The N word

A useful omnibus with informed views on nuclear arms and energy

- C UDAY BHASKAR

The Global Nuclear Landscape: Energy, Non-proliferation and Disarmament

Dr Manpreet Sethi KW Publishers Pp 277, ₹1,360

THE WORD 'NUCLEAR' often brings to mind the apocalyptic destruction that the world witnessed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and ever since, this sword of Damocles hangs uneasily over the world. While the nuclear taboo has not been breached for the last 77 years, the normative commitment not to take recourse to the nuclear option is occasionally jolted-as witnessed recently in the war in Ukraine. However, the nuclear domain is also leavened with many positive attributes, such as the vast energy potential it repгеsents (the 2011 Fukushima tragedy notwithstanding), which may be one option to deal with the enormity of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

The volume under review is aptly titled and deftly edited by Manpreet Sethi, a scholar of repute who has been working on matters nuclear for many years. Structuring an edited volume is a critical factor and given that there are many individual chapter authors, the editor has to organise the content in a cohesive and seamless manner and Sethi is to be commended for the elegant form and comprehensive content of 'the global nuclear landscape'.