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Climate-Nuclear Nexus

BASEL PEACE OFFICE, July 24

“The threats to our planet – of climate change, poverty and war – can only be overcome by nations and the global community working in cooperation – something not possible while nations maintain large and expensive militaries and threaten to destroy each other.”

PNND Co-President’s statement on International Women’s Day for Disarmament, May 24, 2008

The Basel Peace Office highlights the links between climate change and nuclear weapons/security to forge solutions to these two principal threats to human survival. The climate-nuclear nexus manifests itself in a number of ways.

1. Climate change-induced weather events can impact on nuclear security and safety
2. Nuclear war would create catastrophic climatic and environmental consequences
3. Conflicts due to climate change could trigger the use of nuclear weapons
4. The funding currently devoted to nuclear weapons is sorely needed to combat climate change
5. The nuclear deterrence stand-off prevents the global cooperation required to address climate change

Climate change-induced weather impacts on nuclear security and safety

The nuclear disaster in Fukushima in March 2011 has drawn attention to the possible effects of extreme weather events, environmental degradation and seismic activity on nuclear security and safety.

The wildfires that spread through Russia in the summer of 2010, possibly an effect of climate-change, posed a severe nuclear risk to the country when they were on their way to engulf key nuclear sites. In addition, there was widespread concern that radio-nuclides from land contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster could rise together with combustion particles, resulting in a new pollution zone.

In the UK, leading geologist Prof. Rob Duck of Dundee University has warned that if climate change continues it may lead to the erosion of Britain’s coast and may even cause tsunamis. This in turn will have critical implications for the safety of Britain’s nuclear power stations, all but one of which lie on the coast………………………………………………………………………………….. https://www.baselpeaceoffice.org/article/climate-nuclear-nexus

July 2, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change