Nuclear Security Summit: A look at the history of nuclear protests

World Today

Anti-Nuclear proliferation activists are making their voices heard, protesting the threat of nuclear weapons. But government leaders won’t be listening anytime soon.

CCTV America’s Jim Spellman reports.

Protesters are rallying on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit.

“My generation didn’t grow up during the cold war. The issue of nuclear weapons fell off the map, so we have a lot of work to do to engage young people on this issue,” Lillyanne Daigle of Global Zero said.

The protest is small with only about 100 people. While the anti-nuke protests around the world have at times been much larger, the issue no longer seems urgent to young people.

In the 1950s, people were taught to “duck and cover” in case of a nuclear attack. Nuclear arsenals around the world grew and the anti-nuke movement was born, even as nuclear power was promoted as the energy of the future. And despite fears, concerns, and protests, nuclear weapons and nuclear power are likely here to stay.

As fossil fuels become scarce, nuclear power will likely become a larger part of the energy mix and there is little chance the US, Russia or other nuclear countries will give up nuclear weapons any time soon.


NEI Supplier and Intl Programs VP Daniel Lipman on Nuclear Collaboration

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