Actionable Ideas for Nuclear Threat Reduction | University of Alabama

Abstract

In this talk, I will give a brief overview of the resurgent role of nuclear weapons in national security strategies, the threat that they pose to the public, and potential risk mitigation approaches. Recent events, including the U.S. withdrawal from arms control treaties and the pursuit of new nuclear weapons capabilities in the nine nuclear weapons states, suggest we may be facing a revived nuclear arms race with its dangerous consequences. In this context, during the past three years, a group of US physical scientists has held more than 100 colloquia on nuclear weapons, reaching more than 4,000 attendees, and recruited over 850 scientists to the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction through which scientists educate themselves and then help educate Congress about the renewed risks of nuclear war and the possibilities for reducing those risks. Members have engaged in several advocacy campaigns aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear weapons by preventing the resumption of explosive nuclear testing, extending the New START treaty, and promoting the adoption of a no-first-use policy.

Speaker: Dr. Angela Di Fulvio