Info Packet #2: Understanding and Teaching about Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Blast Simulator

Developed by the Outrider Foundation, this teaching tool graphically describes the terrifying impact of a nuclear weapon on a student’s home city or different locations around the world. Click HERE to visit this interactive tool.

The Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons

In recent years, there has been a growing perspective among diplomats, politicians, and activists that the case for nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament must be made not just based on political or strategic logic, but increasingly based on the humanitarian consequences and inherent risks of nuclear weapons, which are far higher and graver than previously assumed. In recent years, there has been intensifying activity from international organisations from the UN system, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements, academics and experts, representatives of civil society, and hibakusha to increase the urgency of nonproliferation and disarmament.

The humanitarian consequences and risks approach provides much of the impetus behind the Oleander Initiative. In the video above, Ira Helfand of the Nobel Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War examines the consequences of nuclear exchange, including the immediate rise of temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun and nuclear winter, which would lead to widespread famine across the globe.

Please also find below a link from Ambassador Alexander Kmentt (Ambassador/Director for Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austria), at the World Conference Against A- and H- Bombs.  During his speech, Ambassador Kmentt establishes an argument for why nonproliferation and disarmament movements must include the humanitarian consequences and risks.

Click here to read that speech.

Basic Info: Nuclear 101 Tutorial

Using videos, text, photos, and infographics, the Nuclear Threat Initiative helps visitors to the Nuclear 101 site grasp the science behind nuclear energy and weapons from production through disposal. Be sure to check out the Overview and pages on Uranium Enrichment, Reactors & Plutonium, and the development and characteristics of Nuclear Weapons, all presented in engaging formats with helpful information on these complicated processes.

Click here to visit NTI’s Nuclear 101.

Educational Materials and Resources for Teachers

One of the objectives of the Oleander Initiative is for participants to transmit what they learned in Hiroshima to their students. The Critical Issues Forum program specifically tailors educational resources for teachers of high school students to become aware of nonproliferation and disarmament issues as well as develop critical thinking skills. CIF resources include PowerPoint Presentations, ideas for Student Research and Projects, and Video Tutorials that are helpful in developing a curriculum on nuclear weapons.

Click here to access these fantastic teaching tools.