Global Scans · Nuclear winter · Weekly Summary

A global catastrophic risk is a hypothetical future event that has the potential to damage human well-being on a global scale. Some events could cripple or destroy modern civilization. Any event that could cause human extinction is known as an existential risk.

• ITER, which stands for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, is located in southern France and will be the world's largest nuclear fusion plant when it comes online. New Atlas
• Kiev could continue to work on the creation of a dirty bomb, adding that the possible use of the dirty bomb by Kiev would have severe consequences for the life and health of the entire population and ecosystems of Eastern Europe. The Automatic Earth
• If NATO moves Western troops into Ukraine, it could trigger a nuclear holocaust. WORLD
• Although TikTok's use by Americans does not pose an immediate doomsday crisis like exploding thermonuclear weapons, its long-term threat to national security may ultimately jeopardize the very freedoms American cherish. American Enterprise Institute - AEI
• The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, in the South of France will be delayed for at least eight years. Electronics Weekly
• The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, set to go online in 2025, holds promise for further advancements. ISP Today
• By May, Russian forces had taken control of Mariupol, a strategically important port city in southeastern Ukraine, while ongoing fighting near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant repeatedly raised fears of a nuclear disaster. Global Conflict Tracker
• Russia has claimed Ukraine was risking a nuclear disaster, saying nine Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, Europe's largest atomic power plant. The Guardian
• Similar to Japan, Taiwan has limited land mass that could potentially be contaminated in the event of a nuclear disaster, as occurred in Fukushima prefecture. New Bloom Magazine
• The United States could provide India with a reliable thermonuclear weapon design. Foreign Affairs Magazine
• In the absence of a clear, coordinated plan to deal with Russia's escalating nuclear threats, western leaders have edged us closer to the nuclear disaster they are seeking to avoid. The Guardian
• Short of finding some way to remake the Martian environment (Musk has proposed immolating the planet with thermonuclear warheads to catalyze a runaway greenhouse effect), the actual experience of life on Mars is likely to be more complicated, and not in any way that could be described as good. NOEMA
• The risk of nuclear reactors for energy is far lower than the risk incurred in the case of thermonuclear war. UW-Madison MacArthur Fellow warns of nuclear fallout ri
• The US plans to start volume production of its newest B61 - 13 thermonuclear bombs later in May, almost a year ahead of schedule. Mehr News Agency

Last updated: 01 November 2026