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Nuclear Weapons and the Illusion of Safety

Is it pure dumb luck that we have not had an accident involving nuclear weapons? In fact, we have had many such accidents. 

With attention focused on Iran this week, nuclear talk abounds. Those of us who grew up during the Cold War, had a healthy fear of nuclear weapons.  Younger generations today, not so much. In fact, investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, (Fast Food Nation) argues that we should have been even more fearful then, and equally afraid now.  It’s certainly something we should be thinking a lot about.


Schlosser has written a new book called Command and Control, and joined Jeff Schechtman for this week’s Specific Gravity interview.

Schechtman asks whether it is “pure dumb luck that we have not had an accident involving nuclear weapons?” In fact, we have had many such accidents, perhaps over 1200 of them… the worst of which happened in Damascus, Arkansas, 33 years ago. 

Listen to the interview here:

Click here to listen on your iphone or ipad

Image courtesy of Shutterstock


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