nuclear weapons
lborkowski | September 7, 2016by Anthony Robbins, MD, MPA
Thirty years ago I worked with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) studying the health consequences of nuclear weapons. Even if they were never used, these weapons–their manufacture and testing–harmed populations. All over the world governments had mined uranium, and assembled and tested nuclear weapons. To create atomic arsenals, every nuclear power had dangerously polluted and contaminated environments where people live and work. And governments usually kept secret from civilians the consequences –cancers, birth defects, and…
scientificactivist | July 6, 2006Since I recently wrote about nuclear disarmament, I thought a story from this week's issue of Nature would be especially relevant. In a news piece and accompanying editorial, Nature discusses the ongoing question of how the US is going to maintain its nuclear arsenal, considering its voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing. The news article lays out the issue:
Harnessing the power of supercomputers such as Purple and data from past tests, US weaponeers are working feverishly on an ambitious programme to design a new nuclear warhead that they can certify will work -- even without a test…
purepedantry | July 6, 2006The Department of Energy has begun a Nuclear Film Declassification Project where they are going to release the footage of old nuclear weapons tests. Sample videos and a statement below the fold.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has embarked on the Nuclear Weapons Film Declassification Project to make available to the public and many users films that contain historically significant events in the development of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. This is being done under the Department of Energy's Openness Initiative. The film project is being carried out by DOE's Albuquerque Operations…
scientificactivist | July 4, 2006This week's Ask a ScienceBlogger question is "What are some unsung successes that have occurred as a result of using science to guide policy?" I think there are several good answers to this question, including several successes in basic science (the NIH, basic science funding), health (vaccination, AIDS relief), space (NASA, the Hubble Telescope), and environmental (the formation of the EPA, the Kyoto Treaty) policy. One success that might not be so obvious, though, was the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT).
When it was signed and ratified in 1963 by 113 countries, including almost all of the…