...history has shown us the risks that these types of situations can pose. Since the 1960s the assumption by nuclear armed states was that the prospect of mutually assured destruction would guarantee ...that nuclear weapons are never used. ...in January, 2022, all the nuclear weapons states that are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (China, France, Russia, the USA, and the UK) reiterated the Reagan–Gorbachev statement that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”.2 Nonetheless, documentary research and testimonies have revealed occasions during the decades after the Cuban missile crisis when nuclear weapons were very nearly used as a result of misperceptions and misinterpretation of signals.3 In 1983, for example, the NATO Able Archer military exercise increased the fear level in the Soviet Union to such an extent that Russian nuclear forces were mobilised.4 Also in 1983, satellite signals that appeared to be incoming nuclear missiles from the USA to the Soviet Union nearly led to a launch-on-warning response from Moscow. 6 An estimated 200 000 people died within 5 months of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 and many survivors suffered long-term effects, including increased risk of leukaemia, other types of cancer, and effects on mental health.7 The world's nuclear armed states currently have a combined arsenal of around 12 700 nuclear weapons.8 According to the Federation of American Scientists, the USA deploys 1644 and Russia deploys 1588 strategic warheads on bombers and missiles,8 many with an explosive power of 100 kilotons or more.
Reducing the Risks of Nuclear War Abbasi, Kamran; Ali, Parveen; Barbour, Virginia ...
International journal of public health,
11/2023, Letnik:
68
Journal Article
