries in an interdisciplinary effort that has been going on for the last 32 years, to examine and analyze planetary problems which had been followed up, all year long, by the World Federation of Scientists' Permanent Monitoring Panels.

Nuclear weapons in the 21. century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delpech, Therese

2007-01-01

The 21. century may have started with the 1998 Indian and Pakistani nuclear explosions. The Korean and Iranian crises weaken the non-proliferation system. The great nations have witnessed, all during the Cold War, crises that included the nuclear hypothesis. The multiplication of nuclear actors who do not have the same experience is making the system unstable. Will we again have to experience the Cold War stages, with a new Cuban crisis, this time explicitly nuclear?

Invisible nuclear; converting nuclear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jongmoon

1993-03-01

This book consists of 14 chapters which are CNN era and big science, from East and West to North and South, illusory nuclear strategy, UN and nuclear arms reduction, management of armaments, advent of petroleum period, the track of nuclear power generation, view of energy, internationalization of environment, the war over water in the Middle East, influence of radiation and an isotope technology transfer and transfer armament into civilian industry, the end of nuclear period and the nuclear Nonproliferation, national scientific and technological power and political organ and executive organ.

Nuclear War Survival Skills

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kearny, C.H.

2002-06-24

The purpose of this book is to provide Americans with information and instructions that will significantly increase their chances of surviving a possible nuclear attack. It brings together field-tested instructions that, if followed by a large fraction of Americans during a crisis that preceded an attack, could save millions of lives. The author is convinced that the vulnerability of our country to nuclear threat or attack must be reduced and that the wide dissemination of the information contained in this book would help achieve that objective of our overall defense strategy.

Climatic Consequences of Nuclear Conflict

Science.gov (United States)

Robock, A.

2011-12-01

A nuclear war between Russia and the United States could still produce nuclear winter, even using the reduced arsenals of about 4000 total nuclear weapons that will result by 2017 in response to the New START treaty. A nuclear war between India and Pakistan, with each country using 50 Hiroshima-sized atom bombs as airbursts on urban areas, could produce climate change unprecedented in recorded human history. This scenario, using much less than 1% of the explosive power of the current global nuclear arsenal, would produce so much smoke from the resulting fires that it would plunge the planet to temperatures colder than those of the Little Ice Age of the 16th to 19th centuries, shortening the growing season around the world and threatening the global food supply. Crop model studies of agriculture in the U.S. and China show massive crop losses, even for this regional nuclear war scenario. Furthermore, there would be massive ozone depletion with enhanced ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface. These surprising conclusions are the result of recent research (see URL) by a team of scientists including those who produced the pioneering work on nuclear winter in the 1980s, using the NASA GISS ModelE and NCAR WACCM GCMs. The soot is self-lofted into the stratosphere, and the effects of regional and global nuclear war would last for more than a decade, much longer than previously thought. Nuclear proliferation continues, with nine nuclear states now, and more working to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. The continued environmental threat of the use of even a small number of nuclear weapons must be considered in nuclear policy deliberations in Russia, the U.S., and the rest of the world.

How nuclear power began

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gowing, M.

1987-01-01

Many of the features of the story of nuclear power, both in nuclear weapons and nuclear power stations, derive from their timing. Usually, in the history of science the precise timing of discovery does not make much difference, but in the case of nuclear fission there was the coincidence that crucial discoveries were made and openly published in the same year, 1939, as the outbreak of the Second World War. It is these events of the 1930s and the early post-war era that are mainly discussed. However, the story began a lot earlier and even in the early 1900s the potential power within the atom had been foreseen by Soddy and Rutherford. In the 1930s Enrico Fermi and his team saw the technological importance of their discoveries and took out a patent on their process to produce artificial radioactivity from slow neutron beams. The need for secrecy because of the war, and the personal trusts and mistrusts run through the story of nuclear power. (UK)

Nuclear power in rock. Principal report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-06-01

In September 1975 the Swedish Government directed the Swedish State Power Board to study the question of rock-siting nuclear power plants. The study accounted for in this report aims at clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of siting a nuclear power plant in rock, compared to siting on ground level, considering reactor safety, war protection and sabotage. The need for nuclear power production during war situations and the closing down of nuclear power plants after terminated operation are also dealt with. (author)

Nuclear radiation in warfare

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rotblat, J.

1986-01-01

The subject is covered in chapters, entitled: introduction; digest of nuclear weaponry (characteristics of nuclear weapons; effects of nuclear weapons other than ionizing radiation (fire-ball, fall-out, thermal radiation, blast wave, electromagnetic pulse); the nuclear arms race; war scenarios; biological effects of radiations on man (radiation doses; natural sources of radiation; acute effects of radiation; long-term somatic effects; genetic effects; factors affecting the biological response to radiation; internal exposure; synergistic effects; protection against radiation effects); radiations from nuclear explosions (initial radiation; fall-out; effects of fall-out on animal and plant life; contamination of water and food supplies by fall-out); radiation casualties in a nuclear war; effectiveness of civil defence; other warlike uses of radiation (attacks on civilian nuclear power installations; radiological warfare; terrorist activities); conclusion. (orig./HP) [de

Nuclear radiation in warfare

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rotblat, J.

1981-01-01

The subject is covered in chapters, entitled: introduction; digest of nuclear weaponry (characteristics of nuclear weapons; effects of nuclear weapons other than ionizing radiation (fire-ball, fall-out, thermal radiation, blast wave, electromagnetic pulse); the nuclear arms race; war scenarios); biological effects of radiations on man (radiation doses; natural sources of radiation; acute effects of radiation; long-term somatic effects; genetic effects; factors affecting the biological response to radiation; internal exposure; synergistic effects; protection against radiation effects); radiations from nuclear explosions (initial radiation; fall-out; effects of fall-out on animal and plant life; contamination of water and food supplies by fall-out); radiation casualties in a nuclear war; effectiveness of civil defence; other warlike uses of radiation (attacks on civilian nuclear power installations; radiological warfare; terrorist activities); conclusion. (U.K.)

The radiance of France; nuclear power and national identity after world war 2; Le rayonnement de la France; energie nucleaire et edentite nationale apres la seconde guerre mondiale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hecht, G. [Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

2004-07-01

This book discusses the early history of French nuclear power within its social and political context from the end of world war 2 to 1970. The author describes the creation of the nuclear reactors, the work at the reactor sites, and the impact of nuclear power on local communities. Information on the French atomic bomb program is also included. The conflicts and negotiations surrounding the nuclear programs are detailed, and the importance of the programs to French national identity is made clear. An excellent bibliography and extensive footnotes are provided.

Hot spots, weak links: Strengthening nuclear security in a changing world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taniguchi, Tomihiro; Nilsson, Anita

2004-01-01

Protection against nuclear terrorism is one of the critical issues facing the international community today. New and challenging security dimensions must be met. During the Cold War, the main international security concern was the fear of a nuclear war and the spread of nuclear weapons. The post-Cold War era presented new security challenges, which recognized the need to strengthen the international regime of physical protection of nuclear materials. In the post-9/11 period, threat perceptions include the potential terrorist use of an improvised nuclear explosive device, the use of a radiological dispersal device (RDD) and attacks against nuclear facilities, i.e. sabotage. These threats point to the need for an overall strengthening of the global nuclear security regime with attention to 'weak links' that may offer soft targets for terrorists or criminals. This article discusses some of the basic concepts and developments in the field of nuclear security; the legacy of the Cold War and the rise of new challenges to the global nuclear security agenda in the post-Cold War and post-9/11 periods; and efforts of the IAEA to strengthen the global nuclear security regime. The IAEA is filling an important and expanding role, yet more measures are needed

[The war at home: "war amenorrhea" in the First World War].

Science.gov (United States)

Stukenbrock, Karin

2008-01-01

In 1917, the Göttingen gynaecologist Dietrich published a short article about a phenomenon which he called "war amenorrhea" ("Kriegsamenorrhoe"). The article attracted the attention of his colleagues. While the affected women did not pay much attention to their amenorrhea, the physicians considered the phenomenon a new disease which was mainly caused by the war. This new disease gave the gynaecologists the opportunity to present their specialty as a discipline with high relevance for medicine in times of war. Nevertheless, there was no consensus about the importance, the incidence, the diagnostic criteria, the causes and the appropriate therapy of"war amenorrhea". Although the gynaecologists failed to define a uniform clinical syndrome, they maintained the construction of "war amenorrhea" after the war and subsumed it under well known types of amenorrhea. We can conclude that under the conditions of war a new disease emerged which was not sharply defined.

Consequences of Regional Scale Nuclear Conflicts and Acts of Individual Nuclear Terrorism

Science.gov (United States)

Toon, O. B.; Turco, R. P.; Robock, A.; Bardeen, C.; Oman, L.; Stenchikov, G. L.

2006-12-01

The number of nuclear warheads in the world has fallen by about a factor of three since its peak in 1986. However, the potential exists for numerous regional nuclear arms races, and for a significant expansion in the number of nuclear weapons states. Eight countries are known to have nuclear weapons, 2 are constructing them, and an additional 32 nations already have the fissile material needed to build weapons if they so desire. Population and economic activity worldwide are congregated to an increasing extent in "megacities", which are ideal targets for nuclear weapons. We find that low yield weapons, which new nuclear powers are likely to construct, can produce 100 times as many fatalities and 100 times as much smoke from fires per kt yield as high-yield weapons, if they are targeted at city centers. A single low-yield nuclear detonation in an urban center could lead to more fatalities, in some cases by orders of magnitude, than have occurred in major historical conflicts. A regional war between the smallest current nuclear states involving 100 15-kt explosions (less than 0.1% of the explosive yield of the current global nuclear arsenal) could produce direct fatalities comparable to all of those worldwide in World War II (WW-II), or to those once estimated for a "counterforce" nuclear war between the superpowers. Portions of megacities attacked with nuclear devices or exposed to fallout of long-lived isotopes, through armed conflict or terrorism, would likely be abandoned indefinitely, with severe national and international implications. Smoke from urban firestorms in a regional war might induce significant climatic and ozone anomalies on global scales. While there are many uncertainties in the issues we discuss here, the major uncertainties are the type and scale of conflict that might occur. Each of these potential hazards deserves careful analysis by governments worldwide advised by a broad section of the world scientific community, as well as widespread

Nuclear Strategy and World Order: The United States Imperative.

Science.gov (United States)

Beres, Louis Rene

The current U.S. nuclear strategy goes beyond the legitimate objective of survivable strategic forces to active preparation for nuclear war. The Reagan administration strategy rejects minimum deterrence and prepares for a nuclear war that might be protracted and controlled. The strategy reflects the understanding that a combination of counterforce…

Strategic stability in the Cold War. Lessons for continuing challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yost, D.S.

2011-01-01

Extending from roughly the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989-1991, the Cold War period witnessed - among other upheavals - significant conflicts in East Asia and the Middle East, the end of European colonial empires in Africa and Asia, and a remarkable competition between the United States and the Soviet Union across virtually every aspect of endeavor, from economic and cultural activities to military, nuclear, and space capabilities. In this era of great instability scores of new states gained their independence, some great powers lost stature and influence in comparative terms, and millions of people perished in civil and interstate wars and at the hands of repressive governments. Yet it was during this period that the phrase 'strategic stability' gained currency both as an objective and as an apt way of describing four dominant features of the period. First, the United States and the Soviet Union never went to war, although there were several occasions when some observers saw war as a genuine possibility, including the Berlin and Cuban crises, the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and the 'war scare' of the early 1980's. Second, neither these powers nor any others detonated nuclear weapons to inflict damage on an enemy, though they relied on them for deterrence, alliance cohesion, and other purposes. Third, the configuration of political alignments in Europe and Northeast Asia was remarkably stable from the mid-1950's to the end of the Cold War in 1989-1991. Fourth, the proliferation of nuclear-weapon states was contained to a much lower level than feared by some observers in the 1950's and 1960's. This paper concentrates on the first of the four elements of strategic stability in the Cold War listed above - the fact that the two superpowers did not engage in a direct 'hot war' with each other. It raises the question, to what extent did U.S. analytical models concerning 'crisis stability', 'first-strike stability', and 'arms race

The de-escalation of nuclear crises

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nation, J.E.

1992-01-01

Whether and by what means nations can successfully de-escalate nuclear crises - and avoid the disastrous effects of nuclear war - will remain two of the most critical challenges facing humankind. Whatever the future of superpower relations, the United States, the Soviet Union, and other nations will undoubtedly continue to possess and to threaten the use of nuclear weapons. Moreover, the number of nations with nuclear weapons seems likely to increase. This examines how nations in crises might successfully move back from the brink of nuclear war - and how confidence-building measures might help and hinder the de-escalatory process

The nuclear dilemma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mason, Colin.

1983-01-01

This paper discusses nuclear war, disarmament and national defence policies. The author argues that in spite of the obvious advantages of nuclear power in many parts of the world, the world cannot afford the risk of continuing with it because of the demonstrated close and deadly association of nuclear power and nuclear reactors with nuclear weapons

Indian foreign policy during the cold war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ross, Cesar

2010-01-01

This article examines India's foreign policy priorities during the years of the Cold War with a focus on international relations. As in the rest of the world, the India's foreign policy was marked by the dynamics of continuity and change in world policy, associated with the historical period of the Cold War (1947-90) and its impact on the neighbouring and regional context of India. As its hypothesis this article argues that this period was characterized by the challenges of consolidating the autonomy of independence, which means: achieving development; solving disputes arising from conflicts with neighbours; and, presenting India as a country committed to peace, which explains not only its position against war and the use of nuclear weapons, but also, with respect to one of the most original aspects of Indian foreign policy, its status as a non-aligned country

Physicians' group seeks nuclear arms ban.

Science.gov (United States)

Litwin, M S

1985-08-02

The history and recent activities of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) are reported. Founded in 1980 by cardiologists Bernard Lown of the United States and Eugene Chazov of the Soviet Union, the group has attracted well over 100,000 members from 51 countries. Following the organization's fifth congress in Budapest in June 1985, a four-city tour of the United States by three American and four Soviet physicians was co-sponsored by IPPNW, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Soviet Committee of Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Through separate lecture series aimed at physicians and laypersons, the doctors sought to persuade colleagues to take an active stand against nuclear war, and to increase public awareness of the medical realities of a nuclear attack. A similar tour of the Soviet Union is planned.

Hitler's scientists science, war and the devil's pact

CERN Document Server

Cornwell, John

2003-01-01

In a rich and fascinating history John Cornwell tells the epic story of Germany's scientists from the First World War to the collapse of Hitler's Reich. He shows how Germany became the world's Mecca for inventive genius, taking the lion's share of Nobel awards, before Hitler's regime hijacked science for wars of conquest and genocidal racism. Cornwell gives a dramatic account of the wide ranging Nazi research projects, from rockets to nuclear weapons; the pursuit of advanced technology for irrational ends, concluding with with penetrating relevance for today: the inherent dangers of science without conscience.

Can we do without nuclear?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cothier, Philippe

2013-01-01

The author first recalls the background of nuclear deterrence and the history of the French nuclear arsenal within the Cold War context. He comments the evolution of this arsenal after the US initiatives during the 1980's, and then analyses the situation at the beginning of the 21. century: end of the East-West confrontation, increase of NATO's interventions abroad, war against terrorism by the USA. But the Iranian and North-Korean nuclear programs gave a new momentum to the nuclear. The author discusses the various concepts and approaches of nuclear doctrines and deterrence, and wanders whether France still needs a doctrine relying on nuclear weapons as nuclear weapons are actually present, as the French deterrence doctrine is put in question again, and as some countries seem to be an actual nuclear threat (North Korea, Iran)

Legacy of Cold War still plagues Russia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Popova, L. [Socio-Ecological Union`s Center, Moscow (Russian Federation)

1995-07-01

Seventy years of communist rule and a half-century of nuclear-arms development have left Russia the world`s most polluted country, reports Lydia Popova, director of the Center for Nuclear Ecology and Energy Policy in Moscow. {open_quotes}Russia`s communist government invested enormous sums of money in the military but paid scant attention to environmental protection,{close_quotes} Popova writes. Most of Russia`s radioactive pollution has resulted from poor reprocessing technology, inadequate waste management, nuclear testing, and accidents in the nuclear-power sector. Though the end of the Cold War has been accompanied by disarmament programs, Popova insists that these initiatives will create an additional burden on the environment of the former Soviet Union in the form of nuclear waste products.

Nuclear, biological and chemical warfare. Part I: Medical aspects of nuclear warfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Kasthuri, A S; Pradhan, A B; Dham, S K; Bhalla, I P; Paul, J S

1990-04-01

Casualties in earlier wars were due much more to diseases than to weapons. Mention has been made in history of the use of biological agents in warfare, to deny the enemy food and water and to cause disease. In the first world war chemical agents were used to cause mass casualties. Nuclear weapons were introduced in the second world war. Several countries are now involved in developing nuclear, biological and chemical weapon systems, for the mass annihilation of human beings, animals and plants, and to destroy the economy of their enemies. Recently, natural calamities and accidents in nuclear, chemical and biological laboratories and industries have caused mass instantaneous deaths in civilian population. The effects of future wars will not be restricted to uniformed persons. It is time that physicians become aware of the destructive potential of these weapons. Awareness, immediate protective measures and first aid will save a large number of persons. This series of articles will outline the medical aspects of nuclear, biological and chemical weapon systems in three parts. Part I will deal with the biological effects of a nuclear explosion. The short and long term effects due to blast, heat and associated radiation are highlighted. In Part II, the role of biological agents which cause commoner or new disease patterns is mentioned. Some of the accidents from biological warfare laboratories are a testimony to its potential deleterious effects. Part III deals with medical aspects of chemical warfare agents, which in view of their mass effects can overwhelm the existing medical resources, both civilian and military.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Strategic stability in the Cold War. Lessons for continuing challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yost, D.S.

2011-10-26

Extending from roughly the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989-1991, the Cold War period witnessed - among other upheavals - significant conflicts in East Asia and the Middle East, the end of European colonial empires in Africa and Asia, and a remarkable competition between the United States and the Soviet Union across virtually every aspect of endeavor, from economic and cultural activities to military, nuclear, and space capabilities. In this era of great instability scores of new states gained their independence, some great powers lost stature and influence in comparative terms, and millions of people perished in civil and interstate wars and at the hands of repressive governments. Yet it was during this period that the phrase 'strategic stability' gained currency both as an objective and as an apt way of describing four dominant features of the period. First, the United States and the Soviet Union never went to war, although there were several occasions when some observers saw war as a genuine possibility, including the Berlin and Cuban crises, the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and the 'war scare' of the early 1980's. Second, neither these powers nor any others detonated nuclear weapons to inflict damage on an enemy, though they relied on them for deterrence, alliance cohesion, and other purposes. Third, the configuration of political alignments in Europe and Northeast Asia was remarkably stable from the mid-1950's to the end of the Cold War in 1989-1991. Fourth, the proliferation of nuclear-weapon states was contained to a much lower level than feared by some observers in the 1950's and 1960's. This paper concentrates on the first of the four elements of strategic stability in the Cold War listed above - the fact that the two superpowers did not engage in a direct 'hot war' with each other. It raises the question, to what extent did U.S. analytical models concerning &apos

Terminating America's wars : the Gulf War and Kosovo

OpenAIRE

Musser, William G.

2002-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited This thesis asks two questions: 1) What factors have contributed to the termination of recent United States wars? and 2) How can elements of national power be applied successfully to terminate the future wars of the United States? To answer these questions, this thesis offers a model of war termination and applies it to cases of war termination, in the Gulf War and in Kosovo. These case studies indicate that termination of future wars ...

[Georg Friedrich Nicolai: war physician against war].

Science.gov (United States)

van Bergen, L

2017-01-01

Georg Friedrich Nicolai was a German professor and heart specialist who was one of the few who protested against the war at the beginning of World War I. As a result, he lost his job and was convicted. After the war, right-wing nationalist students and lack of support from his university superiors made it impossible for him to teach. He left Germany in 1922, never to return. In his book, Die Biologie des Krieges (The Biology of War), which was published in neutral Switzerland in 1917, he contradicted the social Darwinist idea - supported by many physicians as well - that war strengthened humanity, people and races, physically and mentally. On the contrary, he argued, war is biologically counterproductive.

Non proliferation of nuclear weapons?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Guelte, Georges

2015-10-01

After having evoked the behaviour of nuclear countries regarding the development of nuclear weapons and uranium procurement, or nuclear programmes after the Second World War until nowadays, the author presents the non proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a construction at the service of super-powers. He comments and discusses the role of the IAEA control system and its evolutions: a control limited to declared installations, an export control with the spectre of plutonium, a control system thwarted by some technological innovations, information systems coming in, and an additional protocol related to the application of guarantees. He comments the evolution of the context from a bipolar world to a world without pole which raises the issue of how to have commitments respected: description of the role and practice of non proliferation during the Cold War, after the Cold War, and in a world without governance

Evidence of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) across populations with prolonged trauma of varying intensity and ages of exposure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Palic, Sabina; Zerach, G; Shevlin, Mark

2016-01-01

, with a "Dissociative PTSD-subtype" class. ICD-11's CPTSD was not exclusively associated with childhood abuse, but also with exposure to adulthood trauma of severe interpersonal intensity. Furthermore, all types of prolonged trauma were equally associated with the "Anxiety symptoms" class. Finally, of all the classes......The ICD-11 proposes different types of prolonged trauma as risk factors for complex PTSD (CPTSD). However, CPTSD's construct validity has only been examined in childhood abuse, and single trauma exposure samples. Thus, the extent to which CPTSD applies to other repeatedly traumatized populations...... is unknown. This study examined ICD-11's PTSD and CPTSD across populations with prolonged trauma of varying interpersonal intensity and ages of exposure, including: 1) childhood sexual abuse, 2) adulthood trauma of severe interpersonal intensity (refugees and ex-prisoners of war), and 3) adulthood trauma...

The long-term impact of war on health and wellbeing in Northern Vietnam: some glimpses from a recent survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Teerawichitchainan, Bussarawan; Korinek, Kim

2012-06-01

War is deemed a major threat to public health; yet, the long-term effects of war on individual health have rarely been examined in the context of developing countries. Based on data collected as a pilot follow-up to the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, this study examines current health profiles of northern Vietnamese war survivors who entered early adulthood during the Vietnam War and now represent Vietnam's older adult population. To ascertain how war and military service in the early life course may have had long-term impacts on health status of Vietnam's current older adults, we compare multi-dimensional measures of health among veterans and nonveterans, and within these groups, regardless of their military service, between combatants and noncombatants. Multivariate results suggest that despite prolonged exposure to war, veterans and those who served in combat roles are not significantly different from their civilian and noncombatant counterparts on most health outcomes later in life. This is in contrast to American veterans who fought on the opposing side of the war. The near absence of differences in older adult health among northern Vietnamese with varying degrees of war involvement might be explained by the encompassing extent of war; the notion that time heals; and the hardiness and resilience against ill health that are by-products of shared struggle in war and a victorious outcome. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hazards of chemical weapons release during war: new perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Reutter, S

1999-01-01

The two major threat classes of chemical weapons are mustard gas and the nerve agents, and this has not changed in over 50 years. Both types are commonly called gases, but they are actually liquids that are not remarkably volatile. These agents were designed specifically to harm people by any route of exposure and to be effective at low doses. Mustard gas was used in World War I, and the nerve agents were developed shortly before, during, and after World War II. Our perception of the potency of chemical weapons has changed, as well as our concern over potential effects of prolonged exposures to low doses and potential target populations that include women and children. Many of the toxicologic studies and human toxicity estimates for both mustard and nerve agents were designed for the purpose of quickly developing maximal casualties in the least sensitive male soldier. The "toxicity" of the chemical weapons has not changed, but our perception of "toxicity" has. PMID:10585902

War, strategy, and defence: The tradition of international political thought

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robertson, D

1986-01-01

This major new textbook provides a survey and critique of the strands in theoretical work on international relations. Taking the avoidance or limitation of war as the central concern of IR theory, it treats the subject from both an historical and conceptual perspective. David Robertson begins his account with early natural law arguments such as those of Grotius, and then moves on to the complex moral philosophy of Kant, the more positivist developments of international law, and both the traditional and modern versions of 'just war' theory. Focusing next on the second major strand of thought, he covers the more pragmatic theorising which seeks to control war through the balance of power, collective security, and finally by nuclear deterrent.

Nuclear Winter: Implications for civil defense

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chester, C.V.; Perry, A.M.; Hobbs, B.F.

1988-05-01

''Nuclear Winter'' is the term given to the cooling hypothesized to occur in the Northern Hemisphere following a nuclear war as the result of the injection of smoke from burning cities into the atmosphere. The voluminous literature on this subject produced since the paper was published in 1983 by Turco, Toon, Ackerman, Pollack, and Sagen (TTAPS) has been reviewed. Three-dimensional global circulation models have resulted in reduced estimates of cooling---15 to 25/degree/C for a summer war and a few degrees for a winter war. More serious may be the possibility of suppression of convective precipitation by the altered temperature profiles in the atmosphere. However, very large uncertainties remain in input parameters, the models, and the results of calculations. We believe the state of knowledge about nuclear winter is sufficiently developed to conclude: Neither cold nor drought is likely to be a direct threat to human survival for populations with the wherewithal to survive normal January temperatures. The principal threat from nuclear winter is to food production, and this could present problems to third parties who are without food reserves. Loss of a crop year is neither a new nor an unexpected threat from nuclear war to the United States and the Soviet Union. Both have at least a year's food reserve at all times. Both face formidable organizational problems in distributing their reserves in a war-damaged environment. The consequences of nuclear winter could be expected to fall more heavily on the Soviet Union than the United States due to its higher latitude and less productive agriculture. This may be especially true if disturbances of rainfall amounts and distribution persist for more than a year.

France and nuclear proliferation: the new generation of nuclear submarines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barrillot, B.

2001-01-01

Ten years after the end of the 'cold war' the French government has pursued its national defense program with the construction of a new generation of nuclear submarines with new type of missiles and nuclear heads. This book analyzes the possible solutions for a step by step elimination of nuclear weapons from the French weapons stock. (J.S.)

Nuclear attitudes and reactions: associations with depression, drug use, and quality of life

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newcomb, M.D.

1986-05-01

For 40 years the world has lived with the threat of nuclear war and, recently, with the possibility of nuclear power plant accidents. Although virtually every generation must confront various national or international crises, the threat of nuclear war is unprecedented in its destructive potential. This study is an attempt to assess attitudes and amount of distress associated with the ever-present threat of nuclear war and the possibility of accidents at nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Attitudes Questionnaire (NAQ) consists of 15 items and was administered to 722 young adults who have grown up in the nuclear age. The items were found to reflect four latent factors of nuclear concern, nuclear support, fear of the future, and nuclear denial, all of which in turn represent a second-order construct of nuclear anxiety. Women reported significantly more nuclear concern, less nuclear support, more fear of the future, and less nuclear denial than did men. In latent-variable models, nuclear anxiety was found to be significantly associated with less purpose in life, less life satisfaction, more powerlessness, more depression, and more drug use. It is concluded that the threat of nuclear war and accidents is significantly related to psychological distress and may disturb normal maturational development.

Nuclear attitudes and reactions: associations with depression, drug use, and quality of life

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newcomb, M.D.

1986-01-01

For 40 years the world has lived with the threat of nuclear war and, recently, with the possibility of nuclear power plant accidents. Although virtually every generation must confront various national or international crises, the threat of nuclear war is unprecedented in its destructive potential. This study is an attempt to assess attitudes and amount of distress associated with the ever-present threat of nuclear war and the possibility of accidents at nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Attitudes Questionnaire (NAQ) consists of 15 items and was administered to 722 young adults who have grown up in the nuclear age. The items were found to reflect four latent factors of nuclear concern, nuclear support, fear of the future, and nuclear denial, all of which in turn represent a second-order construct of nuclear anxiety. Women reported significantly more nuclear concern, less nuclear support, more fear of the future, and less nuclear denial than did men. In latent-variable models, nuclear anxiety was found to be significantly associated with less purpose in life, less life satisfaction, more powerlessness, more depression, and more drug use. It is concluded that the threat of nuclear war and accidents is significantly related to psychological distress and may disturb normal maturational development

Implications of the ’Nuclear Winter’ Thesis.

Science.gov (United States)

1985-06-24

not provide significant relief by warming the planet o ozone depletion would increase exposure to ultraviolet light ( UV -B) Technical Uncertainties in...pgs. 37. - ------------ "When Light is Put Away, Ecological Effects of Nuclear War," The Counterfeit Ark: Crisis Relocation for Nuclear War, 1984, 13...Mary, "Biologists Paint an Icy Picture . . ., Washington Post, November 1, 1983, 1 pg. 56. McWilliams, Rita, "Hill Told Money Won’t Buy Nuclear

Prospects for stability in a nuclear subcontinent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajagopal, S; Chari, Sridhar K.

2003-01-01

This book explore the prospects for stability in a nuclear sub-continent. The nonproliferation regimes and nuclear threat reduction, nonproliferation regimes and south asia - is there a meeting point?; maintaining a threshold of strategic autonomy at least cost: continuity in the evolution of India's nuclear policies; role of nuclear doctrines and the state of the armed forces in South Asia; nuclear weapons, deterrence and stability in the international system: South Asian dynamics; assessing China's Asian role and security policies; Kargil war to current threat of war: prospects for stability; discussion; international terrorism and its impact on South Asian stability; a view from Bangladesh etc. are some of the topics covered

Nuclear Winter: The implications for civil defense

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chester, C.V.; Perry, A.M.; Hobbs, B.F.

1987-01-01

''Nuclear Winter'' is the term given to hypothesized cooling in the northern hemisphere following a nuclear war due to injection of smoke from burning cities into the atmosphere. The voluminous literature on this subject produced since the original paper in 1983 by Turco, Toon, Ackerman, Pollack, and Sagen (TTAPS) has been reviewed. The widespread use of 3-dimensional global circulation models have resulted in reduced estimates of cooling; 15 to 25 0 C for a summer war and a few degrees for a winter war. More serious may be the possibility of suppression of convective precipitation by the altered temperature profiles in the atmosphere. However, very large uncertainties remain in input parameters, the models, and the results of calculations. We believe the state of knowledge about nuclear winter is sufficiently developed to conclude: Neither cold nor drought are likely to be direct threats to human survival for populations with the wherewithal to survive normal January temperatures; The principal threat from nuclear winter is to food production, and could present problems to third parties without food reserves; and Loss of a crop year is neither a new nor unexpected threat from nuclear war to the US and the Soviet Union. Both have at least a year's food reserve at all times. Both face formidable organizational problems in distributing their reserves in a war-damaged environment. The consequences of nuclear winter could be expected to fall more heavily on the Soviet Union than the US due to its higher latitude and less productive agriculture. This may be especially true if disturbances of rainfall amounts and distribution persist for more than a year. 6 refs

War on!

OpenAIRE

Simon , Jonathan

2008-01-01

Abstract 'War on' is the leading form of anti-policy in the United States. Since the late 1950s we have seen wars on cancer, poverty, drugs and terror. Thus far, the most far-reaching of these, the war on crime, has transformed American democracy since the 1960s. The deformation of our population and institutions now requires not simply an end to that war and its extension (the 'War on Terror'), but the deployment of a new 'war on' to stimulate change in the governmentalities which...

Problems of nuclear waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodionov, D.

1999-01-01

An enormous stockpile of nuclear weapons was reduced during the Cold War as a result of frantic Soviet-US competition, accompanied by considerable radioactive pollution of the environment. This pollution was inevitable. Former adversaries began to sober only recently. As a result, areas of weapons complexes both in the USA (Hanford, Savannah, Oak Ridge) and in Russia (Chelyabinsk-65, Tomsk-7, Krasnoyarsk-25) look like battlefields of the Cold War. A Nuclear weapon-free world will only be achieved (if at all) after reaching changes in the principles that guide state policies and actions. A nuclear-waste-free world implies that the environment's radioactive pollution of a military nature would be eliminated and all potential dangers from civil nuclear energy prevented. This can be attained after solution of some economic, political and social problems

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in Europe and the dissemination of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mongnet, J.

1997-01-01

The problem of the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons is of great concern to physician because of their professional interest in the life and heals of the population.It for the reason that we have studied and published articles on the effects of nuclear weapons, the consequences of nuclear weapon production and testing and demanded their abolition. Unfortunately we can at present observe their dissemination, both vertical and horizontal, in Europe and the world. July 2 nd marked the beginning of a series of nuclear tests in Nevada in direct violation of Article 6 of the Treaty of Non-Proliferation. IPPNW is part of the Abolition 2000 campaign which is working towards the abolition of nuclear weapons for the year 2000. The American and European initiative regarding the extension of NATO will ruin all hopes of this. Although public opinion was greatly influenced by the decision taken by the President of the French Republic to resume nuclear testing in the Pacific in 1995, it is not yet aware of the danger of the extension of NATO and has been lulled into a false sense of well-being by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty signed in New York in 1996. It is therefore the duty of physicians all over Europe to preserve the population from these new threats and the vast military expenditure they represent to the detriment of health and education

Being at war: Cognitive Approaches to Observational War Documentaries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bondebjerg, Ib

2017-01-01

: Janus Metz’s Danish ‘Armadillo’ (2010) following a group of soldiers to Afghanistan, and Andreas Dalsgaard and Obiada Zytoon’s Danish-Syrian ‘The War Show’ following a group of young Syrians during the Syrian spring to the civil war and beyond. Based on theories of cognition and emotion and evolutionary......In this article I primarily analyse observational war documentaries in order to deal with how this particular form of documentary contribute to our understanding of how it is to be at war as a soldier or as a civilian in a war zone. I analyse two very different observational war documentaries...... biology the article argues for the importance of this type of documentaries in developing and understanding of what war really is and it is experience, how it is to be at war. The article also puts the films in the broader context of both fictional and documentary war genres trying to map how...

Tactical aspects of nuclear strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Tonder, A.

1983-01-01

The advent of nuclear weapons at the end of the Second World War, caused a revolution in warfare. The article discusses the nature of nuclear warfare and the defense measures that can be employed in the event of a nuclear attack

Strengthening nuclear security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurihara, Hiroyoshi

2003-01-01

The international situation after the end of the Cold-War has been quite unstable, due to the occurrence of frequent regional conflicts and domestic wars based on ethnic, religious or racial reasons. Further, threats to the would peace and security by non-state actors, like international terrorist groups, have been recognized after 9.11 terrorist attacks to the World Trade Center buildings and to the Pentagon. Utilization of nuclear energy, which encompasses both peaceful uses and military ones, required an establishment of regulatory system, by which risks associated with the development of nuclear energy can be controlled. Accordingly, nuclear safety control system, and then non-proliferation control system has been developed, both in the international level and notional level. In recognition of the present unstable international situations, it is required to establish, maintain and strengthen a system which control nuclear security aspect, in addition to the present systems. (author)

Globalizing Contemporary War

OpenAIRE

Melissa Zisler

2009-01-01

There are a plethora of social problems present throughout theworld in which America has deemed a type of ‘war.’ Some of theseunconventional wars include: The War on Poverty presented in 1964; The War on Drugs announced in 1971; The War on Cancer commencing in1971; The War Against Illiteracy beginning in the 1970s; and afterSeptember 11, 2001 The War on Terror was announced (Raz, 2008).These contemporary ‘wars’ have transformed the meaning of the word‘war.’ Labeling these missions ‘wars,’ pre...

Farm Hall and the German atomic project of World War II a dramatic history

CERN Document Server

Cassidy, David C

2017-01-01

This gripping book brings back to life the events surrounding the internment of ten German Nuclear Scientists immediately after World War II. It is also an "eye-witness" account of the dawning of the nuclear age, with the dialogue and narrative spanning the period before, during and after atomic bombs were dropped on Japan at the end of the war. This pivotal historical episode is conveyed, along with the emotions as well as the facts, through drama, historical narrative, and photographs of the captive German nuclear scientists - who included Werner Heisenberg, Otto Hahn, and Max von Laue. The unique story that unfolds in the play is based on secretly recorded transcripts of the scientists’ actual conversations at Farm Hall, together with related documents and photographs.

Climatic effects of nuclear war: The role of atmospheric stability and ground heat fluxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitchell, J.F.B.; Slingo, A.

1988-01-01

Most studies of the climatic effects of nuclear war have used atmospheric models with simple representations of important physical processes. In this work, a model is used which treats the diurnal cycle of insolation, and includes surface and boundary layer parameterizations which take into account static stability and a four-layer soil model. Three idealized experiments are described in which a band of smoke is prescribed over northern mid-latitudes in In the experiment, the standard model is used, in the second the effect of deep soil layers is ignored and in the third the stability dependence in the surface and boundary layer processes is removed. It is found that the inclusion of deep soil layers decreases the surface cooling by about 20%, whereas the inclusion of stability effects increases the cooling by about the same amount, though conclusions will depend to some extent on the model used. copyright American Geophysical Union 1988

The climatic effects of nuclear war

Science.gov (United States)

Turco, R. P.; Toon, O. B.; Ackerman, T. P.; Pollack, J. B.; Sagan, C.

1984-01-01

The effects of various US-USSR nuclear-exchange scenarios on global climate are investigated by means of computer simulations, summarizing the results of Turco et al. (1983) and follow-up studies using 3D global-circulation models. A nuclear-scenario model is used to determine the amounts of dust, smoke, radioactivity, and pyrotoxins generated by a particular type of nuclear exchange (such as a general 5,000-Mt exchange, a 1,000-Mt limited exchange, a 5,000-Mt hard-target counterforce attack, and a 100-Mt attack on cities only): a particle-microphysics model predicts the evolution of the dust and smoke particles; and a radiative-convective climate model estimates the effects of the dust and smoke clouds on the global radiation budget. The findings are presented in graphs, diagrams, and a table. Thick clouds blocking most sunlight over the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes for weeks or months and producing ground-temperature reductions of 20-40 C, disruption of global circulation patterns, and rapid spread of clouds to the Southern Hemisphere are among the 'nuclear-winter' effects predicted for the 5,000-Mt baseline case. The catastrophic consequences for plant, animal, and human populations are considered, and the revision of superpower nuclear strategies is urged.

Plutonium and latent nuclear proliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quester, G.H.

1992-01-01

A country producing nuclear electric power acquires an ability to produce atomic bombs quite easily and without taking many steps beyond that which would be perfectly normal for civilian purposes. The role of plutonium in the three fold list of the gains that must be sought in arms control formulated by Schelling and Halpevin are discussed. On the first, that we should seek to reduce the likelihood of war, it can be argued that plutonium reduces the likelihood in some cases. The second, that we should seek to reduce the destruction in war, is made worse by plutonium. On the third criterion, that we should seek to reduce the burdens in peacetime of everyone's being prepared for war, the situation is confusing and depends on the prospects for nuclear electrical power. It is concluded that latent capability to produce nuclear weapons may be sufficient without the need for actual detonations and deployment of bombs. (UK)

The Macroeconomic Effects of War Finance in the United States: World War II and the Korean War.

OpenAIRE

Ohanian, Lee E

1997-01-01

During World War II, government expenditures were financed primarily by issuing debt. During the Korean War, expenditures were financed almost exclusively by higher taxes, reflecting President Truman's preference for balanced budgets. This paper evaluates quantitatively the economic effects of the different policies used to finance these two wars. Counterfactual experiments are used to explore the implications of financing World War II like the Korean War, and financing the Korean War like Wo...

Nuclear Strike Against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. War Crime, That Could Be Avoided

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nickolay Petrovich Parkhitko

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on the research of the consequences of the US nuclear bombings of Japanese cities in August 6th and 9th 1945. Military, political and psychological aspects, that were crucial for American military planning at the latest stage of the Second World War are taken into consideration. Also the problems of the new reality in the global policy of that period, which made it possible to demonstrate the military power in such a destructive way, are investigated. The author offers some logical alternatives to the real circumstances of the 6thAugust 1945, including both implementing and non-implementing of the nuclear weapons. The author also offers some new conception of the bipolarity considering the «A-bomb factor» in the international relations, which was critical since August 1945 till August 1949. The very fact of the using the most destructive and powerful weapon, developed after the Germans' capitulation but before the capitulation of Japan, corresponds with the political concept, offered by K. Clausevitz in early 19th century. The approach to the problem, advocated by the German military theorist was in details researched in the article. Using some historical and political methodology, the author criticizes the realization of this concept in August 1945th and offers some alternatives in the historical retrospective. Acknowledging, on the whole, the necessity of demonstration of the newest weapon by the United States in global political aspect, the author reveals a number of targets, which seem more optimal for this goal. Bombing of peaceful cities, which caused inadmissible civil losses, is characterized by the author as military crime.

Medical aspects of nuclear armament

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janse, M.J.; Schene, A.; Koch, K.

1983-06-18

The authors highlight a few medical, biological and psycological aspects of the use of nuclear weapons, drawing attention to their viewpoint that doctors should actively participate in the fight against nuclear armament. The short and long-term radiation effects on man and ecology are presented based on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki experiences. The danger of human error within this framework is emphasised and it is suggested that it is the medical profession's duty to point out how the effect of stress and boredom can lead to a nuclear catastrophe. Medical expertise may also help in the identification of unstable personalities among those who have access to nuclear weapons and in the understanding of the psycology of international conflicts and the psychopathology of those leaders who would use nuclear war as an instrument of national policy. Finally the effects of the nuclear war threat on children and teenagers are considered.

Medical aspects of nuclear armament

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janse, M.J.; Schene, A.; Koch, K.

1983-01-01

The authors highlight a few medical, biological and psycological aspects of the use of nuclear weapons, drawing attention to their viewpoint that doctors should actively participate in the fight against nuclear armament. The short and long-term radiation effects on man and ecology are presented based on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki experiences. The danger of human error within this framework is emphasised and it is suggested that it is the medical profession's duty to point out how the effect of stress and boredom can lead to a nuclear catastrophe. Medical expertise may also help in the identification of unstable personalities among those who have access to nuclear weapons and in the understanding of the psycology of international conflicts and the psychopathology of those leaders who would use nuclear war as an instrument of national policy. Finally the effects of the nuclear war threat on children and teenagers are considered. (C.F.)

Farewell to „eternal peace“? New wars and their moral and legal challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zaborowski Holger

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This essay first discusses modern wars and the idea of „eternal peace“ as developed in modernity. It shows how in the 20th century the reality of war (as well as the concept of peace was already transformed due to the development of new technologies such as the nuclear bomb. Now, peace was replaced by a „cold war“. The essay then goes on to introduce the concept of post-national wars (as opposed to modern national wars. It argues that this concept fails fully to describe contemporary warfare. What is needed is a deeper analysis that considers most recent technological developments such as the world wide web or drone technology and the way these technologies paradigmatically change the concept and reality of war (and of peace, too. The essay concludes by arguing that the moral and legal challenges of this kind of war deserve more attention than they are getting in the current discussion.

Nuclear disarmament and peaceful nuclear technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, T.B.

1989-01-01

According to the author, it remains to be seen whether nuclear disarmament can reduce the risks of nuclear war sufficiently for the residual risks to be acceptable to a majority of the world's population, while at the same time vigorous growth in the world's dependence on nuclear energy for peaceful purposes continues. This paper discusses how use of nuclear materials from dismantled weapons as fuel for peaceful purposes may help progress to be made towards that goal, by stimulating considerable improvements in the effectiveness of arrangements for preventing diversion of the materials from peaceful to military purposes, while at the same time eliminating large numbers of nuclear weapons

Materials for Children about Nuclear War.

Science.gov (United States)

Eiss, Harry

President Reagan's Fiscal Year 1987 budget was an attempt to increase dramatically spending on national defense, on nuclear weapons, while cutting back on social programs. The increases for almost all nuclear weapons indicate the Administration of the United States saw its major responsibility as one of providing a strong military, one centered on…

Impact of World War I on Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Trimble, Virginia L.

2015-01-01

Mention chemistry and the Great "War to End all Wars" in the same sentence, and nearly everybody who ever had a history class will nod sorrowfully and say,"Yes, poison gases." True enough, and Fritz Haber, who led the development of them for the Central Powers, was the one German scientist whom Rutherford never forgave or spoke to again. Such substances (not all really gaseous, and something like 50 have been tried) were used by both sides from 1915 onward, killed about 90,000 people (about 1% of the total), maimed many more, and arguably loosened constraints on future uses of chemical weapons in other wars, prison camps, and terrorist actions. But the war was not determined by them and could have been fought without them. On the other hand, the sudden blockading of ports and termination of most international trade forced Germany (etc) to expand very quickly processes for fixing nitrogen for explosives and for fertilizers in lieu of Chilean guano (yes there is also a Haber process for that). They needed in addition to find domestic replacements for rubber (for tires, hoses, and gas masks) and liquid fuels for tanks and aircraft. The Allies, for their part, had been heavily dependent on German dyestuffs, optical-quality glass for binoculars, and phosphates (fertilizer again). Production facilities for derivatives of coal tars, cottonseed oil, etc. were of necessity scaled up rapidly. And once people have learned to do these things, there is no way to have them be forgotten. The same is, of course, true of the nuclear weapons of World War II and of whatever biological and/or cybernetic entities prove to be essential in the next war.

Implications of a North Korean Nuclear Weapons Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehman, R.F. II

1993-07-01

The Democratic People`s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is one of the Cold War`s last remaining totalitarian regimes. Rarely has any society been as closed to outside influences and so distant from political, economic, and military developments around the globe. In 1991 and in 1992, however, this dictatorship took a number of political steps which increased Pyongyang`s interaction with the outside world. Although North Korea`s style of engagement with the broader international community involved frequent pauses and numerous steps backward, many observers believed that North Korea was finally moving to end its isolated, outlaw status. As the end of 1992 approached, however, delay and obstruction by Pyongyang became intense as accumulating evidence suggested that the DPRK, in violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. On March 12, 1993, North Korea announced that it would not accept additional inspections proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve concerns about possible violations and instead would withdraw from the Treaty. Pyongyang`s action raised the specter that, instead of a last act of the Cold War, North Korea`s diplomatic maneuvering would unravel the international norms that were to be the basis of stability and peace in the post-Cold War era. Indeed, the discovery that North Korea was approaching the capability to produce nuclear weapons suggested that the nuclear threat, which had been successfully managed throughout the Cold War era, could increase in the post-Cold War era.

China and nuclear arms limitation agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, E.V.

1980-01-01

The Chinese attitudes from 1949 to 1980 towards nuclear arms limitation are divided into four distinct periods: 1949-1956, 1957-1963, 1964-1972 and 1973-1980. During 1949-1956, China held the view that an atom bomb or nuclear weapons are not decisive for the outcome of any war. It is the people who decide the outcome of a war. The period 1957-1963, after Soviet refusal to transfer nuclear technology, is marked by the development of the nuclear programme which led to the explosion of a nuclear device in 1964. China continued to build nuclear capability during 1964-1972. Mao died in 1976 and the relations with the U.S.A. were normalised in 1979. Taking an anti-Soviet stance China now takes the view that any nuclear arms agreement with Soviet Union is futile and describes SALT II agreement as an absolute farce. (M.G.B.)

Applications of Nuclear Physics

OpenAIRE

Hayes, Anna C.

2017-01-01

Today the applications of nuclear physics span a very broad range of topics and fields. This review discusses a number of aspects of these applications, including selected topics and concepts in nuclear reactor physics, nuclear fusion, nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear-geophysics, and nuclear medicine. The review begins with a historic summary of the early years in applied nuclear physics, with an emphasis on the huge developments that took place around the time of World War II, and that und...

North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, and No Good Options?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cohen, Michael David

2013-01-01

senior military associates to experience fear of imminent nuclear war or conventional regime change. I show that the effect of such fear would depend on whether or not Kim believes that he has control over the occurrence of these events. I argue that if he experiences fear and believes that he has some...... control over whether these extreme events actually happen, he will moderate his nuclear threats and behave more like other experienced nuclear powers. But if he experiences fear and believes that he has no control, he will likely pursue policies that could cause nuclear war. I use this insight...

The nuclear problem in Northeast Asia and ways to resolve it: A North Korean perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pae Sang Hak

1995-01-01

The end of the Cold War worldwide has added new momentum to the process of nuclear disarmament. However, vestiges of the Cold War have yet to be removed from Northeast Asia, where the nuclear threat has snowballed. This chapter examines potential nuclear dangers in Northeast Asia - a region which has the greatest concentration of nuclear weapons bases and nuclear weapons in the world

Social relationships and social support among post-war youth in Northern Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

De Nutte, Leen; Okello, James; Derluyn, Ilse

2017-08-01

Although social relationships and social support are salient factors for post-war adolescents' psychosocial coping and adjustment, there is only limited information regarding war-affected adolescents' views on social support and the relationships within which social support is provided. This study therefore explored both elements among a clinical sample of 20 adolescents living in post-war Northern Uganda. Following Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis, we found a prominent role of the biological mother and other primary biological family members in the upbringing of our participants. Spiritual and material support were perceived to be the most important type of support, respectively, while the adolescents were growing up and in their current lives. These findings provide support for the perception that caregiving systems are adaptable to particular sociocultural contexts. Further, the importance of particular functions of social support could signify a potentially selective buffering effect of these functions in adverse contexts. Because of the importance of the primary biological family and the salient role of parent-child relationships in the face of adversity, future research needs to focus on this particular kind of social relationship in contexts of prolonged collective violence. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Joseph A. Burton Forum Award: Some Nuclear Weapons Dilemmas

Science.gov (United States)

May, Michael

2014-03-01

Nuclear weapons pose a combination of political and ethical dilemmas the solution to which has not been found. On one hand, in the view of both US government leaders and US allies, nuclear deterrence continues to play an essential part in the US role as the ultimate source of military strength for the alliances among the major democratic countries. It also continues to be in demand by countries that believe themselves to be isolated and threatened. On the other hand, nuclear weapons, besides being effective deterrents, can cause unprecedented loss of life and risk the demise of civilizations. No ban or technical precaution could prevent the rebuilding of nuclear weapons in a crisis. No diplomatic arrangement to date has erased the threat of invasion and war in the world. Only the abandonment of war and the threat of war as instruments of policy can make nuclear weapons obsolete. The slow, halting, risky road to that end remains the only hope for a world in which lasting solutions to the nuclear dilemmas are possible.

Experts in the cold war. War experiences and peace conceptions of US-American physicists 1920-1963; Experten im Kalten Krieg. Kriegserfahrungen und Friedenskonzeptionen US-amerikanischer Kernphysiker 1920-1963

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wunderle, Ulrike

2015-07-01

The study is dedicated to the American elite of nuclear physicists, which explained after the second world war the possibilities of their science for war and peace. What induced their thinking and handling? The focus lies on the scientific shapings and war experiences of the first really international generation of physicists, which began in the 1920th years their career before many of their representatives had to fly from the NS regime from Europe and cooperated in the Manhattan project in the construction of the atomic bomb. These experiences the author refers to in order to get on the track of the explanations of the exper elite in the immediate afterwar time and in the cold war. How far their internationally and by actual war experiences shaped thinking about their own contribution as scientist to the national security - in the sense of discouragement or the cooperative conflict regulation - found its expression in the cold war, is drawn on different action levels of the participants from the Geneve conference ''Atoms for Peace'' of 1955 until the signing of the so-called Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963.

An introduction to the axiology of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawada, Tetsuo

2005-01-01

Nuclear energy was developed during World War II and grew immensely within the era of the Cold War. After the Cold War came to an end during the early 1990s, those who benefited from the development of nuclear energy were most likely confronted with a challenge by a new tide of civilization. Although the challenge had not been closely questioned since then, such a new movement abruptly manifested itself after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. After these attacks, many began to realize that global circumstances, especially those concerned with global security, must have changed with the reordering of the world's basic structures that support political and economical developments. Here the world's basic structure is closely related with values, i.e., the system of values. This paper describes the thoughts that reveal the causes and the backgrounds of the events of September 11, the linkage to nuclear energy development, and nuclear civilization in pursuit of the future regime of nuclear energy's harmonization with the global society of the 21st century. (author)

The War on War League: A South African pacifist movement, 1914 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... of the Communist Party. This article however contends that it needs to be understood in its own terms, as a pacifist movement, reflecting a political moment of resistance to the plunge into global war. Keywords: War on War League, South Africa, Pacifism, Anti-War Movement, First World War, Syndicalism, Internationalism, ...

Medical lessons learned from chernobyl relative to nuclear detonations and failed nuclear reactors.

Science.gov (United States)

Dallas, Cham E

2012-12-01

The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 involved the largest airborne release of radioactivity in history, more than 100 times as much radioactivity as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs together. The resulting emergency response, administrative blunders, and subsequent patient outcomes from this large-scale radiological disaster provide a wealth of information and valuable lessons for those who may find themselves having to deal with the staggering consequences of nuclear war. Research findings, administrative strategies (successful and otherwise), and resulting clinical procedures from the Chernobyl experience are reviewed to determine a current utility in addressing the appropriate protocols for a medical response to nuclear war. As various myths are still widely associated with radiation exposure, attention is given to the realities of a mass casualty medical response as it would occur with a nuclear detonation.

Tropospheric response to a nuclear exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penner, J.E.

1983-10-01

The immediate effects of a full-scale nuclear war would be large and severe. The survivors of such a war would have to endure possible changes in the chemical structure of the atmosphere. These changes may come about as a result of changes caused by the nuclear explosions themselves (direct effects) or as a result of changes caused by fires that may start after the explosions (indirect effects). This paper focuses on the expected global-scale changes in the chemical structure of the atmosphere from both direct and indirect effects after a full-scale nuclear exchange. The immediate effects of a nuclear explosion include the creation of a hot mass of air or fireball which rises in the atmosphere to a level that depends on the yield of the explosion. Because the fireball is hot, it is able to dissociate atmospheric nitrogen, N 2 . As the fireball cools, nitrogen atoms recombine with oxygen to form nitrogen oxides, NO and NO 2 . In addition, dust and recondensed gases are swept up through the stem of the fireball and deposited at the same level to which the fireball rises. This paper focuses on the response of atmospheric ozone to a nuclear war

New wars, new morality?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akkerman, T.

2009-01-01

Has war fundamentally changed? If so, it may be time for reconsidering accepted moral standards for waging wars and for conduct in war. The new war thesis holds that wars have fundamentally altered since the end of the Cold War. Proponents such as Kaldor and Weiss hold that wars today are intrastate

Atmospheric and climatic consequences of a major nuclear war: Results of recent research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golitsyn, G.S.; MacCracken, M.C.

1987-09-01

During the last several years, comprehensive three-dimensional atmospheric circulation models, including detailed parametric formulations of a wide range of climatologically significant processes, have been applied to study the potential consequences of a major nuclear war involving the injection of smoke which could result from the large-scale fires ignited by such an exchange. For plausible smoke injections during the warm season of the year, all model calculations suggest that a significant climatic perturbation would result. In the lower range of smoke injection scenarios (producing of order 10 Tg of highly carbonaceous smoke), smoke would act primarily to inhibit convection and rainfall, especially over land areas, including possibly some disruption of the summer monsoon. The upper range of smoke scenarios (of order 100 Tg of highly carbonaceous smoke) would cause not only rapid and sharp decreases in land temperature and precipitation (a mid-latitude average land-temperature drop of the order of 20 0 C, up to perhaps twice this amount in continental interiors), but also seems likely to leave enough smoke in the atmosphere to persist into the following warm season, inducing a cooling of several degrees

Climate change, nuclear risks and nuclear disarmament. From security threats to sustainable peace

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scheffran, Juergen [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). Research Group Climate Change and Security

2009-07-01

In the future, nuclear and climate risks may interfere with each other in a mutually enforcing way. Con-flicts induced by climate change could contribute to global insecurity and create more incentives for states to rely on military force, including nuclear weapons. Rather than being a direct cause of war, cli-mate change significantly affects the delicate balance between social and environmental systems in a way that could undermine human security and societal stability with potentially grave consequences for international security. Increased reliance on nuclear energy to reduce carbon emissions will contribute to the risks of nuclear proliferation. A renewed nuclear arms race would consume considerable resources and undermine the conditions for tackling the problem of climate change in a cooperative manner. Nuclear war itself would severely destabilize human societies and the environment, not to speak of the possibility of a nuclear winter that would disrupt the atmosphere. On the other hand, finding solutions to one problem area could help to find solutions in the other. Pre-venting the dangers of climate change and nuclear war requires an integrated set of strategies that ad-dress the causes as well as the impacts on the natural and social environment. Institutions are needed to strengthen common, ecological and human security, build and reinforce conflict-resolution mechanisms and low-carbon energy alternatives, and create sustainable lifecycles that respect the capabilities of the living world. This article examines the linkages between nuclear and climate risks, identifies areas where both threats converge, and offers an approach to move from living under these security threats to building sustain-able peace. By bringing to light the multidimensional interplay between climate change, nuclear risks and nuclear disarmament, this study aims to help the reader grasp their interconnectedness and recognize its critical implications for the strategic security

Climate change, nuclear risks and nuclear disarmament. From security threats to sustainable peace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheffran, Juergen

2009-01-01

In the future, nuclear and climate risks may interfere with each other in a mutually enforcing way. Con-flicts induced by climate change could contribute to global insecurity and create more incentives for states to rely on military force, including nuclear weapons. Rather than being a direct cause of war, cli-mate change significantly affects the delicate balance between social and environmental systems in a way that could undermine human security and societal stability with potentially grave consequences for international security. Increased reliance on nuclear energy to reduce carbon emissions will contribute to the risks of nuclear proliferation. A renewed nuclear arms race would consume considerable resources and undermine the conditions for tackling the problem of climate change in a cooperative manner. Nuclear war itself would severely destabilize human societies and the environment, not to speak of the possibility of a nuclear winter that would disrupt the atmosphere. On the other hand, finding solutions to one problem area could help to find solutions in the other. Pre-venting the dangers of climate change and nuclear war requires an integrated set of strategies that ad-dress the causes as well as the impacts on the natural and social environment. Institutions are needed to strengthen common, ecological and human security, build and reinforce conflict-resolution mechanisms and low-carbon energy alternatives, and create sustainable lifecycles that respect the capabilities of the living world. This article examines the linkages between nuclear and climate risks, identifies areas where both threats converge, and offers an approach to move from living under these security threats to building sustain-able peace. By bringing to light the multidimensional interplay between climate change, nuclear risks and nuclear disarmament, this study aims to help the reader grasp their interconnectedness and recognize its critical implications for the strategic security

Leo Szilard Award Lecture: Unwinding the Cold War

Science.gov (United States)

Neff, Thomas

1997-04-01

Two generations of scientists in the US and the Soviet Union spent their lives in the shadow of the cold war, building the scientific and technical infrastructure and shaping the institutional and policy structures that maintained a stable "balance of terror." The cold war is now over, but the lethal products of it, and the decaying institutions and policies that perpetuated it, are probably more dangerous than ever. At the same time, the loss of cold war imperatives means fewer government resources and less policy attention to the problems of reversing the cold war. Moreover, solving these problems will require that the forces and talents of economics and business be integrated with the technical skill and imagination of physical scientists. Science fundamentally involves skills of problem definition and problem-solving. Both American and Russian scientists and engineers must expand their tool kits and the scope of their imaginations if they are to undo the dangerous legacy of the cold war and find productive new roles in a post-cold war world. This address is intended to illustrate how this can be done, using the past five years' experience in developing and implementing the agreement between the U.S. and Russia to motivate, finance, and institutionalize the destruction of approximately 20,000 Russian nuclear weapons through the commercially-driven recovery and destruction of 500 tonnes of highly enriched uranium from those weapons. Such approaches can have benefits much broader than the destruction of weapons, if we can recognize the opportunities and pursue them wisely. Unfortunately, there is a basic lack of imagination and will, one that is further frustrated by bureaucratic inertia and the parochial interests of cold war institutions. The irony is that Russia is more ready to change than the US, but it is the US that is, in principle but perhaps not in practice, most able to help lead the world out of the cold war era.

Nuclear war survival skills

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kearney, C.H.

1979-09-01

This book includes chapters on psychological preparations, warning and communications, and evacuation. It describes the building of expedient shelters, their ventilation and cooling, the purification and storage of adequate water, the processing and cooking of whole grains and legumes, fallout meters, protection against fires and carbon monoxide, and expedient furnishings for shelters. Other chapters cover sanitation and preventive medicine, medical advice for nuclear survivors lacking the help of doctors, improvised footwear and clothing, and advice on minimum preparations that can be made at low cost and should be made before a crisis arises. One appendix of the handbook gives detailed, field-tested instructions for building six types of earth-covered expedient fallout shelters, with criteria to guide the choice of which shelter to build. Others contain instructions for making an efficient shelter-ventilating pump and a homemade fallout meter that is accurate and dependable with inexpensive materials found in most households. This report is primarily a compilation and summary of civil defense measures and inventions developed at ORNL over the past 14 years and field-tested in six states, from Florida to Utah. It is the first comprehensive handbook of survival information for use by untrained citizens who want to improve their chances of surviving a possible nuclear attack. Sections may be easily excerpted and reproduced for mass distribution through news media

Nuclear power : decline, prolongation or renewal?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldberg, Nicolas

2014-01-01

In an international context still under the shock of Fukushima, and at a time when France is committed to an energy transition, the details of which still have to be decided, the future of nuclear power in the world is provoking intense and contradictory debate. What to expert: a decline, business as usual, or a renewal of the sector throughout its value chain? Some answers are to be found in an analysis by Colombus Consulting. (author)

Mitigation of Selected Hanford Site Manhattan Project and Cold War Era Artifacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prendergast-Kennedy, Ellen L.; Harvey, David W.

2006-01-01

This document is the first time that Manhattan Project and Cold War era artifacts from the Hanford Site have been assembled within a publication. The publication presents photographic and written documentation of a number of Manhattan Project and Cold War era artifacts that were identified and tagged during assessment walk throughs of historic buildings on the Hanford Site but which could not be curated within the Hanford collection because they were too large for long-term storage and/or exhibit purposes or were radiologically contaminated. The significance of the artifacts in this publication and a proposed future appendix is based not on the individual significance of any single artifact but on their collective contribution to the science and engineering of creating plutonium and advancing nuclear technology in nuclear fuel and power.

Mitigation of Selected Hanford Site Manhattan Project and Cold War Era Artifacts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kennedy, Ellen P.; Harvey, David W.

2006-09-08

This document is the first time that Manhattan Project and Cold War era artifacts from the Hanford Site have been assembled within a publication. The publication presents photographic and written documentation of a number of Manhattan Project and Cold War era artifacts that were identified and tagged during assessment walk throughs of historic buildings on the Hanford Site but which could not be curated within the Hanford collection because they were too large for long-term storage and/or exhibit purposes or were radiologically contaminated. The significance of the artifacts in this publication and a proposed future appendix is based not on the individual significance of any single artifact but on their collective contribution to the science and engineering of creating plutonium and advancing nuclear technology in nuclear fuel and power.

Exploring Greenland: science and technology in Cold War settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Heymann, Matthias; Knudsen, Henrik; Lolck, Maiken L; Nielsen, Henry; Nielsen, Kristian H; Ries, Christopher J

2010-01-01

This paper explores a vacant spot in the Cold War history of science: the development of research activities in the physical environmental sciences and in nuclear science and technology in Greenland. In the post-war period, scientific exploration of the polar areas became a strategically important element in American and Soviet defence policy. Particularly geophysical fields like meteorology, geology, seismology, oceanography, and others profited greatly from military interest. While Denmark maintained formal sovereignty over Greenland, research activities were strongly dominated by U.S. military interests. This paper sets out to summarize the limited current state of knowledge about activities in the environmental physical sciences in Greenland and their entanglement with military, geopolitical, and colonial interests of both the USA and Denmark. We describe geophysical research in the Cold War in Greenland as a multidimensional colonial endeavour. In a period of decolonization after World War II, Greenland, being a Danish colony, became additionally colonized by the American military. Concurrently, in a period of emerging scientific internationalism, the U.S. military "colonized" geophysical research in the Arctic, which increasingly became subject to military directions, culture, and rules.

Maintaining nutritional adequacy during a prolonged food crisis. [Basic foods for post-nuclear attack use

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Franz, K.B.; Kearny, C.H.

1979-08-01

This handbook is the first to assemble nutritional information and make recommendations on the efficient use of unprocessed grains, beans, and other elemental foods during the aftermath of a nuclear war. These basic foods would constitute the main resources to combat famine after a major nuclear attack. Such an attack would reduce and probably eliminate most commercial food processing for many months. To decision makers, this handbook should prove useful on basic aspects of nutrition in a long-term survival situation. These decision makers might range from the heads of families to government officials. Recommendations for nutrition given by organizations experienced in crisis feeding are reviewed and compared. Based on the best nutritional information available, emergency dietary recommendations are made for minimum and intermediate goals. The emergency dietary recommendations are applied to food for practical survival rations. Long-term survival rations for Americans are evaluated. These rations are (1) ten single-food rations; (2) four cereal-legume rations, ratio 4:1; (3) four cereal-legume rations, ratio 8:1; and (4) four cereal-legume-dry milk rations. The 22 different survival rations are detailed and summarized in 20 tables which list their nutritional adequacies and deficiences. Expedient procedures are given by which basic foods may be processed and cooked to provide a more healthful diet than most Americans believe possible. Special attention is given to the requirements of infants, children, and pregnant or lactating women. The eleven appendixes provide a wealth of specialized information. Among these appendixes is one that summarizes new and improved expedient methods for removing radioactive fallout and other contaminants from water. Another appendix is a comprehensive account of ways to sprout seeds to produce vitamins and improve palatability. (ERB)

Atmospheric effects and societal consequences of regional scale nuclear conflicts and acts of individual nuclear terrorism

Science.gov (United States)

Toon, O. B.; Turco, R. P.; Robock, A.; Bardeen, C.; Oman, L.; Stenchikov, G. L.

2007-04-01

We assess the potential damage and smoke production associated with the detonation of small nuclear weapons in modern megacities. While the number of nuclear warheads in the world has fallen by about a factor of three since its peak in 1986, the number of nuclear weapons states is increasing and the potential exists for numerous regional nuclear arms races. Eight countries are known to have nuclear weapons, 2 are constructing them, and an additional 32 nations already have the fissile material needed to build substantial arsenals of low-yield (Hiroshima-sized) explosives. Population and economic activity worldwide are congregated to an increasing extent in megacities, which might be targeted in a nuclear conflict. We find that low yield weapons, which new nuclear powers are likely to construct, can produce 100 times as many fatalities and 100 times as much smoke from fires per kt yield as previously estimated in analyses for full scale nuclear wars using high-yield weapons, if the small weapons are targeted at city centers. A single "small" nuclear detonation in an urban center could lead to more fatalities, in some cases by orders of magnitude, than have occurred in the major historical conflicts of many countries. We analyze the likely outcome of a regional nuclear exchange involving 100 15-kt explosions (less than 0.1% of the explosive yield of the current global nuclear arsenal). We find that such an exchange could produce direct fatalities comparable to all of those worldwide in World War II, or to those once estimated for a "counterforce" nuclear war between the superpowers. Megacities exposed to atmospheric fallout of long-lived radionuclides would likely be abandoned indefinitely, with severe national and international implications. Our analysis shows that smoke from urban firestorms in a regional war would rise into the upper troposphere due to pyro-convection. Robock et al. (2007) show that the smoke would subsequently rise deep into the stratosphere due

Nuclear weapons modernizations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kristensen, Hans M. [Federation of American Scientists, Washington, DC (United States)

2014-05-09

This article reviews the nuclear weapons modernization programs underway in the world's nine nuclear weapons states. It concludes that despite significant reductions in overall weapons inventories since the end of the Cold War, the pace of reductions is slowing - four of the nuclear weapons states are even increasing their arsenals, and all the nuclear weapons states are busy modernizing their remaining arsenals in what appears to be a dynamic and counterproductive nuclear competition. The author questions whether perpetual modernization combined with no specific plan for the elimination of nuclear weapons is consistent with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and concludes that new limits on nuclear modernizations are needed.

Atoms for Peace (and War): US Forms of Influence on Italy's Civilian Nuclear Programs (1946-1964)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bini, Elisabetta

2017-01-01

This chapter analyzes the ways in which the United States influenced Italian civilian nuclear energy policies between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s. It argues that until the mid-1950s, when the United States developed its Atoms for Peace program, the US administration remained quite suspicious about Italy’s project to develop a civilian nuclear energy program. The State Department and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) kept firmly under control Italy’s efforts to extract uranium in the North of the country. Their greatest concern was that the Italian government might decide to declare its uranium resources property of the state, like it had done with its hydrocarbon resources. Despite a series of requests from Italian scientists and industrial firms, the Marshall Plan did not provide any funds for the purchase of nuclear equipment. In the context of the Atoms for Peace program and of the signing in 1955 of a bilateral agreement, the United States gained increased influence over Italy's atomic energy policies. Based on new archival sources from the United States and Italy, this chapter argues that after John F. Kennedy became President, and in the context of the so-called 'center-left governments', the US administration supported the expansion of Italy's nuclear program and a greater role of the state in promoting civilian nuclear energy programs. Once ENEL was founded, however, the company chose to rely on oil, rather than nuclear power, to fuel most of its electric plants. Following a series of agreements between Standard Oil (N.J.) and ENI, Italy received large quantities of cheap oil from the Middle East. ENEL's strategy was supported by American oil companies operating in Italy, and endorsed by the State Department as more cost-effective than a full-scale nuclear program. However, important sectors of the US administration remained critical of the rapid decline of Italy's civilian nuclear program, which accompanied

Russian War Prisoners of the First World War in German Camps

OpenAIRE

Gulzhaukhar Kokebayeva; Erke Kartabayeva; Nurzipa Alpysbayeva

2014-01-01

The article considers the problem of the custody of Russian war prisoners in German camps. The German authorities treated Russian war prisoners in accordance with the ‘Provision of War Prisoners Custody’, approved by the Emperor on 11 August, 1914. The content of this document mainly corresponded to the Hague Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land. But German authorities discriminated the war prisoners of different nationalities.

Lessons from post-war Iraq for the international full-scope safeguards regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheinman, L.

1993-01-01

The discovery after the Gulf War of the extensive Iraqi nuclear weapon program severely shook public confidence in the nuclear non-proliferation regime in general, and the safeguards program of the IAEA under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, in particular. Iraq provided the justification for evaluating the safeguards regime under new political circumstances, so that appropriate corrective measures could be taken when necessary. It is now up to the individual states within the international system to take advantage of this opportunity

The intergenerational effects of war on the health of children.

Science.gov (United States)

Devakumar, Delan; Birch, Marion; Osrin, David; Sondorp, Egbert; Wells, Jonathan C K

2014-04-02

The short- and medium-term effects of conflict on population health are reasonably well documented. Less considered are its consequences across generations and potential harms to the health of children yet to be born. Looking first at the nature and effects of exposures during conflict, and then at the potential routes through which harm may propagate within families, we consider the intergenerational effects of four features of conflict: violence, challenges to mental health, infection and malnutrition. Conflict-driven harms are transmitted through a complex permissive environment that includes biological, cultural and economic factors, and feedback loops between sources of harm and weaknesses in individual and societal resilience to them. We discuss the multiplicative effects of ongoing conflict when hostilities are prolonged. We summarize many instances in which the effects of war can propagate across generations. We hope that the evidence laid out in the article will stimulate research and--more importantly--contribute to the discussion of the costs of war; particularly in the longer-term in post-conflict situations in which interventions need to be sustained and adapted over many years.

A social theory of war: Clausewitz and war reconsidered

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sharma, Vivek

2014-01-01

of war. I then show how this framework helps us understand some key problems in the political science literature on war and conflict. I attempt to show two main things: (1) that there are different types of wars (and that these differences are not necessarily related to the standing of the actors, i......This article presents a new theory of war that is grounded in the insights of Clausewitz on the social nature of conflict. Clausewitz had argued that war is a political process; he therefore distinguished between ‘war’—understood in political terms—and warfare—understood as fighting. He...... then created a typology covering a spectrum of war ranging from total to limited, the political stakes of a conflict determining where it would fall on the spectrum. I develop and modify this basic framework by arguing that the social organization of the actors has a determining role in predicting the stakes...

Physicians warn against the atomic war: The surviving will envy the dead

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-11-01

Just as the politicians the physicians have the particular right as well as the inevitable duty to comment upon the topic of atomic war risk and nuclear armament. For this purpose this documentation was compiled. It contains the most different argumentations. A call against the stationing of new nuclear weapons in Europe and especially in the F.R. of Germany is made. (DG) [de

The "War Poets": Evolution of a Literary Conscience in World War I.

Science.gov (United States)

Galambos, Ellen

1983-01-01

Pre-World War I poetry often used picturesque images which blinded people to the actual horrors of war. The war poets, who experienced the destruction of World War I, led the way in expressing new images of the devastation and death of war, rather than focusing on honor and glory. (IS)

Nuclear energy as a 'golden bridge'? Constitutional legal problems of the negotiation of the prolongation of the running time against skimming of profits; Kernenergie als 'goldene Bruecke'? Verfassungsrechtliche Probleme der Aushandlung von Laufzeitverlaengerungen gegen Gewinnabschoepfungen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Waldhoff, Christian; Aswege, Hanka von [Bonn Univ. (Germany). Lehrstuhl fuer Oeffentliches Recht

2010-07-15

The coalition agreement of Christian Demographic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 26th October, 2009 characterizes the nuclear energy as a bridge technology. The coalition parties explain to prolong the running times of German nuclear power stations up to a reliable replacement by renewable energies. The conditions for the prolongation of the running times are to be regulated in agreement with energy supply companies. In the contribution under consideration, the authors report on the fiscal legal problems of the skimming of profits. Constitutional legal problems of the earmaking of a skimming of profits as well as a consensual agreement are discussed in this contribution. In the result, a financial constitutionally reliable way for the skimming of added profits due to prolongation of the running time is not evident. The legal earmaking of the duty advent for the promotion of renewable energies increases the constitutional doubts.

Russian War Prisoners of the First World War in German Camps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gulzhaukhar Kokebayeva

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The article considers the problem of the custody of Russian war prisoners in German camps. The German authorities treated Russian war prisoners in accordance with the ‘Provision of War Prisoners Custody’, approved by the Emperor on 11 August, 1914. The content of this document mainly corresponded to the Hague Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land. But German authorities discriminated the war prisoners of different nationalities.

Towards a war-free world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avery, J.

1998-01-01

The world is committed through the Non-proliferation Treaty, not only to ultimate goal of complete nuclear disarmament bur also to complete disarmament with respect to to conventional arms. The way to a sane and war-free world will be long and difficult, the European Union is one step along this road. The START, NPT and CTB treaties are also important steps. Education is also needed to build up the concept of the world as a single community, and here are the almost miraculous achievements of modern information technology which is of great help

Security environment and nuclear proliferation problems in East Asia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suh, Mark Byung-Moon

1997-01-01

East Asia was and still is divided into two conflicting ideological blocs. Because of the Cold War between these two blocs, two international wars were fought and tensions limited interactions among these countries. Despite these political constraints, in recent years East Asia has become economically one of the most dynamic regions in the world. Now that the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union is over, the danger of global nuclear war involving the nuclear powers in the region has been practically eliminated. Nonetheless, security has become more complex and demands a whole new set of arrangements. Yet the region lacks a cohesive multilateral framework for conflict resolution, and only recently have various attempts been made to create a political forum for the countries in the region. The problem and the danger of nuclear proliferation was vividly shown by the North Korean nuclear crisis in the last years. This issue not only halted the fragile process of normalization between the two Koreas, which started in 1988, but almost led to a new military conflict on the peninsula involving the two Koreas and the USA. It was defused only after the USA proved willing to offer security guarantees to North Korea. This problem still needs to be resolved, and it demands radical changes in the overall political environment in the region. Needless to say, proliferation in North Korea would have entailed grave consequences for the security of the region as well as for the international non-proliferation regime. This paper reviews the issue of nuclear proliferation of the three non-nuclear states in the region and deals with the non-introduction of nuclear weapons in the region by the nuclear powers. It discusses the prospects for a nuclear-weapon-free zone on the Korean peninsula. Perspectives of a sustainable security environment in East Asia will be briefly discussed

Iran in the third world war; L'Iran dans la Troisieme Guerre mondiale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du Plessis, L.A

2005-12-15

This book analyzes the present day situation of the Iranian crisis and its radicalization about the nuclear question. According to the author, this crisis will be the decisive step of a third world war with major geopolitical stakes (nuclear, petroleum, etc). The positions of China and Russia in this conflict would play a determinant role.

Uranium and the War: The effects of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jon williams

2007-01-01

The U.S. Army revealed in March 2003 that it dropped between 320 and 390 tons of depleted uranium during the Gulf War-the first time the material was ever used in combat-and it is estimated that more still has been dropped during the current invasion, though there have been no official counts as yet. Nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants require highly radioactive uranium, so the uranium 238 is removed from the naturally occurring uranium by a process known as enrichment. Depleted uranium is the by-product of the uranium enrichment process. Depleted uranium was a major topic of discussion during a Feb. 24 forum at Santa Cruz with speakers from the Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW). The panel consisted of five members of the IVAW chapter in Olympia, Washington who visited Santa Cruz as part of a speaking tour of the west coast. These members of the IVAW believe that their experiences in the Gulf War were the beginnings of what will be a long-term health problem in the region. A study conducted by the Pentagon in 2002 predicted that every future battlefield will be contaminated with depleted uranium. Up-to-date health information from Iraq is difficult to come by. But a November report from Al-jazeera concluded that the cancer rate in Iraq has increased tenfold, and the number of birth defects has multiplied fivefold times since the 1991 war. The increase is believed to be caused by depleted uranium.

The continuing nuclear challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karp, R.C.

1991-01-01

This paper reports that Declining threat perceptions in the superpower relationship make the need for compellent threats less pressing and reduce demands upon the credibility of extended deterrence. Nuclear arms control and reductions can create survivable forces forestalling all but irrational incentives for a first strike. Conventional arms control can restructure national armies to such an extent that crises can be weathered without recourse to arms, thus reducing the risk of nuclear escalation. The post-cold war era presents an opportunity to make meaningful progress in these areas and should serve to remind states that their security may not need to be based on the threat to use nuclear weapons. States that place a high status value on nuclear weapons and those at the nuclear threshold may not agree with this assessment. But if co-operative security structures can be found and acted upon, the allure of nuclear status may also decline. And, with an improving US-Soviet relationship, regional security problems that have led states to acquire nuclear weapons may become more amenable to solution by joint diplomatic initiatives. None of these measures are easily achievable not are they likely to be undertaken in a concerted fashion. However, unlike in the past, the post-cold war environment makes these steps feasible

World War I psychoneuroses: hysteria goes to war.

Science.gov (United States)

Tatu, Laurent; Bogousslavsky, Julien

2014-01-01

During the First World War, military physicians from the belligerent countries were faced with soldiers suffering from psychotrauma with often unheard of clinical signs, such as camptocormia. These varied clinical presentations took the form of abnormal movements, deaf-mutism, mental confusion, and delusional disorders. In Anglo-Saxon countries, the term 'shell shock' was used to define these disorders. The debate on whether the war was responsible for these disorders divided mobilized neuropsychiatrists. In psychological theories, war is seen as the principal causal factor. In hystero-pithiatism, developed by Joseph Babinski (1857-1932), trauma was not directly caused by the war. It was rather due to the unwillingness of the soldier to take part in the war. Permanent suspicion of malingering resulted in the establishment of a wide range of medical experiments. Many doctors used aggressive treatment methods to force the soldiers exhibiting war neuroses to return to the front as quickly as possible. Medicomilitary collusion ensued. Electrotherapy became the basis of repressive psychotherapy, such as 'torpillage', which was developed by Clovis Vincent (1879-1947), or psychofaradism, which was established by Gustave Roussy (1874-1948). Some soldiers refused such treatments, considering them a form of torture, and were brought before courts-martial. Famous cases, such as that of Baptiste Deschamps (1881-1953), raised the question of the rights of the wounded. Soldiers suffering from psychotrauma, ignored and regarded as malingerers or deserters, were sentenced to death by the courts-martial. Trials of soldiers or doctors were also held in Germany and Austria. After the war, psychoneurotics long haunted asylums and rehabilitation centers. Abuses related to the treatment of the Great War psychoneuroses nevertheless significantly changed medical concepts, leading to the modern definition of 'posttraumatic stress disorder'.

Health and environmental effects of nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

This report briefly reviews previous WHO work on the health consequences of nuclear war and concentrates on current information about the effects of nuclear weapons on health, and related environmental problems. 15 refs

Nuclear war survival skills

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kearny, C.H.

1982-01-01

This book brings together field-tested instructions that, if followed by a large fraction of Americans during a crisis that preceded an attack, could save millions of lives. Myths and facts about consequences of a massive nuclear attack are discussed. The main emphasis, however, is on preparations that could be made in the last few days of a worsening crisis. This book includes chapters on psychological preparations, warning and communications, and evacuation. These chapters describe the building of expedient shelters, their ventilation and cooling, the purification and storage of adequate water, the processing and cooking of whole grains and legumes, fallout meters, protection against fires and carbon monoxide, and expedient furnishings for shelters. Other chapters cover sanitation and preventive medicine, medical advice for nuclear survivors lacking the help of doctors, improvised footwear and clothing, and advice on minimum preparations that can be made at low cost and should be made before a crisis arises. One appendix gives detailed, field-tested instructions for building six types of earth-covered expedient fallout shelters, with criteria to guide the choice of which shelter to build. The design features of several types of expedient blast shelters are described in another appendix. Two others contain instructions for making an efficient shelter-ventilating pump and a homemade fallout meter that is accurate and dependable using inexpensive materials found in most households. The report is primarily a compilation and summary of civil defense measures and inventions developed at ORNL over the past 14 years and field-tested in six states, from Florida to Utah, for use by untrained citizens

WAR HORSES:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

War Horses: Helhesten and the Danish Avant-Garde During World War II This exhibition is the first to explore the history and significance of the accomplishments of Danish artists working during the Nazi occupation of their country (1940-45), who called themselves Helhesten, such as Ejler Bille......-1951), which they became part of. Cobra greatly influenced the development of European modern art after World War II. The exhibition includes over 100 works and reconstructs for the first time the most important exhibition these artists staged in Denmark during the war, 13 Artists in a Tent (1941). It draws...

Nuclear inheritance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delpech, Therese

1997-01-01

Since the end of the East-West confronting, the nuclear weapon issue has been focused in an international debate with obvious repercussions in Europe, because it is the European continent which indicated first the significance of nuclear deterrence. This debate refers first upon the past, as the German unification allowed capturing numerous documents of Warsaw treaty which revealed the intentions and the plans of Soviet Union during the cold war, and secondly concerns the future, since the role of nuclear weapons must be re-thought in a new context. This is the subject of this book, which refers also to the problem of the nuclear proliferation in the world and evolution of different countries in a political and regional context. The extension of the non-proliferation treaty for an undefined duration, in May 1995, is a incontestable victory because this treaty rules the renouncement to nuclear weapons of 185 countries. However, it does not solve most sensible problems like the Iraq case, for which a specific inspection regime has been instituted, or the case of Iran, which is suspected to acquire the bomb, although no clear evidence has been provided up to now. This is also the case of Israel, India and Pakistan which allege plainly their willingness of keeping open, from security reasons, their nuclear option. The content is displayed in five chapters: 1. Introduction; 2. The role of the nuclear weapons after the cold war; 3. The nuclear proliferation at crossroads; 4. Undefined extension of the NPT, a striking but fragile victory; 5. Conclusions. An appendix containing the text of the Nuclear Weapon Non-Proliferation Treaty and a chronology are added

Atoms for peace and war, 1953-1961

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hewlett, R.G.; Holl, J.M.

1989-01-01

This is the third book in a series by the author dealing with the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The material ranges from debates over how to use nuclear power to generate electricity to the development of the deadliest weapons in human history. Also included are a concise account of the Oppenheimer affair, a clear history of Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative, and a balanced report of the partisan battle over the development of nuclear power, with Democrats insisting on a major role for government while the Republicans championed a free enterprise approach. The nearly 600 pages of text are organized around three central themes: (1) the close connection between the two seemingly different concerns of the AEC - atoms for peace and atoms for war; (2) the conflict of interest the AEC faced over the issue of nuclear testing; and (3) the central role played by Dwight D. Eisenhower in shaping American nuclear policy in the 1950s

Prolonged fasting activates Nrf2 in post-weaned elephant seals.

Science.gov (United States)

Vázquez-Medina, José Pablo; Soñanez-Organis, José G; Rodriguez, Ruben; Viscarra, Jose A; Nishiyama, Akira; Crocker, Daniel E; Ortiz, Rudy M

2013-08-01

Elephant seals naturally experience prolonged periods of absolute food and water deprivation (fasting). In humans, rats and mice, prolonged food deprivation activates the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and increases oxidative damage. In elephant seals, prolonged fasting activates RAS without increasing oxidative damage likely due to an increase in antioxidant defenses. The mechanism leading to the upregulation of antioxidant defenses during prolonged fasting remains elusive. Therefore, we investigated whether prolonged fasting activates the redox-sensitive transcription factor Nrf2, which controls the expression of antioxidant genes, and if such activation is potentially mediated by systemic increases in RAS. Blood and skeletal muscle samples were collected from seals fasting for 1, 3, 5 and 7 weeks. Nrf2 activity and nuclear content increased by 76% and 167% at week 7. Plasma angiotensin II (Ang II) and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) were 5000% and 250% higher at week 7 than at week 1. Phosphorylation of Smad2, an effector of Ang II and TGF signaling, increased by 120% at week 7 and by 84% in response to intravenously infused Ang II. NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4) mRNA expression, which is controlled by smad proteins, increased 430% at week 7, while Nox4 protein expression, which can activate Nrf2, was 170% higher at week 7 than at week 1. These results demonstrate that prolonged fasting activates Nrf2 in elephant seals and that RAS stimulation can potentially result in increased Nox4 through Smad phosphorylation. The results also suggest that Nox4 is essential to sustain the hormetic adaptive response to oxidative stress in fasting seals.

Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" Address: Mythic Containment of Technical Reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Rushing, Janice Hocker

1986-01-01

Views Reagan's "Star Wars" address as part of the culturally evolving myth of the New Frontier. Discusses how the speech creates the illusion of both preserving and transcending science by (1) subordinating technical reasoning to prevent nuclear holocaust and (2) using technoscience to rescript history and remove temporal and spacial…

The Falkland Islands War: An Image of War in the 21st Century

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Allard, J

1997-01-01

.... By any reckoning, it was a war that should never have been fought. It was a war unlike any other war in the twentieth century, and since 1945 it was the first war to erupt outside the construct of the Cold War paradigm...

The evolution of Western nuclear capabilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ball, D.; Bethe, H.A.; Blair, B.G.; Bracken, P.; Carter, A.B.; Dickinson, H.; Garwin, R.L.; Gottfried, K.; Holloway, D.; Kendall, H.W.

1988-01-01

This paper reports on the evolution of western nuclear capabilities. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower largely cast the die that determined the role, size, and organization of today's nuclear forces. The milestones were Truman's vast expansion of the nuclear weapons stockpile, followed by a series of seminal decisions by Eisenhower: transfer of peacetime civilian custody of nuclear weapons to the military; creation of a streamlined chain of command and a centrally coordinated war plan for all U.S. strategic forces; and the commitment to develop and deploy land- and submarine-based missiles of intercontinental range. The current U.S. strategic forces have some 11,000 widely dispersed nuclear warheads, of which more than 6,000 are ready for launch within minutes, can be traced back to these initiatives. Naturally, they were not taken in a geopolitical vacuum. Truman and Eisenhower had to contend with the Berlin Blockade in 1948, followed shortly thereafter by the Korean War

Nursing education and the nuclear age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKay, S.

1989-01-01

As reflected in the nursing literature, nurses have only recently begun discussing professional responsibilities for avoidance of nuclear war. The literature of the 1950s and 1960s focused on issues of civil defense. The 1970s were mostly silent, but with the onset of the 1980s a few articles identified the need for the nursing profession to recognize the importance of nuclear war prevention. The responsibility of nursing education for including content about nuclear issues has not been discussed in the professional literature. The author surveyed baccalaureate programs of nursing education to determine whether this lack of discussion was reflected in nursing curricula. Responses indicated that the literature does not adequately reflect the level of activity and interest occurring within nursing education about nuclear issues. Nevertheless, because there is so little discussion in the professional literature, an implicit message is sent that nuclear issues are not of importance and that nurses should not openly address them.24 references

ROSEE cleans up after the Cold War

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valenti, M.

1994-01-01

This article describes a robot named ROSEE, designed by engineers at the DOE's Hanford site to minimize the risk of radiation exposure to workers cleaning up to residue left by America's manufacture of nuclear weapons. ROSEE is the acronym for Remotely Operated Sediment Extraction Equipment, a robot designed to vacuum sediment and debris from a nuclear fuels storage pool at the Department of Energy's Hanford nuclear waste storage site in Richland, Wash. The task facing ROSEE involves cleaning out the N basin at Hanford. Work is schedules to begin before the fall. The basin houses nuclear fuel refined during 24 years of the Cold War era. This water-filled structure is 24 feet deep, 87 feet long, and 56 feet wide, approximately three times larger than an Olympic-size swimming pool. Nuclear fuel was contained in honeycomb cells mounted 1 inch from the bottom of the pool. The cells rise 10 feet from the bottom of the basin, and each cell is 21 inches deep and 14 inches wide. The cells now hold radioactive residues that must be removed for final safe disposal

Flaws in the Concept of Nuclear Deterrance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Scales Avery

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The concept of nuclear deterrence is seriously flawed, and it violates the fundamental ethical principles of all major religions. Besides being morally unacceptable, nuclear weapons are also illegal according to a historic 1996 decision of the International Court of Justice, a ruling that reflects the opinion of the vast majority of the worldʼs peoples. Even a small nuclear war would be an ecological catastrophe, not only killing civilian populations indiscriminately in both belligerent and neutral countries, but also severely damaging global agriculture and making large areas of the earth permanently uninhabitable through radioactive contamination. The danger of accidental nuclear war continues to be very great today, and the danger of nuclear terrorism is increasing. In this perilous situation, it is necessary for the nuclear nations to acknowledge that the concept of deterrence has been a mistake, which is threatening the lives of all human beings as well as threatening devastation of the biosphere. Acknowledging that the policy of nuclear deterrence has been a grave error can reduce risk of nuclear weapons proliferation.

Nuclear power in space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aftergood, S.; Hafemeister, D.W.; Prilutsky, O.F.; Rodionov, S.N.; Primack, J.R.

1991-01-01

Nuclear reactors have provided energy for satellites-with nearly disastrous results. Now the US government is proposing to build nuclear-powered boosters to launch Star Wars defenses. These authors represent scientific groups that are opposed to the use of nuclear power in near space. The authors feel that the best course for space-borne reactors is to ban them from Earth orbit and use them in deep space

The American Home Front. Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War 1, World War 2

Science.gov (United States)

1983-01-01

Union officer become Supreme Court Justice, spoke of the Civil War’s psychic effect on those who had fought. Determined to act greatly, Holmes and his...than psychic and hardiy limited to those who, like himself, had served in the Union armies. Institutions as well as individuals had emerged from the war...to match unemployed workers with vacant jobs. 39 If by the close of 1918, the government reacted to possible strikes with threatened removal of a

Nuclear experts and nuclear weapons proliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, H.

1979-01-01

In Germany the issue of nuclear weapons proliferation has attracted scant attention. Most potential nuclear weapon states are important trade partners of the FRG and, since further proliferation of nuclear weapons could worsen conflicts involving these, it should be in the FRG's interest to limit proliferation. The security of the FRG is also dependent on the common interest of the great powers to avoid nuclear war. The contradictory positions of Usa and the USSR on nuclear weapons policy regarding themselves and non-nuclear weapon states encourages less developed countries to see nuclear weaponry as useful. The NPT and IAEA safeguards have only limited inhibiting effect. The nuclear export policy of the FRG has been dominated by short term economic advantage, neglecting the negative long term effects of decreased political stability. The FRG should formulate a policy based on self-restraint, positive stimuli and extension of controls, using its economic strength to deter proliferation. (JIW)

Nuclear Law: A Key Against Nuclear Terrorism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cardozo, P.

2004-01-01

The role of the legal instruments in the war against nuclear terrorism. Control of radioactive sources. Elements of Nuclear Law: Definition: it is the body of special legislation that regulates the pacific uses of nuclear energy and the conduct of the persons engaged in activities related to fissionable materials and ionizing radiation . Objective: to provide a legal framework in order to protect individuals , property and the environment against the harmful effects of the use of nuclear energy and ionising radiation. Principles of nuclear energy legislation: safety principle, exclusively operator responsibility, authorization, independence of the regulatory body, inspections and enforcement, nuclear damage compensation, international cooperation. National regulatory infrastructure. Establishment of special law in Emergency Preparedness for nuclear or radiological disaster. IAEA Conventions. Transportation of nuclear material. IAEA regulations on radioactive material. Compensation for nuclear damage. Nuclear safety, security and terrorism. International and domestic instruments. Anti terrorism acts. International agreements on Safety Cooperation. (Author)

Biomarker Discovery in Gulf War Veterans: Development of a War Illness Diagnostic Panel

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

Award Number: W81XWH-12-1-0382 TITLE: Biomarker Discovery in Gulf War Veterans: Development of a War Illness Diagnostic Panel PRINCIPAL...SUBTITLE Biomarker Discovery in Gulf War Veterans: Development of a War Illness Diagnostic Panel 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER W81XWH-12-1-0382 5b. GRANT...of the 1990-1991 Gulf War are affected by Gulf War illness (GWI), the chronic condition currently defined only by veterans’ self-reported symptoms

Surgical outcomes of a civil war in a neighbouring country.

Science.gov (United States)

Akkucuk, Seckin; Aydogan, A; Yetim, I; Ugur, M; Oruc, C; Kilic, E; Paltaci, I; Kaplan, A; Temiz, M

2016-08-01

The civil war in Syria began on 15 March 2011, and many of the injured were treated in the neighbouring country of Turkey. This study reports the surgical outcomes of this war, in a tertiary centre in Turkey. 159 patients with civilian war injuries in Syria who were admitted to the General Surgery Department in the Research and Training Hospital of the Medical School of Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey, between 2011 and 2012 were analysed regarding the age, sex, injury type, history of previous surgery for the injury, types of abdominal injuries (solid or luminal organ), the status of isolated abdominal injuries or multiple injuries, mortality, length of hospital stay and injury severity scoring. The median age of the patients was 30.05 (18-66 years) years. Most of the injuries were gunshot wounds (99 of 116 patients, 85.3%). Primary and previously operated patients were transferred to our clinic in a median time of 6.28±4.44 h and 58.11±44.08 h, respectively. Most of the patients had intestinal injuries; although a limited number of patients with colorectal injuries were treated with primary repair, stoma was the major surgical option due to the gross peritoneal contamination secondary to prolonged transport time. Two women and 21 men died. The major cause of death was multiorgan failure secondary to sepsis (18 patients). In the case of civil war in the bordering countries, it is recommended that precautions are taken, such as transformation of nearby civilian hospitals into military ones and employment of experienced trauma surgeons in these hospitals to provide effective medical care. Damage control procedures can avoid fatalities especially before the lethal triad of physiological demise occurs. Rapid transport of the wounded to the nearest medical centre is the key point in countries neighbouring a civil war. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Dardanel Wars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet EYİCİL

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The reason for the opening of the Dardanel Front was to establish a link between allies and Russia and to push The Ottoman Empire out of the war. In order to reach this cause, upon Churchill’s suggestion, the English War Commitee met on 28 January 1915 and decided to attack the Dardanels on February 19. The allies fleet tried to pass the Dardanels several times but they failed. Their biggest attack for the Straits took place on 18 March, which was failed and the fleet lost one third of its power. After the failure on the sea to pass the Straits the allies landed on Gallipoli to invade İstanbul. Landing took place from April 1 to December 22 the wars on lands lasted more than 8 months, during which Turkish army fought heroic battles. Fierce battles took place on Kabatepe, Seddülbahir, Alçıtepe, Kilitbahir, Anafartalar, Arıburnu. Upon failure on the land the allies started to withdraw from this front on 8 January 1915. The Dardanels wars which was lost by the allies caused the First World War to continue two more years. Tsarist regime was collapsed in Russia and its place Bolshevik regime came. The Turks put aside bad results of the Balkan Wars and became again a heroic nation. Because of his successes Mustafa Kemal became a genious commander. Most importantly Dardanels wars gave its honours to the Turkish army

Physicians cannot prepare for nuclear disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geiger, H.J.

1985-01-01

In this paper, the author argues that medical preparations for nuclear war are futile. Not only would few physicians survive a nuclear attack, but these physicians would have the impossible task of caring for hundreds of thousands of injured and dying victims

The World of Wars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harste, Gorm

2014-01-01

The world of the future will not be one without wars. The many hopes we have about a future peace governed by a more or less confederal state will not make wars obsolete. Regular wars and irregular wars will continue and probably about different subjects than we are used to. The article proposes...... that the form of war will be more about temporalities, i.e. fast interchanges or, rather, more risky protracted wars of attrition and exhaustion and less about tactical well defined territories. The West can neither dominate such wars nor establish one world that is ruled or even governed. The risk is that we...

Nuclear issues on the agenda of the conference on disarmament

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernauer, T.

1991-01-01

This research report examines three nuclear arms control and disarmament issues which figure on the agenda of the Conference on Disarmament - security assurance to non-nuclear-weapon States, the prevention of nuclear war, and the cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament

Being at war: Cognitive Approaches to Observational War Documentaries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bondebjerg, Ib

2017-01-01

biology the article argues for the importance of this type of documentaries in developing and understanding of what war really is and it is experience, how it is to be at war. The article also puts the films in the broader context of both fictional and documentary war genres trying to map how...... the different genres address different parts of our cognition and emotion....

China's position on nuclear non-proliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qian Jiadong.

1986-01-01

The paper discusses China's position on nuclear non-proliferation, in view of the fact that China does not subscribe to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). China refuses to accede to the NPT because it considers the treaty to be discriminatory, and reasons are given for this point of view. However its stand for nuclear disarmament and disapproval of nuclear proliferation are declared. Nuclear arms race, prevention of nuclear war, and nuclear disarmament are also considered. (UK)

The Thirty Years War as a prototype of hybrid wars

OpenAIRE

A. V. Bagaeva

2015-01-01

The idea of the article is to show that the phenomenon of hybrid war, which confidently entered the scientific and official discourse, has a long history. In author’s opinion, the Thirty Years’ War in Central Europe can be characterized as one of the first historical examples of hybrid war.

Commemoration of a cold war

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Farbøl, Rosanna

2015-01-01

This article brings together the fields of Cold War studies and memory studies. In Denmark, a remarkable institutionalisation of Cold War memory has taken place in the midst of a heated ideological battle over the past and whether to remember the Cold War as a ‘war’. Using Danish Cold War museums...... and heritage sites as case studies, this article sheds new light on the politics of history involved in Cold War commemoration. It suggests that the Cold War is commemorated as a war, yet this war memory is of a particular kind: it is a war memory without victims....

A revival of nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lavernhe, Ch.; Chalifoux, B.

1997-01-01

Worldwide nuclear progress is suspended. The aim of this paper is to show the possibility and to determine the conditions of a new start-up. The goal is to promote a renewal of nuclear power in the new strategic context defined by the end of the 'cold war'. (J.S.)

The Thirty Years War as a prototype of hybrid wars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. V. Bagaeva

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The idea of the article is to show that the phenomenon of hybrid war, which confidently entered the scientific and official discourse, has a long history. In author’s opinion, the Thirty Years’ War in Central Europe can be characterized as one of the first historical examples of hybrid war.

Nuclear's second wind: innovative 'fast' nuclear power plants may be a strategic imperative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamov, Evgeny

2004-01-01

Nuclear power needed 50 years to gain the same position in global energy production as the one achieved by hydropower over hundreds of years. All those years, proposals for new reactor concepts would come up every now and then alongside mainstream reactor technologies. In the nuclear-friendly 1960s and 1970s, some of those 'innovative' concepts even led to demonstration or pilot projects. Yet for all the diversity of new ideas, nuclear power entered the new century still moving in a rut of older mainstream technologies. Most were devised at the dawn of nuclear engineering, when reactors for production of weapon-grade isotopes and reactors for nuclear submarines propelled development. Unless we understand the reasons why innovative technologies failed to make any appreciable progress way back then, it is impossible to answer the question of whether there is a need for them now or in the foreseeable future. Few people, perhaps, may remember that nuclear power was not brought into existence by energy deficiency. Its advent was caused by the Second World War and the associated pressing necessity for increasing the power of weapons. Once the war ended, nuclear plans were fuelled by the intentions of both weapons designers (e.g., Russia's I. Kurchatov who initiated construction of the world's first nuclear power plant in Obninsk and US politicians led by President Dwight Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' Initiative in 1953) to counterbalance the military effort by encouraging peaceful nuclear applications

Specters of War in Pyongyang: The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in North Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suzy Kim

2015-03-01

Full Text Available While North Korea accused South Korea of starting a “civil war” (naeran during the Korean War, it has now moved away from such depictions to paint the war as an American war of imperialist aggression against Korea that was victoriously thwarted under the leadership of Kim Il Sung. In this regard, it may be more than a coincidence that the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang was built in the early 1970s, just as the Vietnam War drew to a close with a Vietnamese victory. This article examines the memorialization of the Korean War in North Korea at two pivotal historical points—the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970s and the end of the Cold War in the 1990s—with a particular focus on contemporary exhibitions at the war museum in Pyongyang. Rather than offering a simple comparison of divergent narratives about the war, the article seeks to illustrate that North Korea’s conception of history and its account of the war are staunchly modernist, with tragic consequences.

History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Doctrine and a Path Forward

Science.gov (United States)

Chyba, Christopher

2007-04-01

During the Cold War, the United States considered a number of approaches for living in a world with nuclear weapons, including disarmament, preventive war, the incorporation of nuclear weapons into military strategy, passive and active defense, and deterrence. With the failure of early approaches to disarmament, and the rejection of preventive war against the Soviet Union (and later, China), deterrence became central to key nuclear relationships, though arms control continued to play an important role. The nuclear nonproliferation treaty made preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons another central component of U.S. policy. The Bush Administration has tried to devise a new policy for the post-Cold War period. Their approach has three salient pillars. First, it is characterized by an overall skepticism toward multilateral agreements, on the grounds that bad actors will not obey them, that agreements can lead to a false sense of security, and that such agreements are too often a way for the Lilliputians of the world to tie down Gulliver. The March 2005 U.S. National Defense Strategy declared that U.S. strength ``will continue to be challenged by those who employ a strategy of the weak, using international fora, judicial processes and terrorism.'' Second, the Bush Administration declared its intention to maintain a military dominance so great that other states simply would not try to catch up. The 2002 National Security Strategy states that ``Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equaling, the power of the United States.'' Third, the 2002 National Security Strategy (reaffirmed by the 2006 National Security Strategy) moved preventive war (which the strategies called ``preemptive war'') to a central position, rather than deterrence and nonproliferation. In part this was because of the claim that certain ``rogue'' states, and terrorist groups, were not deterrable. This talk

Nuclear crisis management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamburg, D.A.; George, A.L.

1984-01-01

Renewed interest in crisis management is caused by a growing recognition that a failure of communication between the superpowers in the face of a crisis provoked by some third party could issue in a nuclear war, other causes of this renewed interest are the fear of miscalculation and runaway escalation if the US and Soviet Union are drawn into a regional war in which each had vital interests and a concern that a missile might be fired on either side by accident or without proper authorization despite precautions. The authors, stating that crisis prevention should be viewed as an objective, not as a strategy, support the establishment of a joint US-Soviet nuclear risk control center designed to carry out four functions: (1) to facilitate communications between the two countries, (2) to avert nuclear confrontations during periods of accelerating tension, (3) to serve as an exchange of confidence building information during normal periods, and (4) to serve as a joint management center to plan for responses to terrorist or other third party group

Civil War

OpenAIRE

Christopher Blattman; Edward Miguel

2010-01-01

Most nations have experienced an internal armed conflict since 1960. The past decade has witnessed an explosion of research into the causes and consequences of civil wars, belatedly bringing the topic into the economics mainstream. This article critically reviews this interdisciplinary literature and charts productive paths forward. Formal theory has focused on a central puzzle: why do civil wars occur at all when, given the high costs of war, groups have every incentive to reach an agreement...

Facial electromyogram and heart-rate correlates of a paradoxical attitude change to antinuclear war information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vigne, J.J.; Dale, J.A.; Klions, H.L.

1988-01-01

The effects of film images versus film descriptions of the effects of nuclear explosions (versus a no-film control) on corrugator muscle tension, heart rate, attitude and mood were investigated. The last 5 min. of the images were associated with more corrugator tension for that condition when compared to the last 5 min. of the description condition. The groups did not differ in heart rate but women in both groups showed an increase in heart rate whereas men in both groups showed a decrease in heart rate. Film groups did not differ in their significant increases in anxiety, hostility, and depression on the Multiple Adjective Affect Checklist. On the pretest there was no significant correlation between scores on Betts' Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery and scores on Goldenring and Doctor's index of concern for nuclear war. The vivid-image film group showed a decrease in concern for nuclear war when compared to the descriptive film group and the no-film control

Overview of climatic effects of nuclear winter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, E.M.; Malone, R.C.

1985-01-01

A general description of the climatic effects of a nuclear war are presented. This paper offers a short history of the subject, a discussion of relevant parameters and physical processes, and a description of plausible nuclear winter scenario. 9 refs

Modernization of US Nuclear Forces: Costs in Perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tapia-Jimenez, D.

2017-01-01

This short research paper addresses two topics that have emerged in the debate about whether, when, and how to modernize U.S. nuclear forces.1 The first topic relates to the size and scale of the planned nuclear force, with some critics of the modernization plan arguing that the United States is simply replicating the Cold War force for a very different era. The second topic relates to the cost of the modernization effort, with some critics arguing that the cost is unaffordable.2 This paper begins with a review of the changes in the size and scale of U.S. nuclear forces since the Cold War. It then examines the expected costs of modernization in a comparative perspective.

Modernization of US Nuclear Forces: Costs in Perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tapia-Jimenez, D. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-04-12

This short research paper addresses two topics that have emerged in the debate about whether, when, and how to modernize U.S. nuclear forces.1 The first topic relates to the size and scale of the planned nuclear force, with some critics of the modernization plan arguing that the United States is simply replicating the Cold War force for a very different era. The second topic relates to the cost of the modernization effort, with some critics arguing that the cost is unaffordable.2 This paper begins with a review of the changes in the size and scale of U.S. nuclear forces since the Cold War. It then examines the expected costs of modernization in a comparative perspective.

Jemen - the Proxy War

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena El Ghamari

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The military operation in Yemen is significant departure from Saudi Arabia's foreign policy tradition and customs. Riyadh has always relied on three strategies to pursue its interests abroad: wealth, establish a global network and muslim education and diplomacy and meadiation. The term "proxy war" has experienced a new popularity in stories on the Middle East. A proxy war is two opposing countries avoiding direct war, and instead supporting combatants that serve their interests. In some occasions, one country is a direct combatant whilst the other supporting its enemy. Various news sources began using the term to describe the conflict in Yemen immediately, as if on cue, after Saudi Arabia launched its bombing campaign against Houthi targets in Yemen on 25 March 2015. This is the reason, why author try to answer for following questions: Is the Yemen Conflict Devolves into Proxy War? and Who's fighting whom in Yemen's proxy war?" Research area includes the problem of proxy war in the Middle East. For sure, the real problem of proxy war must begin with the fact that the United States and its NATO allies opened the floodgates for regional proxy wars by the two major wars for regime change: in Iraq and Libya. Those two destabilising wars provided opportunities and motives for Sunni states across the Middle East to pursue their own sectarian and political power objectives through "proxy war".

Towards the complete prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie Zhiqiong

1998-01-01

For 40 years, the Pugwash Conference on Science and world affairs has been making unremitting efforts to achieve it main objectives the struggle to eliminate nuclear weapons, the elimination of wars and maintenance of world peace. The end of the Cold War vigorously encouraged world efforts in arms control and disarmament. On the day of exploding her first nuclear bomb in October 1964, China declared solemnly that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time under any circumstances. China has also committed unconditionally not to use nuclear weapons or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states and nuclear free zones. China is the sole nuclear weapon state that has made this commitment, and she has kept her word. China is in favour of comprehensive nuclear test ban in the move towards complete nuclear disarmament, taking an active part in the CTBT negotiations in Geneva and contributing to the conclusion of a fair, reasonable, verifiable treaty of universal adherence and unlimited duration within this year

The effect of prolonged exposure to war-related stress among hospital personnel with different affect types: lessons from the Second Lebanon War and the Gaza "Cast Lead" operation.

Science.gov (United States)

Palgi, Yuval; Ben-Ezra, Menachem; Shrira, Amit

2012-01-01

Two studies examined peritraumatic symptoms due to war-related stress among hospital personnel with different affect types. In Study 1, we examined 80 Israeli hospital personnel during the period they were exposed to frequent missile attacks in the Second Lebanon War. In Study 2, we examined 67 and 74 Israeli hospital personnel during the time they were exposed and were not exposed, respectively, to missile attacks in the Gaza "Cast Lead" operation. In both studies, hospital personnel completed measures of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms as well as of positive- and negative-affect items (PA and NA, respectively). Exposed personnel with a positive congruent (high PA and low NA) or a deflated incongruent (low PA and low NA) affective types had a lower level of peritraumatic symptoms compared to those with a negative congruent (low PA and high NA) or an inflated incongruent (high PA and NA) affective types. Study 2 further showed that among non-exposed personnel, only personnel with a negative congruent affective type had a higher level of peritraumatic symptoms compared to personnel with other affective types. Clinical implications and required future studies are discussed.

Prevalence of Gulf war veterans who believe they have Gulf war syndrome: questionnaire study

Science.gov (United States)

Chalder, T; Hotopf, M; Unwin, C; Hull, L; Ismail, K; David, A; Wessely, S

2001-01-01

Objectives To determine how many veterans in a random sample of British veterans who served in the Gulf war believe they have “Gulf war syndrome,” to examine factors associated with the presence of this belief, and to compare the health status of those who believe they have Gulf war syndrome with those who do not. Design Questionnaire study asking British Gulf war veterans whether they believe they have Gulf war syndrome and about symptoms, fatigue, psychological distress, post-traumatic stress, physical functioning, and their perception of health. Participants 2961 respondents to questionnaires sent out to a random sample of 4250 Gulf war veterans (69.7%). Main outcome measure The proportion of veterans who believe they have Gulf war syndrome. Results Overall, 17.3% (95% confidence interval 15.9 to 18.7) of the respondents believed they had Gulf war syndrome. The belief was associated with the veteran having poor health, not serving in the army when responding to the questionnaire, and having received a high number of vaccinations before deployment to the Gulf. The strongest association was knowing another person who also thought they had Gulf war syndrome. Conclusions Substantial numbers of British Gulf war veterans believe they have Gulf war syndrome, which is associated with psychological distress, a high number of symptoms, and some reduction in activity levels. A combination of biological, psychological, and sociological factors are associated with the belief, and these factors should be addressed in clinical practice. What is already known on this topicThe term Gulf war syndrome has been used to describe illnesses and symptoms experienced by veterans of the 1991 Gulf warConcerns exist over the validity of Gulf war syndrome as a unique entityWhat this study adds17% of Gulf war veterans believe they have Gulf war syndromeHolding the belief is associated with worse health outcomesKnowing someone else who believes they have Gulf war syndrome and receiving

Fissile material and international security in the post-Cold War world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luongo, K.N.

1995-01-01

Given the number of years this organization has devoted to the issue, the INMM must find it quite interesting that the control of fissile materials has become such a high profile issue in the policy and political communities. But, this evolution in policy is a natural outgrowth of the changing world situation. While just ten years ago the United States and the Soviet Union were churning out the fissile materials needed for weapons, today these former rivals are working together, hand in hand, to corral the danger posed by these materials. And, while it is clear that the world no longer lives on the edge of nuclear war, the nuclear danger still exists, though in a less obvious and perhaps more insidious form. It is a great challenge in this post Cold War-world to contain this nuclear threat. It is prudent and necessary for the United States to be in the forefront of efforts to address and tame this problem. The fundamental threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials is a direct challenge to US and world security. President Clinton has clearly recognized the changed nature of the nuclear danger. To meet this challenge, he also labored to put in place a comprehensive and integrated plan for addressing this threat. The Department of Energy has a unique role in this effort because, as an institution with man decades of experience in fissile material matters, it is able to provide expertise and technical analyses which are essential in defining and implementing policy prescriptions. The President's comprehensive plan to prevent nuclear proliferation and reduce the danger posed by weapons-usable nuclear materials has four essential elements: (1) secure existing stockpiles; (2) limit production and use; (3) eliminate warheads; and (4) strengthen the nonproliferation regime

Nuclear weapons in the India-Pakistan context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanjay Badri-Maharaj

2002-01-01

This thesis deals with the possible employment of nuclear weapons in the ongoing confrontation between India and Pakistan. After reviewing the nuclear capabilities of both Indian and Pakistan and assessing their possible delivery systems, this dissertation explores the emerging picture regarding the Indian and Pakistani nuclear doctrines. It is argued that, after exploring the current structure of the armed forces in both countries and after analyzing the theatres of operations, it is highly unlikely that either country seeks to employ nuclear weapons in a tactical, battlefield role. It is also argued that neither India or Pakistan is making an effort to evolve a nuclear war-fighting doctrine. Moreover, it is shown that nuclear weapons have simply led to a re-thinking of military tactics on the part of India so as to minimize the chance of a nuclear strike by limiting the aims and objectives of any Indian military action. In stark contrast, it is shown that South Asian cities present far more lucrative targets for nuclear strikes. As a result of this and the geographic and tactical limitations of South Asian battlefields, it is argued that both India and Pakistan have based their fledgling nuclear strategies around a 'city-busting' concept. The existing command and control systems in both countries are examined and found to be adequate if both countries adopt a strict 'second-strike' approach to the employment of nuclear weapons. It is further argued that nuclear weapons, while limiting the scale of any future India-Pakistan war, will not play a major role in preventing a conflict between the two countries. Rather, the basic operational parity that exists between the two countries in terms of their conventional forces is responsible for preventing the outbreak of war. The thesis also briefly explores the rationale behind the acquisition of nuclear weapons in both countries and on their basic security perceptions. The issue of confidence building measures and the

Nuclear Weapons in U.S. National Security Policy: Past, Present, and Prospects

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Woolf, Amy F

2008-01-01

.... During the Cold War, the United States often modified, or tailored, its nuclear targeting doctrine, its nuclear weapons employment policy, and its nuclear force structure to enhance or maintain...

Towards a war-free world. Report on working group five

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

While the group basically followed the agenda set out for it, it was felt that the three elements that it comprised - general and complete disarmament; world governance and peacekeeping and peace enforcement - were not the only ones or even the most apposite in considering how to attain a war-free world. A war-free world would be brought about not only by institutional means, as the agenda appeared to imply, but also by dramatic changes in the norms relating to the utility of the use of violence as a means of resolving human problems. There already appears to be a growing belief in the disutility of war as a means of settling issues between states, as witnessed by the current decline in the prevalence of inter-state wars. There are also strong indications of the growth of a norm, backed by the recent advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), against the legitimacy of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. However in large parts of the globe there appear to be quite flimsy norms against the use of violence to settle intra-state disputes, which are currently by far the predominant progenitors of armed conflict. Individuals and parties within states continue to regard war not only as legitimate but as necessary to help them retain or achieve power. Here democratization, economic justice and the establishment of the rule of law would meet the challenge

Stuxnet and the Future of Cyber War

OpenAIRE

Farwell, James P.; Rohozinski, Rafal

2011-01-01

The discovery in June 2010 that a cyber worm dubbed 'Stuxnet' had struck the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz suggested that, for cyber war, the future is now. Yet more important is the political and strategic context in which new cyber threats are emerging, and the effects the worm has generated in this respect. Perhaps most striking is the confluence between cyber crime and state action. States are capitalising on technology whose development is driven by cyber crime, and perhaps outsourc...

ASSESSING THE UNCERTAINTY OF NUCLEAR DETERRENCE

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-22

unlimited. Abstract Nuclear deterrence theory in its many forms arose as a theoretical architecture with the goal of preventing rather than winning a nuclear... Egyptians and Syrians advanced toward Israel.31 Finally, the Kargil war represents a particularly volatile situation where the world looked on in fear as

Perseverance of Power: The Relevancy of Nuclear Deterrence in the Future

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

3 Patrick Morgan, "The Practice of Deterrence," in International Practices, ed. Emanuel Adler and Vincent Pouliot (Cambridge New York: Cambridge...Michael Dobbs, One Minute to Midnight : Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War, 1st ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), 216...Monica, CA: RAND, 2012. Dobbs, Michael. One Minute to Midnight : Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War. 1st ed. New York: Alfred A

Vietnam: Historians at War

Science.gov (United States)

Moyar, Mark

2008-01-01

Although the Vietnam War ended more than thirty years ago, historians remain as divided on what happened as the American people were during the war. Mark Moyar maps the ongoing battle between "orthodox" and "revisionist" Vietnam War historians: the first group, those who depict Vietnam as a bad war that the United States should…

Pakistan’s Nuclear Future: Reining in the Risk

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-01

contribute to the fog of war, which is further thickened by other conditions, as elucidated by Carl von Clausewitz in On War. Second, during peacetime...Emerging Power, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2001, pp. 204, 209- 211. 16. Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear

No-first-use pledge is a key step for progress in nuclear disarmament

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Jun

1999-01-01

At present, nuclear weapons play a less important role globally. People know that nuclear war cannot happen, because no one could win since no one could make a nuclear attack without experiencing a retaliatory strike. But the US strategy has changed little since the Cold War era. The Nuclear Posture Review undertaken by the Clinton Administration concluded that all three legs of the strategic triad should continue to operate, but did not address the future and utility of the nuclear force in the long term. In 1996, the five nuclear weapon states separately pledged that they will not use nuclear weapons to attack the nonnuclear weapon countries. But this is only the first step of Non-first-use Pledge (NFUP)

Mathematicians at War

CERN Document Server

Mazliak, Laurent

2009-01-01

Italian mathematician Volterra struggled to carry Italy into the World War I in May 1915 and then developed a frenetic activity to support the war effort. This activity found an adequate echo what did his French colleagues Borel, Hadamard and Picard. This book proposes the transcription of the correspondence they exchanged during the war

Nuclear war peril and underdevelopment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wionczek, M S

1979-09-01

There are presently two global issues of direct concern to Latin America and to the rest of the world: the arms race in the industrialized world and the underdevelopment of the periphery. It is important to see as clearly as possible both the political and military outlook and the peculiar features of underdevelopment since they appear to represent two sides of the same coin. The arms race between the US and the Soviet Union and their respective military blocks continue, each side spending around $300 billion in 1978. The technological parity between their nuclear arms leaves no doubt that the military/industrial complex on each side is working on the same problems and under the same assumptions, according to the author. He feels that Salt II is vital for the course of the political relationship between the two great military blocks and for detente because it will allow negotiations to continue on both nuclear and conventional weapons. Military expenditures in the peripheral nations simply worsens poverty, hunger, illiteracy and ill health under the pretext of an external danger or internal subversion. The author insists that the growing militarization of the underdeveloped societies is the result of the malfunctioning of the world economy at all levels, of the counterproductive design of national priorities in the advanced world, and the abuse of the scientific and technological advances for destructive ends everywhere.

Next nuclear challenge - how do we dispose of the excess nuclear materials?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gray, L W

1997-01-01

The ''Cold War'' was not fought only by soldiers but by scientists and engineers in Laboratories and plants located throughout the world. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the ''Cold War'' was effectively over, but the weapons of nuclear war remained. Following signing of START 2 (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) in 1993, up to 100 tonnes of weapons usable plutonium is expected to be declared excess by the Super Powers. Steps must be taken to address the proliferation risks associated with this plutonium. Again the scientist and engineers, who were the ''Cold War'' warriors, are being asked to develop methods to disposition this plutonium such that it can never again be used for weapons. Will we burn the plutonium in reactors or immobilize the plutonium either in a glass or ceramic matrix? Interesting challenges face chemists and chemical engineers developing immobilization techniques to render the plutonium both environmentally benign, and proliferation resistant

Nuclear Terrorism and its Confrontation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al Barody, M.M.

2006-01-01

The whole world first knew nuclear terrorism during the second world war through the use of excessive violence that to terror exercised by one country against another, as was carried out by USA when it exploded two nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki t the end of the war. there are numerous types of nuclear terrorism that can be performed by individuals or organized groups for achieving political or social objectives. the definition of the term t errorism i s correlated with u sing means capable of creating a case of public dnger . that property exists in all types of direct or indirect nuclear terrorism . the present study is divided into two chapters. Chapter one deals with nuclear terrorism and consists of two sections , the first deals with the identification of the nature of nuclear terrorism an the second deals with organize nuclear terrorism on the international level. Chapter two deals with the confrontation of nuclear terrorism in two sections. the first deals with the role of the state in combating against nuclear terrorism nd the second deals with combating against nuclear terrorism on the international level. while internally it is confronted through promulgation of legislations that deal with the protection against nuclear terrorism as well as the national legal instruments for protection of nuclear materials and installation and combating illicit trafficking of nuclear materials, confrontation of nuclear terrorism on the international level is carried out through the promulgation of international convention such as that on suppression of actions of nuclear terrorism which shall be opened for signature on sept.14 -2005 according to the recommendation the general assembly of the united nations in its 59 t h session

Influence of World Wars on the Development of International Law on War Prisoners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sidorov Sergey

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The Regulations on laws and customs of land warfare of 1907 that existed during World War I did not protect war prisoners. The tragic experience forced us to return tothe problem of protection of the rights of the victims of war. The Geneva Convention on the war prisoners of 1929 was the first document of international law in which the status of war prisoners was determined in detail. The Soviet Union did not join the states which had signed the Convention, and during the World War II it was guided by its national legislation confirmed by the Soviet Government on July 1, 1941. On the whole, the items of the Regulations on War Prisoners adopted in 1941 corresponded to the Geneva Convention. But non-recognition of the international convention provided the heads of fascist Germany with the reason for inhuman treatment of the Soviet captives. Serious consequences of war compelled the world community to pay the closest attention to the issues of military captivity again. On August 12, 1949 in Geneva the Soviet Union joined the new Convention on prisoners.

Does Britain need nuclear weapons?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, C.R.; Pease, R.S.; Peierls, R.E.; Rotblat, J.

1995-01-01

This report from the British Pugwash Group follows up a detailed international study of the desirability and feasibility of a world free from nuclear weapons with an analysis of issues particular to British nuclear weapons and the associated defense policies. United Kingdom nuclear weapons are reviewed historically, as are the nuclear weapons policies of other countries. A critique of present government policy is presented, with alternative uses for nuclear weapons in the post-Cold war world. The document concludes with a summary of the text and suggests how a British government could move towards global nuclear disarmament. (UK)

Nuclear films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malone, Peter.

1985-01-01

This booklet is a resource for the study of feature films that highlight the theme of nuclear war. It provides basic credits and brief indication of the theme, treatment, quality and particular notable aspects; and a series of questions raised by the film. Seventy feature films and thirty documentaries are examined

Mastering the nuclear dragon? Realities, phantasms and emotions in popular culture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michel, A.

2013-01-01

This book gives a chronological account of nuclear science and its applications against the background of major political and societal developments since the discovery of radium at the end of the 19th century. In doing so, questions relating to nuclear energy are addressed in relation to perceptions, attitudes and sentiments by the general public. The book discuss - amongst others- major advancements in nuclear science following the discovery of radium, the development of the atomic bomb and its deployment during the Second World War, nuclear armament during the post-War period, the development of peaceful applications of nuclear science with emphasis on nuclear power production thereby considering the impact of the oil crisis and the growing emphasis on renewable energy sources, the use of plutonium and proliferation issues, nuclear accidents and catastrophes, the role of nuclear power in relation to climate change, and the fate of nuclear energy after the Fukushima catastrophe.

The great war and the cinema The great war and the cinema

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tom Burns

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Aside from documentary films of the First World War, fiction films may be categorized as period films, cinematic aptations of classic war novels, and, much the greatest in number, fiction films made after the war. The period films are useful for their clues to public attitudes during or in the decades immediately after the conflict. For example, silent films made during the war, like D.W. Griffith’s Hearts of the World (1918, which used actual footage, were propaganda evidently intended to induce the United States to progress from economic assistance to active military participation on the side of the Allies. The story of the young man, Ben Herron, going off to war would become typical in fiction films made thereafter, since such stories have elements that a mass audience, many of whom had fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, etc. in the military, can actually identify with. As propaganda, such movies—and this would be the case with the Second World War even more—may serve an important political end, by arguably having a much greater influence on public consciousness than official government propaganda, which usually arouses more suspicion. In fact, the US government during both world wars would make a direct appeal to Hollywood producers. Aside from documentary films of the First World War, fiction films may be categorized as period films, cinematic aptations of classic war novels, and, much the greatest in number, fiction films made after the war. The period films are useful for their clues to public attitudes during or in the decades immediately after the conflict. For example, silent films made during the war, like D.W. Griffith’s Hearts of the World (1918, which used actual footage, were propaganda evidently intended to induce the United States to progress from economic assistance to active military participation on the side of the Allies. The story of the young man, Ben Herron, going off to war would become typical in fiction films

Chinese Attitudes on Preventive War and the Preemption Doctrine

Science.gov (United States)

2009-07-01

actions from a utilitarian perspective, but must consider how appropriate different actions may be for that type of situation. This in turn will...international norms as those prohibiting genocide,32 the use of chemical and nuclear weapons,33 and trafficking in slaves and endangered species,34 and...norms that promote such state obligations in war as humane treatment and protections for enemy prisoners and non-combatants.35 The question over

Nuclear free zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christoffel, T.

1987-01-01

Health professionals have played a leading role in alerting and educating the public regarding the danger of nuclear war which has been described as the last epidemic our civilization will know. Having convinced most people that the use of nuclear weapons would mean intolerable consequences, groups such as Physicians for Social Responsibility have focused on the second critical question how likely is it that these weapons will be used? The oultlook is grim. This article describes the nuclear free zone movement, explores relevant legal questions, and shows how the political potential of nuclear free zones threatens to open a deep rift in the American constitutional system

Ain't Gonna Study War No More? Explorations of War through Picture Books

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Patricia A.; Roberts, Sherron Killingsworth

2009-01-01

At the height of the Vietnam War, Down by the Riverside was transformed from a traditional folk song to a popular anti-war anthem. The raucous and repetitive chorus, "I ain't gonna study war no more ...," became a rallying cry for those who wanted nothing to do with the war and the pain and controversy that surrounded it. Although it seems…

Teaching about Nuclear Disarmament. Fastback 229.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, James, M.

Background information to help educators teach about nuclear disarmament is presented. There are six sections. The first section, "Nuclear Arms Education: Avoiding the Final Catastrophe," discusses the national priority of preparing for war, militarism as a value, and the mushroom cloud and spaceship earth as symbols of a global age. The second…

Defence and illustration of nuclear deterrence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tertrais, Bruno

2011-01-01

After having shown that nuclear deterrence has been efficient since 1945 (nuclear weapons prevented from war, nuclear deterrence contributed to the reduction of risks related to proliferation), the author discusses the amorality and illegality of nuclear deterrence (its ethics can indeed be a matter of discussion, as well as issues like self-defence and international humanitarian law). On another hand, he shows that deterrence costs remain acceptable and that substitutes to nuclear deterrence are not credible. He concludes that deterrence is therefore still useful and legitimate

Prolonged Particulate Hexavalent Chromium Exposure Suppresses Homologous Recombination Repair in Human Lung Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Browning, Cynthia L; Qin, Qin; Kelly, Deborah F; Prakash, Rohit; Vanoli, Fabio; Jasin, Maria; Wise, John Pierce

2016-09-01

Genomic instability is one of the primary models of carcinogenesis and a feature of almost all cancers. Homologous recombination (HR) repair protects against genomic instability by maintaining high genomic fidelity during the repair of DNA double strand breaks. The defining step of HR repair is the formation of the Rad51 nucleofilament, which facilitates the search for a homologous sequence and invasion of the template DNA strand. Particulate hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), a human lung carcinogen, induces DNA double strand breaks and chromosome instability. Since the loss of HR repair increases Cr(VI)-induced chromosome instability, we investigated the effect of extended Cr(VI) exposure on HR repair. We show acute (24 h) Cr(VI) exposure induces a normal HR repair response. In contrast, prolonged (120 h) exposure to particulate Cr(VI) inhibited HR repair and Rad51 nucleofilament formation. Prolonged Cr(VI) exposure had a profound effect on Rad51, evidenced by reduced protein levels and Rad51 mislocalization to the cytoplasm. The response of proteins involved in Rad51 nuclear import and nucleofilament formation displayed varying responses to prolonged Cr(VI) exposure. BRCA2 formed nuclear foci after prolonged Cr(VI) exposure, while Rad51C foci formation was suppressed. These results suggest that particulate Cr(VI), a major chemical carcinogen, inhibits HR repair by targeting Rad51, causing DNA double strand breaks to be repaired by a low fidelity, Rad51-independent repair pathway. These results further enhance our understanding of the underlying mechanism of Cr(VI)-induced chromosome instability and thus, carcinogenesis. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Notion of a "Pre-emptive War:" the Six Day War Revisited

OpenAIRE

Kurtulus, Ersun N

2007-01-01

The article presents a critical assessment of the widespread conceptualization of the June 1967 War between Israel and its neighboring Arab states as a pre-emptive war both in academic and non-academic writing. Tracing the origins of the notion of pre-emptive war to international law, the article identifies three necessary conditions for such a war to be classified as pre-emptive: acute crisis combined with high alert levels; vulnerable offensive weapons; and strategic parity as regards to of...

Numerology in the second nuclear age

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krepon, M.

2009-07-01

The nuclear numbers game has changed. During the Cold War - the first nuclear age - deterrence strategists such as Henry Kissinger, Paul Nitze and Albert Wohlstetter claimed that the nuclear balance mattered, even at extraordinarily high numbers. ' As a result, one great irony of the first nuclear age was that the 'absolute' weapon still lent itself to the twin impulses of seeking advantage and seeking to avoid being placed at a disadvantage. This factor, among others, led to the production of approximately 125,000 U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Nuclear 'numerology' during the Cold War centered around deployed capabilities in various categories, especially 'prompt hard-target kill' capabilities, missile 'throw-weight' and nuclear exchange ratios. By this musty logic, the United States now has more deterrence leverage against Russia than at any time since the Soviet nuclear build-up in the 1960's. This may help explain why the Kremlin feels so protective of its large stocks of tactical nuclear weapons, despite Washington's preferences. US leverage on Moscow also appears to be limited on other matters pertaining to the nuclear order, including ways to persuade North Korea and Iran to adhere to UN Security Council resolutions. Critics of the Obama administration ascribe this lack of suasion to 'soft' leadership that does not command respect or compel preferred behavior. But the 'hard' policies they preferred during the presidency of George W. Bush produced, to put it charitably, mixed results. Whatever value the nuclear numbers game had during the first nuclear age related primarily to contests played out with computers and hand calculators, not to real battlefields where nuclear-armed states fought with weaker foes, including contests between states with and without nuclear weapons. Numerical imbalances have been far more profound between the United States and China. For

Numerology in the second nuclear age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krepon, M.

2009-01-01

The nuclear numbers game has changed. During the Cold War - the first nuclear age - deterrence strategists such as Henry Kissinger, Paul Nitze and Albert Wohlstetter claimed that the nuclear balance mattered, even at extraordinarily high numbers. ' As a result, one great irony of the first nuclear age was that the 'absolute' weapon still lent itself to the twin impulses of seeking advantage and seeking to avoid being placed at a disadvantage. This factor, among others, led to the production of approximately 125,000 U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Nuclear 'numerology' during the Cold War centered around deployed capabilities in various categories, especially 'prompt hard-target kill' capabilities, missile 'throw-weight' and nuclear exchange ratios. By this musty logic, the United States now has more deterrence leverage against Russia than at any time since the Soviet nuclear build-up in the 1960's. This may help explain why the Kremlin feels so protective of its large stocks of tactical nuclear weapons, despite Washington's preferences. US leverage on Moscow also appears to be limited on other matters pertaining to the nuclear order, including ways to persuade North Korea and Iran to adhere to UN Security Council resolutions. Critics of the Obama administration ascribe this lack of suasion to 'soft' leadership that does not command respect or compel preferred behavior. But the 'hard' policies they preferred during the presidency of George W. Bush produced, to put it charitably, mixed results. Whatever value the nuclear numbers game had during the first nuclear age related primarily to contests played out with computers and hand calculators, not to real battlefields where nuclear-armed states fought with weaker foes, including contests between states with and without nuclear weapons. Numerical imbalances have been far more profound between the United States and China. For financial and other reasons, Beijing did not play the nuclear numbers game

Fissile materials and international security in the post-Cold War world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1996-01-01

It is essential that members of industry, government and international organizations be able to come together to discuss the latest developments in this vital field at events such as this. Given the number of years this organization has devoted to the issue, the INMM must find it interesting that the control of fissile materials has become such a high-profile issue in the policy and political communities. But, this evolution in policy is a natural outgrowth of the changing world situation. While just 10 years ago the US and Soviet Union were churning out the fissile materials needed for weapons, today these former rivals are working together, hand in hand, to corral the danger posed by these materials. And, while it is clear that the world no longer lives on the edge of nuclear war, the nuclear danger still exists, though in a less obvious and perhaps more insidious form. It is a great challenge in this post-Cold War world to contain this nuclear threat. It is prudent and necessary for the US to be in the forefront of efforts to address and tame this problem. The fundamental threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials is a direct challenge to US and world security. President Clinton has clearly recognized the changed nature of the nuclear danger. To meet this challenge, he has labored to put in place a comprehensive and integrated plan for addressing this threat. The US Department of Energy has a unique role in this effort because, as an institution with many decades of experience in fissile material matters, it is able to provide expertise and technical analyses that are essential in defining and implementing policy prescriptions. The president's comprehensive plan to prevent nuclear proliferation and reduce the danger posed by weapons-usable nuclear materials has four essential elements: secure existing nuclear material stockpiles; limit fissile material production and use, eliminate warheads, and strengthen the nonproliferation regime

Gulf War

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dalgaard-Nielsen, Anja

2003-01-01

As it became a non‐permanent member of the UN Security Council in January 2003, Germany stepped up its opposition to war with Iraq. The stage was set for a repeat of Germany's uncomfortable position during the 1991 Gulf War. At that time, as most of Germany's allies rallied behind Washington......, Germany made only financial contributions, and hundreds of thousands of Germans took to the streets to protest against the war. Yet, since 1991, Germany had come a long way in its attitudes towards military force. From a policy of complete abstention from military deployments beyond NATO's area (so...

On depleted uranium: gulf war and Balkan syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Duraković, A

2001-04-01

The complex clinical symptomatology of chronic illnesses, commonly described as Gulf War Syndrome, remains a poorly understood disease entity with diversified theories of its etiology and pathogenesis. Several causative factors have been postulated, with a particular emphasis on low level chemical warfare agents, oil fires, multiple vaccines, desert sand (Al-Eskan disease), botulism, Aspergillus flavus, Mycoplasma, aflatoxins, and others, contributing to the broad scope of clinical manifestations. Among several hundred thousand veterans deployed in the Operation Desert Storm, 15-20% have reported sick and about 25,000 died. Depleted uranium (DU), a low-level radioactive waste product of the enrichment of natural uranium with U-235 for the reactor fuel or nuclear weapons, has been considered a possible causative agent in the genesis of Gulf War Syndrome. It was used in the Gulf and Balkan wars as an armor-penetrating ammunition. In the operation Desert Storm, over 350 metric tons of DU was used, with an estimate of 3-6 million grams released in the atmosphere. Internal contamination with inhaled DU has been demonstrated by the elevated excretion of uranium isotopes in the urine of the exposed veterans 10 years after the Gulf war and causes concern because of its chemical and radiological toxicity and mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. Polarized views of different interest groups maintain an area of sustained controversy more in the environment of the public media than in the scientific community, partly for the reason of being less than sufficiently addressed by a meaningful objective interdisciplinary research.

Active war in Sri Lanka: Children's war exposure, coping, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity.

Science.gov (United States)

Soysa, Champika K; Azar, Sandra T

2016-01-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in response to active war is understudied among Sinhalese children in Sri Lanka. We investigated PTSD symptom severity in children using child (n = 60) and mother (n = 60) reports; child-reported war exposure and coping; as well as self-reported maternal PTSD symptom severity. The study addressed active war in 2 rural locations (acute and chronic community war exposure). Child-reports were significantly greater than mother-reports of child PTSD symptom severity. Furthermore, children's war exposure, child-reported and mother-reported child PTSD symptom severity, and maternal PTSD symptom severity were significantly greater in the acute versus chronic community war exposure location, but children's approach and avoidance coping did not significantly differ, indicating a potential ceiling effect. Children's war exposure significantly, positively predicted child-reported child PTSD symptom severity, controlling for age, gender, and maternal PTSD symptom severity, but only maternal PTSD symptom severity significantly, positively predicted mother-reported child PTSD symptom severity. Avoidance coping (in both acute and chronic war) significantly positively mediated the children's war exposure-child-reported child PTSD symptom severity relation, but not mother-reports of the same. Approach coping (in chronic but not acute war) significantly, positively mediated the children's war exposure-child-reported and mother-reported child PTSD symptom severity relations. We advanced the literature on long-term active war by confirming the value of children's self-reports, establishing that both approach and avoidance coping positively mediated the war-exposure-PTSD symptom severity relation, and that the mediation effect of approach coping was situationally moderated by acute verses chronic community war exposure among Sri Lankan children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus latency-associated nuclear antigen prolongs the life span of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Takahiro; Sugaya, Makoto; Atkins, April M; Aquilino, Elisabeth A; Yang, Aparche; Borris, Debra L; Brady, John; Blauvelt, Andrew

2003-06-01

Tumor spindle cells in all clinical types of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) are infected with Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). Although KSHV contains more than 80 genes, only a few are expressed in tumor spindle cells, including latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) and k-cyclin (kCYC). To assess the oncogenic potential of LANA and kCYC, primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and murine NIH 3T3 cells were stably transduced by using recombinant retroviruses expressing these genes or the known viral oncogene simian virus 40 large T antigen (LTAg). Interestingly, LANA-transduced HUVEC proliferated faster and demonstrated a greatly prolonged life span (mean +/- standard deviation, 38.3 +/- 11.0 passages) than untransduced cells and vector-transduced cells (<20 passages). By contrast, kCYC-transduced HUVEC did not proliferate faster or live longer than control cells. LANA- and kCYC-transduced HUVEC, but not LTAg-transduced HUVEC, retained the ability to form normal vessel-like structures in an in vitro model of angiogenesis. In cellular assays of transformation, LANA- and kCYC-transduced NIH 3T3 cells demonstrated minimal or no anchorage-independent growth in soft agar and no tumorigenicity when injected into nude mice, unlike LTAg-transduced NIH 3T3 cells. Lastly, gene expression profiling revealed down-regulation, or silencing, of a number of genes within LANA-transduced HUVEC. Taken together, these results suggest that KSHV LANA is capable of inducing prolonged life span, but not transformation, in primary human cells. These findings may explain why LANA-expressing spindle cells proliferate within KS tumors, yet most often do not demonstrate biologic characteristics of transformation or true malignant conversion.

The finish. About the reasons and events leading to the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldberg, S.

1995-01-01

The bombing was decided not only for military reasons. For the Manhattan Project managers, and for General Groves in particular, it was a question of justification of their own work and commitment. The bomb may have actually prolonged the war. (orig.) [de

Parents and children in Second World War Germany: an inter-generational perspective on wartime separation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaizey, Hester

2011-01-01

This article discusses how the relationship between parents and their children were affected by the second world war in Germany. With fathers away from home for often as long as a decade, many children grew up without a father being physically present. The current historiography suggests that wartime separation caused a crisis in the family. But did the prolonged periods of time apart and the separate experiences of husbands at the Front and wives and children at home really destabilize family relationships? This article questions such a picture of families in ruin. It argues that family relationships were far more resilient in the face of wartime separation than has previously been credited. Indeed, it reveals the importance of children in keeping mothers and fathers focused on getting through the war. It further contends that, even from afar, fathers continued to play an important role in their children’s lives. And this in turn revises our understanding of the situation facing reuniting families.

Neighbourship and Friendship among Returnees and Immigrants in the Pre-War, Wartime and Post-War Social Setting of the Brod-Posavina County

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragutin Babić

2000-06-01

migrants were queried: refugees-immigrants, returnees-Croats and returnees-Serbs. A comparison was made of their attitudes in regard to neighbourship and friendship between Croats and Serbs in the pre-war, wartime and post-war periods. Their responses indicated a favourable or mostly favourable level of social interaction between Croats and Serbs in the pre-war period. Amiable coexistence was a very much value in parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even during the war, although there was different and also aggressive behaviour among friends and neighbours of the other ethnicity (Croats or Serbs, primary social interaction continued to function at least in small segments. Friends, somewhat more often than neighbours, protected persons of the other ethnicity during the war. Primary social relationships were not destroyed even during the worst war periods. It would be expected that this would be an alleviating factor during the post-war (reconstruction of primary social structures. Yet the post-war situation is burdened with problems. Apart from material and financial difficulties, the most grievous ones are psychological. Memories of the war, of the dead and wounded, aggravate communication or make it impossible. Nevertheless, despite even this, difficult circumstances, communication between the three groups of respondents (especially between Croats and Serbs exists, at least in a nuclear form. Thus, if favourable macro-circumstances prevail (primarily a democratic state policy, one can expect a gradual, although slow, regeneration of primary relationship networks in the local community.

War in European history

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howard, M.

1981-01-01

War history as a modern historic discipline is by far no longer a mere history of arms technique or a chronicle of battles. It deals with the change of warfare, shows how the wars of the various ages had determined society, and vice versay investigates the influence of social, economic, and -concerning mentality-historical changes on war. With this survey, which covers the period between the Middle Ages and the recent past, the author has presented a small masterpiece of the history of war. A book like this is particularly important and instructive in a time when all depends on the preventing of wars. (orig.) [de

Combating nuclear terrorism in India: preventive nuclear forensic perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raghav, N.K.; Lad, J.S.; Deshmukh, A.V.; Jagtap, S.S.

2014-01-01

Nuclear terrorism is constant threat to India by many terrorist organization and neighboring country. These organizations are directly or indirectly aided with nuclear material by terrorism supporting country. Such organization has a significant potential source for acquiring nuclear and other radioactive material. Possibility of leakage is widely feared because of the deteriorating law and order condition, great spur of nuclear proliferation after the cold war and disintegration of USSR. Terrorist could gain access to Nuclear and radioactive material and smuggle to India through porous borders. Preventive forensic approach in screening and searching nuclear and radioactive material will play cardinal role to prevent nuclear disaster happening in India. Future plans could be extracted from terrorists through their narco-tests, brain fingerprinting and a data base on this could be prepared, which could later be used to help prevent any attacks. In present paper authors strongly recommend setting up Preventive Forensic Units in India so that any internal or external nuclear attack could be aborted. (author)