Nuclear Security
‘Nuclear
winter’ threat dismissed by Thatcher govt, papers reveal
Published time: December 30, 2014 17:22
AFP
Photo
Threats
of a “nuclear winter” in the wake of a catastrophic war with the Soviet Union
were rejected as alarmist scaremongering by the late Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher’s government, Home Office papers reveal.
Intriguingly, officials working under the Thatcher
administration were more concerned with tracking the actions of anti-nuclear
campaigners and lobbyists who opposed the deployment of cruise missiles, papers
released by the National Archives on Tuesday suggest.
One file, called “Nuclear winter – global
atmospheric consequences of nuclear war,” indicates that government
officials tasked with emergency defense planning in 1984 concluded they did not
need to research the potential impacts of a so-called Nuclear Winter.
Other
government figures agreed with the Home Office’s emergency planning division
that the theory did not require serious assessment, an internal memo dated
December 1984 notes.
The
confidential documents were contained in a cache of classified files released
under Britain’s 30-Year Rule, which requires the publication of sensitive
government documents after three decades.
The end of civilization?
A
product of Cold War tension, the nuclear winter theory predicted serial nuclear
strikes would create disastrous firestorms characterized by colossal plumes of
black smoke.
Advocates
of the hypothesis suggested these toxic clouds would hang in the Earth’s
stratosphere for prolonged periods, depriving human civilization of adequate
sunlight. It was also estimated ground level temperatures would plummet for
months or even years, making life for survivors of such a disaster very
difficult.
Following a slew of newspaper articles suggesting that
US scientists backed the concept, MPs serving under late PM Margaret Thatcher
raised concerns. Alluding to its “policy of deterrence,” the
government responded, saying it believed nuclear warfare was “extremely
unlikely.”
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