Growing Nuclear Threats Pose Grave Danger to World Peace: Warn Experts and Survivors on 80th Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing
As the global community observes the 80th anniversary of the first deployment of a nuclear weapon, specifically the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during the final stages of World War II, experts and survivors are sounding alarm bells about the increasing likelihood of such weapons being used again in the near future.
On Wednesday morning, dignitaries and a diminishing number of survivors gathered at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to commemorate the tragic event that occurred on August 6, 1945, when a US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb known as “Little Boy.” Three days later, Nagasaki suffered a similar fate with the detonation of another US atomic bomb.
The aftermath of these attacks resulted in over 110,000 immediate fatalities, with hundreds of thousands more succumbing to injuries and radiation-related illnesses in subsequent years. To this day, these events remain the only instances of nuclear weapons being utilized in warfare.
Despite the passage of time, the threat posed by these devastating weapons persists. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba recently stated that international divisions over nuclear disarmament are growing more pronounced, and the current security environment is becoming increasingly precarious.
Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots organization comprising survivors who were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for their efforts towards nuclear abolition, expressed concern about the escalating nuclear threat. In a statement issued ahead of the commemoration ceremony, they emphasized the urgent need to influence nuclear states that remain indifferent to their concerns.
Recent geopolitical tensions have served as reminders of this ongoing peril. Over the past week alone, there has been nuclear posturing between Russia and the United States due to Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine, while the US recently struck Iranian nuclear facilities using conventional bombs in an effort to impede Iran’s nuclear program.
Earlier in the year, India and Pakistan engaged in a brief conflict over the contentious Kashmir issue, prompting international leaders to intervene and avoid a potentially disastrous escalation between the two nations.
In June, Hans Kristensen, an associate senior fellow with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Weapons of Mass Destruction Program, noted a concerning trend of growing nuclear arsenals, increased nuclear rhetoric, and the abandonment of arms control agreements.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved their “Doomsday Clock,” initially established in 1947, closer to a catastrophic global scenario than ever before this year, with the clock now reading 89 seconds to midnight. Although the clock advanced only one second from its 2024 position, the slight difference should not be interpreted as a cause for celebration, according to a press release accompanying the update.
“Because the world is already precariously close to the brink, a movement of even a single second should be seen as a clear indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster,” the press release stated.
In addition to nuclear threats, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists considers climate change, biological hazards such as pandemics and bioweapons, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence when setting the clock. However, the 2025 report underscores the pressing nature of the nuclear threat.
“The countries that possess nuclear weapons are increasing the size and role of their arsenals, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons capable of destroying civilization,” the Doomsday Clock report stated.
By today’s standards, the Hiroshima atomic bomb, with an explosive yield of 15 kilotons, would be classified as a low-yield nuclear weapon. In contrast, the largest nuclear weapon in the US arsenal has a yield of 1.2 megatons – 80 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.
A modern nuclear weapon, if detonated over a populated area, could potentially claim the lives of millions instantly, according to experts’ warnings. There are currently more than 12,000 such weapons in the possession of nine nuclear powers – the US, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel – as reported by SIPRI.
According to SIPRI’s most recent annual report, nearly all of these countries continued to prioritize extensive nuclear modernization programs in 2024, focusing on upgrading existing weapons and developing newer versions.
The US and Russia together account for approximately 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, but smaller nuclear powers are either expanding or planning to expand their arsenals, according to the report. China has been a driving force behind this growth, with an estimated annual increase of about 100 nuclear warheads, a trend SIPRI predicts will continue.
India is thought to be augmenting its stockpile, and the UK is expected to do so soon, according to the report. Meanwhile, North Korea shows no signs of relinquishing its nuclear status, with Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, stating last month that Pyongyang will not abandon its weapons in exchange for negotiations with Washington and Seoul.
“Any attempt to challenge the DPRK’s status as a nuclear weapons state will be resolutely rejected,” Kim Yo Jong declared, using the initials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s formal name.