The nuclear threat is global and imminent, not remote and theoretical. The world’s nine nuclear powers have more than 12,000 warheads – over 100 times as many as the two bombs dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ “Doomsday Clock” is currently set to two minutes to midnight, indicating that humanity is closer to a global catastrophe than ever before. This is due to the US-Russian conflict in Ukraine, the ongoing arms race between the United States and Russia and the increasing reliance on nuclear weapons by all countries.
The use of nuclear weapons would lead to catastrophic destruction, even in a limited exchange between NATO and Russia. The US and Russian arsenals contain around 30,000 nuclear warheads, more than enough to destroy the entire planet several times over. Even a limited nuclear exchange, such as one between the two countries in Ukraine, could escalate to a full-scale holocaust because of the high number of civilians and the enormous explosive power of modern nuclear weapons.
A single nuclear weapon, if used close to a populated area, could kill millions in a matter of seconds. Most of those killed would be burned to a crisp by the blast and die from internal injuries or crushed by falling debris or burning buildings. Medical services would be overwhelmed and there would be no way to cope with the numbers of casualties.
Although the risk of a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon is significant, it is not inevitable. There are a number of countermeasures, including numerous interagency programs that enhance partner capabilities to detect and interdict fissile materials and advance nuclear forensics and attribution.