Skip to main content
Nuclear physics

Nuclear physics

Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight

12 Jun 1998

The "Doomsday Clock" that measures how close the human race is to nuclear catastrophe was moved five minutes closer to midnight yesterday. The board of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - which controls the clock - made the change for three main reasons: last month's nuclear tests by Pakistan and India; increased fears of a collapse of the nuclear non-proliferation regime; and the failure of the US and Russia to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The opportunity presented by the end of the cold war has been 'squandered' according to the board.

The Doomsday Clock was set up in 1947 by atomic scientists concerned at the growing nuclear tensions between the US and Soviet Union. Initially the clock read seven minutes to midnight, and moved to two minutes to midnight after the first hydrogen bombs were tested. Until yesterday the time on the clock was 14 minutes to midnight.

The board claims that the tests by India and Pakistan are a symptom of the failure of the international community to fully commit itself to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. It points in particular to the failure of the Russia Duma and the US Congress to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Of the five nuclear powers, only France and the UK have so far ratified the CTBT. The Duma has also refused to ratify the START II nuclear arms reduction treaty. Over 30, 000 nuclear weapons are currently kept in a state of readiness by Russia and the US.

Meanwhile the government in Pakistan has announced a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing and says that it is ready to formalise this arrangement with India. However, Pakistan is still refusing to sign the CTBT.

Related events

Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors