, Columnist
Climate Change and Nuclear Waste Are a Toxic Stew
A hotter and more chaotic atmosphere is making it harder to build weapons and store contaminated material safely.
Texas wildfires demonstrated the threat they could pose to nuclear-weapons facilities.
Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg
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One of global warming’s more colorful dangers is the possibility that melting permafrost will revive prehistoric diseases and trigger horrific pandemics. But the more immediate candidates for a disastrous, climate-fueled comeback are newer and man-made.
A hotter and more chaotic atmosphere is making it harder to build nuclear weapons and store waste safely in an unhappy union of two of humanity’s biggest headaches. There’s little evidence we’re prepared for what could come next.