Nukes of Hazard
Episodes
Congress’s Only PhD Physicist on Iran's Nuclear Program
25 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has embroiled the United States in yet another war in the Middle East, and at the heart of his shifting reasons for striking Iran with...
With Doomsday Approaching, Is It Time for a New Start?
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Doomsday Clock has just been set at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to symbolic human-caused Armageddon. It's no coincidence ...
Are We Living in a House of Dynamite?
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Has “A House of Dynamite” popped up on your Netflix? Our staff got the chance to see it early in theaters and decided to break down what this film...
80 Years Later: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Legacy of Hibakusha
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the first nuclear weapons ever used against another country. In this spe...
Exploring Iran's Nuclear Program
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With decreasing transparency and increasing tensions in the Middle East, Iran’s nuclear ambitions are constantly in the news. How close is Iran to a...
The Elimination of U.S. Chemical Weapons: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chemical weapons have left a lasting impression on global security since their introduction in World War I. Now, with 100% of America's chemical weapo...
How Open-Source Intelligence Can Unlock Nuclear Secrets
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) and satellite imagery have changed the way civil organizations understand and evaluate nuclear arsenals and delivery ...
Nuclear Inheritance Part 2: Ukraine and the Bomb
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought us closer to nuclear escalation than ever in a post Cold War world. One major question hangs overhead: wha...
Nuclear Inheritance Part 1: Kazakhstan and Nuclear Testing
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a new country is born with nuclear weapons already within its borders? What happens when the legacy of nuclear testing takes place a...
The Future of Battlefield Nuclear Weapons
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Battlefield nuclear weapons — also called tactical or nonstrategic nuclear weapons — are a continuing topic of conversation in the halls of Congre...
Rethinking Security in the Post-9/11 World
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, a day that changed the trajectory of world history in ways that we are still comin...
China's Nuclear Buildup and the Case for Dialogue
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There is a rising clamor among top U.S. policymakers pushing for more military spending to confront China. Recent discoveries of new nuclear missile s...
Footballs, Biscuits and America's Nuclear Monarchy
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Inauguration Day means it's almost time for the nuclear football to shift from one president to another. But how does that work, exactly? And in a cou...
2020 Mailbag Special Episode
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You asked, we answered! In our annual year-end mailbag podcast episode, host Geoff Wilson and Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell take on listener-s...
The President and the Nuclear Button
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With the 2020 presidential election looming large, it’s a good time to take a look at the absolute power the President of the United States has over...
75 Years Later: the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
August 6 marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the bombing of Nagasaki, on August 9th. In this s...
Survivor of 1988 Chemical Weapons Attack Shares His Story
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mariwan Hama was 8 years old when he was a victim of a chemical weapons attack. It was 1988, during the closing days of the Iran-Iraq War, and the Ira...
Down the Rabbit Hole: Planning for Nuclear War
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Since the beginning of the nuclear age, there have been hundreds of serious and well-drilled plans about how the United States would use nuclear weapo...
2019 Mailbag Special Episode
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For our last episode of the year, experts at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation answered listener-submitted questions on topics like ho...
Women in Nuclear Security
03 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Women have been involved with U.S. nuclear weapons policy since before there were even nuclear weapons. Yet, women are still fighting hard for their p...
The Human Cost of the Hiroshima Bombing
06 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Kathleen Burkinshaw's mother was 12 years old when she survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Now 74 years later, the author of "The Last Cherry Bl...
Why Don’t Americans Talk About Their Nukes Anymore?
26 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Many Americans believe the “nuclear issue” was solved when the Cold War ended. Yet, there are still 14,000 nuclear weapons around the world today ...
Will the Real Godzilla Please Stand Up
07 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Almost everyone has heard of Godzilla, even if they’ve never seen a Godzilla movie. What most people don’t know is the famous monster’s connecti...
Bonus Episode: Ankit Panda on India's Anti-Satellite Test
18 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of March, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India had successfully shot down one of its own satellites with an anti-satell...
Star Wars: The Phantom Interceptor
03 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
At the launch of his Administration's Missile Defense Review, President Trump declared that his goal is to intercept enemy missiles "anywhere, anytime...
Trumping Reagan's Nuclear Legacy
20 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has announced that the United States will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a landmark agreement negot...
50 Years Later
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy feared that 25 countries could possess nuclear weapons by the 1970's. Today, nine countries have them. Many experts...
The Art of Violating the Deal
11 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump announced he would withdraw from and openly violate U.S. commitments under the Iran Deal. We speak with nuclear expert Joe Cirincione ...
Trump's New Nukes
02 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump Administration has just released its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a document that calls for new nuclear capabilities and shatters a decades...
The Nuclear Triad
21 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"The Nuclear Triad" defines the three strategic delivery systems in the U.S. nuclear arsenal: land-based missiles, submarine-based missiles, and weapo...
Decertifying Without Cause
16 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Citing no substantive evidence, President Trump announced that he would not certify the Iran nuclear agreement, setting up a 60-day window for Congres...
Cooperative Threat Reduction or: How I Stopped Worrying and Got Rid of the Bomb
15 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When the Cold War ended, four separate countries suddenly inherited the former Soviet nuclear arsenal. Destroying and removing those weapons was a he...
The Once and Future Framework
11 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1994, the United States negotiated an agreement with North Korea that curbed its nuclear ambitions for eight years. The collapse of the agreement o...
Trinity: The First Nuclear Test
28 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Contrary to popular belief, the first nuclear explosion in human history took place not in Japan, but in New Mexico. This episode dives into that test...
The Iran Deal Two-Year Anniversary
14 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's been two years since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal -- was signed. We speak to Ambassador Wend...
The Cloud of Nuclear Winter
30 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1961, the Soviet Union tested the largest nuclear weapon in history. At about 3,800 times more powerful than the bombs used against Japan, the effe...
The Day After A Nuclear War
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1983, a movie was released about nuclear war that shocked 100 million Americans. This episode dives into the movie and how it impacted President Re...
The Cuban Missile Crisis
02 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It was one of the tensest moments in American history. The discovery of Soviet nuclear missile infrastructure in Cuba set off a chain of events that c...
Congressman Lieu on Nuclear First Strike
19 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
One single person has the sole authority to launch U.S. nuclear weapons: The President of the United States. We spoke with Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA)...
Nukes of Hazard: MacArthur's Almost Nuclear War
05 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
During the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur requested more than 30 nuclear weapons. This episode dives into the story and takes you inside modern...
Nukes of Hazard: Goldsboro and the Nuclear News
21 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1961, a nuclear bomb almost detonated over North Carolina. This episode explains how a nuclear catastrophe was barely avoided, and brings you up to...