Global Scans · Nuclear winter · Weekly Summary

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A global catastrophic risk is a hypothetical future event that has the potential to damage human well-being on a global scale. Some events could cripple or destroy modern civilization. Any event that could cause human extinction is known as an existential risk.

• [New] Russia plans nuclear winter fear campaign to weaken Ukraine support LinkRussia plans to launch a propaganda campaign aimed at reviving fears of nuclear winter among Americans to decrease support for Ukraine. Memia
• [New] The longer the war in Eastern Europe continues between Russia and Ukraine and the more provocations that occur worldwide, the closer the entire world becomes to flirting with nuclear disaster, two nuclear analysts warn in a new editorial. Newsweek
• [New] British advances have been held back for years by lingering fears about the destructive potential of nuclear disasters and a historic overreliance on other sources of energy, such as North Sea gas. The Telegraph
• [New] The instability created by the Wagner Group's rebellion could lead to a nuclear disaster in Russia and jeopardize global stability. International Business Times
• [New] Expanding nuclear weapons stockpiles moves the world in reverse and increases the dangers of a nuclear holocaust. Inkstick Media
• [New] Multiple large detonations could generate enough smoke to wrap Earth in a veil so thick it would block out the sun, a scenario they famously dubbed nuclear winter. Nautilus
• Countries like China, Russia, and the United States could see a decline in food production by up to 97% under a nuclear winter scenario, requiring them to rely on new food production technologies. Inventiva
• China, Russia and the United States could see food production fall up to 97% under nuclear winter models and would be forced to rely on new food production technologies. The Guardian
• The rest of the world can be affected by nuclear war via radioactive fallout, environmental changes such as nuclear winter, and disruption of the global economic system. The Equation
• Direct attacks resulted in a temporary loss of electrical power for cooling, leading many observers in Ukraine and across the world to fear a nuclear disaster. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, is the multi-billion dollar tokamak megaproject aimed at achieving fusion on Earth, and it will not achieve first plasma until 2025. Popular Mechanics
• You do not need full thermonuclear war to cause catastrophe, even a relatively small-scale exchange between India and Pakistan could create vast soot clouds that cool temperatures and cause global famine. University of Cambridge
• British advances have been held back by lingering fears about the destructive potential of nuclear disasters and a historic overreliance on other sources of energy. The Telegraph
• Russia has sent one of six giant magnets to France that will be used in the world's largest International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor as part of a global effort to harness nuclear fusion power. The EurAsian Times
• Like KSTAR in Korea, the WEST reactor's primary goal is to lay the groundwork for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, another nearby fusion reactor in France that hopes to finish construction by 2025. Popular Mechanics
• There is disagreement among experts about the scale of nuclear exchange needed to trigger a nuclear winter, but it appears eminently plausible that the world's remaining arsenals, if launched, might be sufficient. OpenMind
• A massive international project under construction in France that the United States is a part of - the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor - envisions a tokamak reaction. Politico
• Using a radiative-convective climate model that simulates the vertical profile of atmospheric temperatures, American scientists first showed that a nuclear winter could occur from the smoke produced by the massive forest fires ignited by nuclear weapons after a nuclear war. RIELPOLITIK
• The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in southern France has the world's biggest tokamak and what the scientists in South Korea achieve will help French scientists. Economic Times
• The UN's nuclear watchdog will this week carry out an independent verification of Russian allegations concerning the production of so-called dirty bombs at two sites in Ukraine. DefenceTalk
• The Kremlin has stepped up its claims that Kyiv is planning a provocation involving the use of a dirty bomb, sparking fears among Western governments that Moscow is seeking a pretext for further escalation. The National Interest
• The use of just a fraction of the nuclear weapons deployed globally could result in a nuclear winter leading to global famine and the death of two billion people. Labour Outlook

Last updated: 30 March 2025