Nuclear War

Until Siimon Reynolds came along when I was 11 years old and scared the living daylights out of everyone with his Grim Reaper AIDS advertisements, the biggest abstract bogey man I remember was nuclear war.

A made-for-television event, which didn't quite go according to plan… Picture: AFP

Those Russians, they had the bomb, and they were possibly going to use it. It didn’t help matters that in 1986 Chernobyl fulfilled the nuclear nightmare, conflating two separate issues into one terrifying specter.

It’s probably a good indication of how little I had to worry about being a child in the 80s in rural Australia that I remember “the bomb” being on my mind every now and again.

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  • sunny says:

    08:29pm | 20/04/12

    @SteveKAG “While we waste $80bn of the NBN…......if the western world stopped all stupid projects right now we could pull Nth Korea and Greece out of the shite.” If you think the NBN is a stupid project maybe you’d better go and join North Korea and all their arse-licking style… Read more »

  • Steve Dunera says:

    09:22am | 17/04/12

    Part of the Cold War involved hot conflicts. Millions of people were killed in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. In the 1980s Vietnam was as close as the Y2K bug is now. The possibility of another hot conflict was high. Read more »

 

Secret US cables concerning nuclear politics in South Asia provide important context for debates over Australia’s uranium export industry.

Cartoon: David McArthur.

US cables released by Wikileaks warn that a limited Indian invasion of Pakistan, in response to an incident such as the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, would be to “roll the nuclear dice’’ and risk triggering nuclear warfare.

An invasion would be limited in the hope of avoiding a nuclear response but would nevertheless be “fraught ... with potential nuclear consequences”.

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  • Mr. Thorium Power says:

    10:49am | 13/02/11

    The reason THORIUM is not so popular is because -THORIUM is bad for government! Think about the impact of endless green energy on economies ...... Significant reduction in royalties / taxes from fossil fuel industries. No new taxes needed for carbon trading. Huge job losses in fossil fuel industries. Being… Read more »

  • Christina Macpherson says:

    10:14am | 17/12/10

    Eric says one word: thorium But thorium deserves lots of words:    Thorium reactors use natural thorium, which is isotope 232. There are a lot of neutrons running around in there; it’s how reactors work. If an atom of thorium 232 absorbs a neutron, it becomes isotope 233.  Some will… Read more »

 

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