Doomsday Clock Ticks Closer To Midnight

On Jan. 24, the “Doomsday Clock” maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was set at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has come to its symbolic depiction of global catastrophe since it was created in 1947 by scientists who worked on the first atomic bombs during World War II. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in August 2022 that the world had entered “a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.”

The decision was due to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the accompanying danger of a nuclear strike by accident or intention, or a nuclear disaster following repeated Russian attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in southern Ukraine.

The risk of nuclear disaster moved closer to reality on June 6, when the Kakhovka Dam spanning the Dnipro River in Ukraine’s Kherson region was breached. The Ukrainians say it was blown up by Russian forces, who have occupied the site since last year’s invasion. The Russians blame the Ukrainians. Experts say the most likely cause was an internal explosion. Structural failure was less plausible, while external blasts could not create the force necessary to crack the dam.

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