The cold we forgot: Norway's missing nuclear winter preparedness
This memorandum assesses Norway's lack of nuclear winter preparedness and aims to raise awareness of the necessity of preparing for a potential nuclear winter.
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Nuclear winter as a concept first became known towards the end of the Cold War, and refers to a situation where nuclear weapons exposure leads to massive fires and soot injections into the atmosphere, with long-term consequences for climate. Despite Norway's strong emergency preparedness tradition, preparedness for such a scenario has been neglected. Given the current unstable political tensions between nuclear states, this is increasingly problematic. The memo points out that even a regional nuclear war could have serious consequences for Norway due to consequences for climate and agriculture, but also supply lines and the economy. In order to strengthen preparedness, a division of responsibilities among relevant bodies is therefore proposed, with an emphasis on cross-sectoral cooperation. In particular, KUA, DSB, and the Food Preparedness Council should lead efforts to prepare Norway for a nuclear winter scenario.
Click to download the memo (NB: This PDF is in Norwegian).
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