Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2023
Volume 68, Number 3
Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5-10)
Virtual (March 20-22); Time Zone: Pacific Time
Session B50: Russia's Attack on Ukraine: Effects on the Threat of Nuclear War and the Future of Arms ControlInvited Undergrad Friendly
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Sponsoring Units: FPS Chair: Frederick Lamb, University of Illinois Room: Room 320 |
Monday, March 6, 2023 11:30AM - 12:06PM |
B50.00001: The effect of the invasion on the risk of nuclear war between Russia and the US/NATO, both now and in the near future. How can this risk be reduced? Invited Speaker: Rose Gottemoeller The Russian invasion of Ukraine has tested nuclear deterrence theory as it has not been tested since the Cuban Missile Crisis sixty years ago. At the current moment, it is evident that the United States and its NATO allies are avoiding any action that would implicate NATO in an attack against Russian territory. Russia, likewise, is appearing to avoid action that would amount to an attack against NATO, even though its strategic bombers have endured damage during an attack—unattributed—against bases far inside Russian territory. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 12:06PM - 12:42PM |
B50.00002: Eternally Entwined? Russia, Ukraine and the war that cannot be lost Invited Speaker: Francesca Giovannini The relationship between Ukraine and Russia is steeped in a rich and complex history, marked by a longstanding legacy of animosity, mistrust, and violence. As the birthplace of Russian civilization, Ukraine has long held immense significance for the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. With the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the USSR, Ukraine gained its much-coveted independence and, as a nascent democracy, began to forge closer ties with Western Europe and the European integration project, seen as a crucial step towards securing its economic future. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 12:42PM - 1:18PM |
B50.00003: The Growing Nuclear Danger and Options for Stepping Back from the Brink Invited Speaker: Daryl Kimball Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and threats of nuclear weapons use have reawakened the world to the dangers of nuclear war and severely complicated progress to negotiate new risk reduction and arms control measures. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 1:18PM - 1:54PM |
B50.00004: The new risks posed by nuclear facilities in war zones, and how to reduce them Invited Speaker: Francois Diaz-Maurin Nuclear power plants are designed to operate safely, but not to find themselves in a war zone. Despite international agreements to exclude nuclear power plants from war zones, Russia has recklessly attacked these facilities in Ukraine. With the Russia-Ukraine war, nuclear power plants have become a new instrument for making war, either by threatening to attack them or by using them as a shield to conduct military activities. A focal point of concern has been the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine–one of the 10 biggest nuclear plants in the world and Europe’s largest–which Russian forces shelled and seized in March of last year. Experts have said a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia plant could come from the combination of a loss of external power, human error, and military mistake. These concerns prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency to mount a support and assistance mission–the riskiest mission of the agency’s history–in September 2022. Nuclear safety experts offered advice on how to avoid a major accident at the embattled plant. But others warned that the deteriorating working and living conditions at the plant occupied by Russian forces could nevertheless thrust the plant into a disaster. These concerns have also prompted international law experts and scholars to propose revising the current nuclear security regime to better protect nuclear facilities during wartime. Using the example of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, this talk will give an overview of the type of vulnerabilities nuclear facilities can face during wartime. The various legal measures proposed for their protection and existing points of disagreement will also be discussed. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 1:54PM - 2:30PM |
B50.00005: Global Implications of Russia's Re-Invasion of Ukraine for Nuclear Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament Efforts Invited Speaker: Sahil Shah Now a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin re-invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it has become abundantly clear that the nuclear shadow that looms over the Russo-Ukrainian War is there to stay. While this shadow is darkest over Ukraine, it has an omnipresent yet visceral presence across the Euro-Atlantic region and the entire world. The ensuing global conversation on the prospects of nuclear war has enabled both proponents and opponents of these weapons systems in unique ways, influencing public opinion on how their respective governments should react to Russia's nuclear sabre-rattling in varied directions. In short, sharpened attention towards nuclear weapons has resulted in different takes on their utility. While it is difficult to predict how the war will shape global nuclear politics and the value given to these weapons in the long term, the last year alone has proven that the conflict has already had – and will continue to have – far-ranging and deep implications on nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and disarmament efforts. This lecture will chart the wider nuclear context in which the first year of the Russo-Ukrainian War has taken place, identifying both negative trends in each of these three areas as well as potential opportunities for progress. This talk is co-sponsored by the University of Illinois Physics Department. |
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