Nukes

Photo credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory/Harvey Klehr/New York TimesFrom Popular MechanicsHistorians have unmasked a fourth Soviet spy who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory during nuclear bomb development in the 1940s.Los Alamos is still one of the foremost nuclear research facilities in the world.The fourth spy was much more involved…

Key Point: There are even rumors of Ukrainetowns in some Chinese cities founded by the large number of expats hired by Chinese firms. While Ukraine renounced its own possession of nuclear weapons in 1994, many scientists and design bureaus in the country sti…

Key Point: With the advent of nuclear power and the guided missile, the seemingly goofy idea of a heavy surface-attack submarine became an impressive and chilling reality.A century ago submarines presented as much of a challenge for naval war planners as drones do today. Like airborne and surface stealth decades later,…

Key Point: Once the nuclear threshold is crossed, the only possible response would be nuclear. In the event of a war on the Korean peninsula, how would the United States respond to the use of a tactical nuclear weapon on the battlefield that was not aimed at…

Just 100 seconds to midnight. Rachel FeltmanJanuary 23, 2020Nuclear weapons test in 1952.U.S. Department of EnergyThe Doomsday Clock is now closer to midnight than ever before—so close that, instead of minutes, we’re now counting down to metaphorical oblivion in seconds. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, we have…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The keepers of the Doomsday Clock on Thursday moved the symbolic countdown to global disaster to the closest point to midnight in its 73-year history, citing “existential danger” from nuclear war and climate change.The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which was founded after the creation of the…

plan a tactica nuclear war escalation scenario animated map princeton sitPrinceton University/Nuclear Futures LabA new simulation called "Plan A," by researchers at Princeton's Program on Science and Global Security, shows how the use of one so-called tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon could lead to a terrifying worldwide conflict.In the roughly four-minute…

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is resetting its “Doomsday Clock,” which has stood still since 2018 at two minutes to midnight. I was a member of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors for a dozen years and chaired it from 2009 through 2018, and I think it’s time to retire…

Key point: Seoul's investments have paid off- South Korea is a better military power than North Korea. However, Pyongyang's nuclear weapons make up for the difference and are a powerful deterrent. In the last seventy years, the Republic of Korea Army (ROK Ar…

Key Point: The bomb was referred to through many names, but all were just as deadly. Maj. Andrei Durnovtsev, a Soviet air force pilot and commander of a Tu-95 Bear bomber, holds a dubious honor in the history of the Cold War. Durnovtsev flew the aircraft th…