Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Politics

Something outta the Russian Far East.

https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15053738

Russia just ended an agreement with Japan to get assistance in getting rid of nuclear waste that comes from the Pacific Fleet dumping its liquid nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan.

The work consisted of mostly decommissioning Russian nuclear weapons, including subs.

Effectively yes, they hit a suborbital trajectory, that allows them to strike from one side of the planet to the other (over 12,000km), they cant loop it, but if you drew a circle around a US missile submarine covering the entire radius of the tridents range, it would cover all land on earth.

Point being, at that kind of range there is little reason to move the submarine to get a target under the umbrella, that is only necicery for the conventional missiles on board... which only have a 1,600km range.

If your curious as to why, the conventional missiles are smaller so that you can pack more of them into a cell... the nukes take up the whole launch tube, where as you can pack like 12 conventional missiles into the same tube.

Its pretty much a distinction without a difference, a lot of SLBM have longer ranges then the ICBM of countries just getting into ballistic missiles.

Edited by Imca on Nov 14th 2023 at 7:45:01 PM

The Ohio-class submarine deployed by the US Navy to the eastern Mediterranean is actually a variant converted to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles instead of nuclear SLBMs. Nuclear-tipped Tomahawk missiles have been retired for a decade, which means that neither the sub nor the surface fleet it accompanies are likely to carry nuclear weapons of any kind. They're basically there as a conventional deterrent to keep Iran and its allied groups from getting involved in the Situation unfolding in the region (and, by extension, to keep US client states in the neighbourhood from getting too jumpy and pulling reckless moves of their own).

Yeah, that's was why I asked. When Australia came out and started seeking nuclear powered subs there as a lot of confusion over that and some sources were muddying the waters by equating nuclear power with nuclear weapons.

It’s come up a few times with deployments.

Countries that have submarines carrying nuclear weapons don’t tend to comment on their location, due to the stealth aspect of that part of a nuclear deterrent.

Right, which is why this announcement was so exceptional.

Didn’t Eagle just say that the ones deployed are specifically configured to not carry nuclear weapons? In that context the announcement seems standard.

Then I'm confused about what the news was actually talking about, I guess.

There's reports that Chinese MOFA is willing to talk with Japan to resolve the nuclear wastewater issue, but insists on the seafood ban.

Also reports (from NHK though) that Kishida's talking with Beijing/Moscow to resolve the seafood impasse.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-japan-quake-news-anchor-01032024153430.html

Xiao Chenghao from Hainan (he works at Hainan Broadcasting Group) was investigated for making inappropriate comments on his Weibo account, calling the earthquake a form of "retribution" over the Fukushima wastewater discharge.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/29175f2d3cfd-tepco-apologizes-for-radioactive-water-leak-at-fukushima-plant.html

TEPCO apologized for a leak at Fukushima.

The affected soil is going to be taken off the ground.

Here's another dose of scientifically researched nightmare fuel.

So basically only Australia, the southernmost parts of South America and Africa, and maybe a few pacific islands will (mostly) survive unaffected by the nuclear winter... until the mass starvation at levels never before seen kicks in due to irregular weather and crop loss.

That video is a bit overblown, imo. There’s very little scientific consensus on whether nuclear winter is even possible, and if it is whether it would lead to human extinction or not.

I would guess this creator has deliberately exaggerated the risks of nuclear war for the sake of “raising awareness”, but I think pretty much everyone already knows nuclear war is bad.

IIRC, current evidence suggests Nuclear Winter is actually pretty unlikely.

I'd take Kurzgesagt with a big grain of salt-this is the channel that made the video about how addiction isn't real, after all.

Edited by Protagonist506 on Feb 21st 2024 at 5:55:07 AM

My impression is that one of the main issues with the nuclear winter hypothesis is that it’s built off the type of fire damage seen in Japan after the bombs were dropped there. Modern cities likely would not burn the same way as all-wood cities, though.

Aye, and the other problem is that these scenarios seem to assume that nuclear clouds are much more effective coolants than volcanic clouds, even though there isn't much physical justification for this idea.

We do know that a large enough volcanic eruption can cause a “year without summer”, so enough nukes logically should cause something similar.

I’m in the privileged position of living in a geographically small nuclear power, which means I don’t have to worry about nuclear winter as I’d be dead in the event of a major nuclear exchange.

Kurzgesagt isn't a he, it's a whole team creating these videos. You're confusing the narrator for the creators.

Nope. Volcanic cooling is caused by sulfur aerosols, with the actual clouds having little effect. Nuclear bombs do not produce sulfur aerosols, ergo one would expect them to have less effect. That's before we go into soot and greenhouse gases.

The video does say it's not a real nuclear winter like in fiction, though, just a few years with very long and harsh winters before all the soot dissipates from the upper atmosphere.

U.S. Attorney Announces Nuclear Materials Trafficking Charges Against Japanese Yakuza Leader

...well that's a headline.

Sounds like the plot of a Netflix series.

It's a pretty hilarious story, really. You can't just sell nuclear material to Iran like that without drawing a lot of attention.

What's more worrying is that the Yakuza is apparently involved in producing weapons grade nuclear material. That should put them at the top of pretty much everyone's shitlist.

Edited by Redmess on Feb 22nd 2024 at 12:13:37 PM

It's more or less the plot of the first episode of Black Lagoon.

Edited by Noaqiyeum on Feb 22nd 2024 at 10:44:11 AM