THE GOOD NEWS

At least 13 countries have started nuclear weapons programs and then abandoned them, partly due to the extreme cost.

The SANE movement (started in the 1950’s), the Nuclear Freeze movement (started in the 1980’s) and Peace Action (started in the 1990’s) were successful in raising awareness and promoting disarmament treaties, notably the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the START Treaties.

The number of nuclear weapons worldwide shrank from at least 60,000 in 1983 to slightly under 15,000 today, most of which are in the USA and Russia.

THE BAD NEWS

Most of the dismantled weapons were obsolete, either too small to keep under control, or too big to fit on missiles. Some were just stupid — for example, those that were launched from jeeps or helicopters that couldn’t get out of the way before they exploded.

So don’t be fooled – the nuclear weapons we have left are all many times more powerful and more accurate, and therefore much more dangerous than ever before.