Eighty years ago, nuclear weapons were used in war for the first time. In the final days of the Second World War, the U.S. Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by another on Nagasaki. Around 100,000 people were killed instantly, and countless more died in the years and decades that followed as a result of radiation exposure.
In an interview with tagesschau, Dr. Ulrich Kühn, Head of the Research Unit on Arms Control and Emerging Technologies at IFSH, explains how serious the nuclear threat is today, how to assess current nuclear saber-rattling from Russia and the United States, and why the new nuclear arms race may be even more dangerous than the one between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
On the same subject, Ulrich Kühn has also spoken to SWR radio and to the tageszeitung (taz). A selection of these interviews can be found here.
Other members of the IFSH team have also given interviews on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and on today’s nuclear threats.
Lukas Mengelkamp explained in an interview with the ProSieben news desk why he considers the current threat more serious than during the Cold War. The segment “Hiroshima. 80 Jahre nach der Atombombe.” from 06.08.25 can be viewed here.
©IFSH/Felix Matthies
©IFSH/Felix Matthies
