Ongoing Risk of Accidental Nuclear War: A Look Back at Historical Close Calls

In the past, there were nearly 150 close calls to nuclear war
Can’t rule out the possibility of accidental nuclear war
There were also times when it almost happened due to machine errors

No creature on Earth has ever faced the risk of extinction due to its creation. Only humans have lived in fear of their extinction due to the weapons they have created. And Putin’s recent consideration of using nuclear weapons seems to be pushing humanity back into fear of nuclear weapons.

It’s pretty shocking that in the past, there were as many as 150 times when these nuclear weapons could have been accidentally used due to machine or computer errors or negligence in management. Today, let’s look at a representative case that almost led to accidental nuclear war, the case of Stanislav Petrov.

Various reasons, including machine and computer errors
The risk of accidental nuclear war has always been present

All devices created by humans have the potential for malfunction. While minor errors can be repaired and corrected, in the past, this could have been one of the causes that could potentially lead to the extinction of humanity. There were even cases where a training disk for nuclear war preparedness was left out, causing an alarm indicating that a missile was coming and the launch button was about to be pressed after entering the password.

This potential nuclear war, which could happen unintentionally, is often called an ‘accidental nuclear war.’ During the Cold War alone, there were over 150 cases where an accidental nuclear war almost occurred between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In other words, there were more than 150 moments when the possibility of human extinction exceeded 90% in that short period.

The Soviet officer who saved the Earth
‘It seems to be a computer error’

The most dramatic of these incidents was the case of Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov. In 1983, during the height of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War, including the shooting down of Korean Air Flight 007, Petrov, who was on duty at the control center, suddenly received a signal from an early warning satellite that the U.S. had launched five ICBMs. All of the Soviet Union’s nuclear missile silos were immediately armed, and he had only a few minutes to make a decision. In front of Petrov at the time, it was essentially a button to start a nuclear war.

However, Petrov, based on the fact that the U.S. had used only five ICBMs, not all nuclear weapons, judged that this could be an error in the computer or satellite and entered the nuclear war cancellation code, then reported to his superiors, ‘It seems to be a computer error.’ This was indeed the case, and no nuclear war occurred, but Petrov was reportedly fired for covering up the flaws in the nuclear weapons system.

The whole story of the incident was revealed 15 years later
Using nuclear weapons is the end of the world

After Petrov was discharged, he lived on a military pension, and the truth of the incident was revealed in 1998, 15 years later, when top-secret documents were released after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Petrov, who received the UN commendation, the Dresden Prize, and the World Citizen Award, calmly stated that he was doing his job and reportedly passed away in 2017 surrounded by his family.

South Korea is primarily relieved of the tension of nuclear war due to the influence of North Korea. This is because almost all experts argue that there is no possibility of North Korea using nuclear weapons. However, even so, a single nuclear weapon can lead humanity to the end of the world. The U.S.’s strong reaction to Russia’s recent consideration of nuclear options can also be derived from past experiences.