NukeTalk

Sit back, relax, and say adieu! Today on the Nuclear Movie Club, we're wrapping this baby up. Scott and I conclude NukeTalk's Nuclear Movie Club season with some big picture musings on the season as a whole, the future of the nuclear movie canon, and we end with a rapid fire Nuclear Movie Club Awards segment. Now, NukeTalk is going on hiatus! Follow Ploughshares on  Instagram  and  X @plough_share...

Sit back, relax, and brush up on your Reagan-era politics—today on the Nuclear Movie Club, we're talking about Nicholas Meyer's 1983 television movie, The Day After . On this episode, Scott and I discuss if  The Day After is defining film of the nuclear film canon, the hopeful yet inconsistent tone of this disaster movie, and The Day After 's legacy among an entire generation, including its impact...

Sit back, relax, and don't watch this movie after you've eaten—today on the Nuclear Movie Club, we're talking about Mick Jackson's 1984 television movie, Threads . On this episode, Scott and I discuss if Threads is the most "comprehensive" nuclear film, the movie's jarring and unflinching portrayal of a post-nuclear landscape, and the news that a British production studio plans to develop Threads...

Sit back, relax, and find love at the La Brea Tar Pits for Miracle Mile , a 1988 film written and, after being passed around Hollywood for a decade, also directed by Steve De Jarnatt.  In this episode of the  Nuclear Movie Club , NukeTalk cohosts Rebecka Green and Scott Strgacich discuss  Miracle Mile 's tumultuous pre-production history, the film's startling tonal shifts, whether a nuclear movie...

Sit back, relax, and brew a pot of tea for When the Wind Blows , a 1986 animated film directed by Jimmy Murakami based on the graphic novel by Raymond Briggs. In this episode of the Nuclear Movie Club , NukeTalk producer Rebecka Green and Ploughshares Roger L. Hale Fellow Scott Strgacich discuss  When the Wind Blow 's domestic eeriness, the big punch a small-scale story can make, how the film's an...

Sit back, relax, and run like Tom Cruise trying to prevent an evil AI entity from causing nuclear war, for the Mission Impossible franchise. Mission Impossible is an 8-movie run of action films starring Tom Cruise and spanning three decades, concluding with 2025's  MI: Final Reckoning, which is the main focus of our conversation. In this episode of the Nuclear Movie Club , NukeTalk producer Rebeck...

Sit back, relax, and pack snacks for the War Room for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb , Stanley Kubrick's 1964 political satire starring Peter Sellers (x3) and George C. Scott. After a brief New Years break, in this episode of the Nuclear Movie Club , NukeTalk producer Rebecka Green and Ploughshares Roger L. Hale Fellow Scott Strgacich discuss  Dr. Strangelove...

Sit back, relax, and hold your loved ones tight for On the Beach , Stanley Kramer's 1959 apocalyptic drama starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins. In this episode of the  Nuclear Movie Club , NukeTalk producer Rebecka Green and Ploughshares Roger L. Hale Fellow Scott Strgacich discuss  On the Beach 's depiction of the end times, the creep of nuclear fallout, and whet...

Sit back, relax, and choose your second-in-command wisely for  Crimson Tide , Tony Scott's 1995 military thriller starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. In this episode of the Nuclear Movie Club , NukeTalk producer Rebecka Green and Ploughshares Roger L. Hale Fellow Scott Strgacich discuss  Crimson Tide 's submarine technicalities, the nuclear attitude of the mid-90s, and if the film's mutin...

Sit back, relax, and join the Nuclear Movie Club for WarGames , John Badham's 1983 technothriller starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy—and perhaps better known as the movie that caused President Ronald Reagan *major anxiety* about U.S. cybersecurity. In this episode, NukeTalk producer Rebecka Green and Ploughshares Roger L Hale Fellow Scott Strgacich discuss WarGames 's many (many!) themes,...

For the first episode of NukeTalk' s new season, Nuclear Movie Club, we are joined by Noah Oppenheim, screenwriter of A House of Dynamite— a new Netflix film by Kathryn Bigelow—and former president of NBC News.  The Nuclear Movie Club will cover 10 defining movies in the nuclear film canon that represent a breadth of plot, theme, tone, and cultural impact. What do these films get right, and wrong,...

As we conclude our Nuclear Ballot season, we are wrapping up with an Inauguration Special Report. Our guest is Jon Wolfsthal, Director of Global Risk at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), as we explore what comes next regarding nuclear policy, domestic policy, and foreign policy at large, now that Donald J. Trump is the President of the United States. 

In our 2024 holiday episode, we're joined by Jamie Kwong, a Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to explore the fascinating connection between climate change and nuclear weapons. Grab your favorite holiday drink and listen in!

What's at stake in this election? With nukes on the line, experts share what's on their minds just days before the election. How could this election reshape US nuclear policy?  Find out with insights from Molly Hurley , Allen Hester , and Esther Im as they break down the nuclear issues that could shape the future. Tune in for a wrap-up of The Nuclear Ballot season!

This election isn't just about votes—it's about who controls the world's most powerful weapons. In this season of NukeTalk, we will explore The Nuclear Ballot: How the U.S. Election Shapes Nuclear Policy. We bring you insights from top nuclear weapons experts on how this election can shape nuclear weapons policy in the future as stakes rise in this election cycle.   In this episode, we'll explore...

This election isn't just about votes—it's about who controls the world's most powerful weapons. In this season of NukeTalk , we will explore The Nuclear Ballot: How the U.S. Election Shapes Nuclear Policy. We bring you insights from top nuclear weapons experts on how this election can shape nuclear weapons policy in the future as stakes rise in this election cycle. In this episode, we delve into t...

There's more to this election cycle than who wins and who loses. It's also about who controls one of the world's largest nuclear arsenals. In this season of NukeTalk , we will explore The Nuclear Ballot: How the U.S. Election Shapes Nuclear Policy . We'll provide expert insights into how this election can affect nuclear weapons policy. As we explore the President's exclusive authority to launch nu...

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was created by the federal government to partially compensate Americans who developed certain diseases as a result of being exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons production. Advocates are working to save the program, which is expiring on June 7. Guests include Christen Commuso (Missouri Coalition for the Environment) and Sofia Guerra (Friends Comm...

The US government poured $8 billion dollars down the drain when politics and poor planning left its efforts to dispose of Cold War-era plutonium at the Savannah River Site a failure. Now, it wants to produce plutonium pits at the site. Guests include Tom Clements (Savannah River Site Watch) and Taylor Barnes (Field Reporter for Inkstick Media).

It was the uranium enriched at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee that was used in Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August of 1945. Today, every single weapon in the US' nuclear arsenal, all 5,000, has parts that were built or maintained at Y-12. Guests include Tanya Kardile (Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance) and Emily Strasser (author of Half-life of a secret: Reckoni...

The Pantex Plant sits just 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas. It's the only remaining assembly and disassembly plant for nuclear weapons in the United States.   Guests include Barbara Kent (downwinder and advocate), Kaysie Kent (downwinder and advocate), and Lucie Genay (author of Under the Cap of Invisibility: The Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant and the Texas Panhandle) .

In 1989, a team of FBI agents raided and shut down the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant after nearly 3 years of investigation into its environmental and waste practices. It was the first-ever raid of one government agency by another. Featured guests include Kristen Iversen (Author of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats ), Jon Lipsky (Former FBI Special Agent who led...

Over 80 years ago, Hanford was miles and miles of open farmland. Now, it's known as the most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere. This episode features Steve Olson, author of the book Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age, and Britany   Lindley, staff attorney at Hanford Challenge.  

The holiday season here! So is Human Rights Day. Listen to this special holiday episode about the intersections between justice, human rights, and nuclear weapons. Guests include Mary Dickson (Downwinder and Activist) and Lilly Adams (Union of Concerned Scientists).

We're not quite done with Oppenheimer yet! In this bonus episode, Ploughshares Fund President Dr. Emma Belcher sits down with Charles Oppenheimer, grandson of J. Robert Oppenheimer. The two discuss how growing up in New Mexico, the site of the Trinity Test, and being an Oppenheimer shaped his views on nuclear weapons. They also discussed how the film helped organize and raise awareness of those wo...