Speaker
Description
The distribution of about 12,000 nuclear weapons possessed by nine nations around the globe subject people of all nations to great danger. At all times, about 2,000 weapons are on alert status, capable of delivering civilization-ending physical power within minutes of receiving an order from a national leader. Beyond direct effects of a nuclear detonation, such as the blast wave, indirect effects such as global climate alteration and breakdown of systems to deliver necessities for life can be eveb greater than the already disastrous direct effects. Today, the danger from nuclear weapons is growing as arms-control treaties are abandoned, as states with such weapons are engaged in conventional war, as new risks emerge from cyber attacks, as nuclear threats from leaders are issued more regularly, and as the US and other states massively modernize their entire nuclear weapon systems. But, this problem can be solved. All nations of the world, except for nine, have by treaty foresworn the possession of nuclear weapons. Numerous changes to nuclear policy and forces can be enacted to reverse the danger. Physicists, because of their special relationship to nuclear weapons and the weight given by the public to their views on this issue, can be a vital part of the solution. To this end, the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction was formed to facilitate physicist contributions to nuclear arms control and disarmament education and advocacy.