Nukes

The man dubbed “the last dictator in Europe” lived up to his billing over the weekend. In a provocative dare to the entire continent, Belarus despot Aleksandr Lukashenko effectively snatched one of his most prominent critics out of the sky itself. The question now is whether the European Union—of which…

In the aftermath of a delicate ceasefire coming on the heels of 10 days of Israeli airstrikes that killed some 230 Palestinians, Gaza’s health care infrastructure has weathered serious damage: Bombs hit 17 hospitals and clinics, interrupted importation of medical supplies, and slaughtered one of the area’s top pulmonologists in…

More than 100 kg of highly toxic uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) was dispersed in the form of tiny 'hot' radioactive particles after the British detonated nine atomic bombs in remote areas of South Australia, including Maralinga. Scientists say that these radioactive particles persist in soils to this day, more…

More than 100 kg of highly toxic uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) was dispersed in the form of tiny 'hot' radioactive particles after the British detonated nine atomic bombs in remote areas of South Australia, including Maralinga. Scientists say that these radioactive particles persist in soils to this day, more…

Scientists searching for quasicrystals—so-called ‘impossible’ materials with unusual, non-repeating structures—have identified one in remnants of the world’s first nuclear bomb test. The previously unknown structure, made of iron, silicon, copper and calcium, probably formed from the fusion of vapourized desert sand and copper cables. Similar materials have been synthesized in…

During the Cold War, Russia's Nagurskoye airbase was little more than a runway, a weather station and a communications outpost in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. It was a remote and desolate home mostly for polar bears, where temperatures plunge in winter to minus-42 Celsius (43 degrees below zero Fahrenheit)…

In Review Serhii Plokhy’s ‘gripping narrative’ reveals the bad decisions that led to the Cuban missile crisis Over two weeks in October 1962, the world came as close as it ever has to nuclear catastrophe, said Victor Sebestyen in the FT. The Cuban missile crisis was triggered by the CIA…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Biden administration appears to be picking up where former President Donald Trump left off as the federal agency that oversees U.S. nuclear research and bomb-making has approved the conceptual design and cost range for infrastructure investments for a multibillion-dollar project to manufacture key components for…

WASHINGTON - U.S. and Israeli officials meeting in Washington on Tuesday discussed their serious concerns about advancements in Iran's nuclear program and agreed on the "significant threat" posed by Iran's behavior in the Middle East, the White House said. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Israeli national security…

A farmer works in his field near the cooling towers at the nuclear power plant in Saint-Laurent-Nouan, France, in 2016. (Regis Duvignau/Reuters) A review of The Dark Horse: Nuclear Power and Climate Change, by Rauli Partanen and Janne Korhonen “It is an enduring mystery to me why it is that…