The two most immediate threats to human survival are climate change and nuclear weapons. Our booklet “Environmental Costs of Nuclear Weapons” demonstrates that these two existential threats are closely linked.
It is available to download here, or if you are a teacher or elected representative you can request a paper copy (an A5 booklet, printed on recycled paper on a carbon neutral press).
We have enclosed below, a list of useful resources and references for readers to research these topics further:
References and Resources
UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/
Medact https://www.medact.org/project/nuclear-weapons/
Scientists for Global Responsibility https://www.sgr.org.uk/
Nuclear Consulting Group https://www.nuclearconsult.com/
Climate Change & Conflict
‘How Rising Temperatures Increase the Likelihood of Nuclear War’ 2020 https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/nuclear-defense-climate-change/
‘Climate Change, Nuclear Risks and Nuclear Disarmament. Global Responsibility’ 2012 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329973013_Climate_Change_Nuclear
‘ A climate of conflict: the links between climate change, war and peace’ 2007 https://www.international-alert.org/publications/climate-conflict
‘Double vulnerability – The humanitarian implications of intersecting climate and conflict risk’ 2019 https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/topic/file_plus_list/double_vulnerability_0.pdf
‘Climate Change & Nuclear Weapons Use’ 2019
https://psr-wisconsin.org/climate-change-nuclear-weapons-use
‘How climate change could lead to more wars in the 21st century’ 2017 https://www.vox.com/world/2017/11/14/16589878/global-climate-change-conflict-environment
Nuclear Winter
‘Climatic consequences of regional nuclear conflicts’ Alan Robock, et.al. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussion 2006;6:11817-11843
http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/nw7inpress.pdf
‘How a small nuclear war would transform the entire planet’ 2020 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00794-y
‘Regional nuclear war could trigger global cooling and famine’ 2011 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/110223-nuclear-war-winter-global-warming-environment-science-climate-change
Uranium Mining
‘Leona Morgan on Nuclear Colonialism and the Effects of Uranium Mining on the Navajo Nation’ 2020 https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/audio/the-bomb-at-75-leona-morgan
‘Why Are We Allowing Uranium Miners to Pollute Groundwater in Drought Zones?’ 2017 https://psmag.com/environment/why-are-we-allowing-uranium-miners-to-pollute-groundwater-in-drought-zones
‘Uranium miner coaxed government to water down extinction safeguards’ 2019 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/27/uranium-miner-coaxed-government-to-water-down-extinction-safeguards
Nuclear Tests
‘Firing of depleted uranium shells into the Solway Firth’ Europarl/UK 2001 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2001-0981+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
‘Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests and Cancer Risks’ 2006 https://www.americanscientist.org/article/fallout-from-nuclear-weapons-tests-and-cancer-risks
‘U.S. lawmakers move urgently to recognize survivors of the first atomic bomb test’ 2021 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/lawmakers-move-urgently-to-recognize-survivors-of-the-first-atomic-bomb-test
‘Written out of history – Britain’s nuclear test veterans’ 1996 https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15020302-200/
‘British Ministry Denies “Atomic Bomb-Type” Blast Planned In Scotland’ 1985 https://apnews.com/article/c23693ff6b9f2c8bd263085145f89eff
‘Cold War atomic bomb tests made the UK rainier’ 2020 sciencefocus.com/news/cold-war-atomic-bomb-tests-made-the-uk-rainier/ journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.198701
Military Pollution
‘Trident nuclear base damned as ‘poor’ after polluting the Clyde’ 2021 https://theferret.scot/trident-nuclear-base-poor-pollution-clyde/
‘Faslane to dump up to 50 times more radioactive waste in the Clyde’ 2020 https://theferret.scot/radioactive-waste-faslane-clyde/
‘The Hazards of Tritium’ 2020 https://www.ianfairlie.org/news/the-hazards-of-tritium/
‘Revealed: UK’s secret plan to dump 22 nuclear submarines in Scotland’ 2018 https://theferret.scot/nuclear-submarines-dump-scotland/
Nuclear Power
‘Climate Change UK Nuclear’ Dr Paul Dorfman, Nuclear Consulting Group, 2021 https://www.nuclearconsult.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Climate-Change-UK-Nuclear-June-2021.pdf
‘Electricity consumers ‘to fund nuclear weapons through Hinkley Point C’’ 2017 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/12/electricity-consumers-to-fund-nuclear-weapons-through-hinkley-point-c
Letters: ‘Exposing the truth of Calder Hall’s military significance’, New Civil Engineer, 2010 https://www.newcivilengineer.com/archive/letters-exposing-the-truth-of-calder-halls-military-significance-11-03-2010/
‘Nuclear Power: The Energy Balance’ van Leeuwen and Smith, 2005
‘The Climate Vulnerabilities of Global Nuclear Power’ November 2019
https://direct.mit.edu/glep/article/19/4/3/14955/The-Climate-Vulnerabilities-of-Global-Nuclear
‘Climate Impact – UK Nuclear Military’ 2021 https://www.nuclearconsult.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Climate-Change-UK-Nuclear-Military-Sept21.pdf
‘Why Nuclear Power isn’t the answer to Climate Change’ 2021
https://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Nuclear_no_solution_to_Climate-September-2021.pdf
‘More Nuclear Power Isn’t Needed. So Why Do Governments Keep Hyping It?’ 2021 https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/08/06/more-nuclear-power-isnt-needed-so-why-do-governments-keep-hyping-it/
‘Is the “Superfuel” Thorium Riskier Than We Thought?’ 2012 https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a11907/is-the-superfuel-thorium-riskier-than-we-thought-14821644/
‘Thorium Reactors: An Improvement Over Uranium?’ 2013 http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2013/ph241/micks2/
‘Myths and Misconceptions about Thorium nuclear fuel ‘ 2014 https://whatisnuclear.com/thorium-myths.html
‘NuClearNews: Small Modular Reactors’ 2017 https://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo99.pdf
‘Why Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Won’t Help Counter the Climate Crisis’ 2021 https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/why-small-modular-nuclear-reactors-wont-help-counter-climate-crisis
Carbon Footprint
‘Valuing the greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear power: A critical survey’ Sovacool, B Energy Policy 36 (2008) 2940–2953 https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1006/ML100601133.pdf
‘False solution: Nuclear power is not ‘low carbon’’ Keith Barnham, 2015 https://theecologist.org/2015/feb/05/false-solution-nuclear-power-not-low-carbon
‘The Carbon Bootprint of the Military’ Dr Stuart Parkinson, Scientists for Global Responsibility 2021 https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-06/SGR-MerCND-military-carbon-bootprint-%28web%29.pdf
and ‘Challenging the military carbon bootprint’ presentation at COP26 People’s Summit https://www.sgr.org.uk/resources/challenging-military-carbon-bootprint
‘Global military carbon emissions ‘significantly’ under-reported’ 2021 https://theferret.scot/global-military-carbon-emissions-under-reported/
‘Military Emissions – tracking, analysing and closing the military [CO2] emissions gap’ 2021 https://militaryemissions.org/
Although every effort has made to ensure the above links were accurate and relevant at time of publishing this page – we cannot take responsibility for the contents of external sites.
Please contact mail@peaceeducationscotland.org with enquiries about our educational work, or for further copies of this booklet.