Publication

This paper discusses the risks involved in a state having nuclear weapons and the possibility of a detonation of a weapon by accident as well as the part such risks play in understanding the potential humanitarian impact nuclear weapons could have. The author contends that although the management of nuclear weapons might reduce risk, risk cannot be eliminated in such systems. Furthermore, he suggests that evidence of catastrophic accidents involving hazardous technologies of various kinds indicates that significant risk is endemic in complex and tightly coupled systems, such as that involved in nuclear weapon control systems.