Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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AGA: Arbeitsgruppe Physik und Abrüstung

AGA 6: Nuclear Weapon Effects

AGA 6.2: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 16:15–17:15, KH 00.016

From Local Impacts to Global Risks: New Science on Nuclear War Consequences — •Friederike Friess — BOKU University, Vienna

Heightened geopolitical tensions have renewed attention to the health and environmental consequences of nuclear explosions and war. Reflecting this urgency, WHO has convened a new working group to update its reports on nuclear weapons and health, and the UN Scientific Panel on the Effects of Nuclear War began work last summer, with a comprehensive assessment due by September 2027. Drawing on literature reviews and the authors' participation in the UN panel and respective research, this presentation traces the field's evolution from understanding local impacts to globally integrated monitoring and modeling. We highlight two active areas of research and debate: atmospheric transport of radioactive particles, moving beyond idealized spherical assumptions to more realistic morphologies; and the magnitude of global consequences governed by soot injection from large fires, with implications for climate perturbations and downstream risks to food security and public health.