Resource Collection
Heroes and Hiccups: True Stories about Nuclear Weapon Risks
Stories about nuclear weapons can be harrowing, emotional, and even darkly comedic. Eighty years into the nuclear age, there are many stories about close calls that almost ended in nuclear catastrophe and instances when normal people became heroes because they stood up or (stood down!)
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) has developed a collection of some of the most compelling true stories waiting for a Hollywood telling, with resources and information to learn more. The stories featured could spark characters, plot points, storylines, episodes, or whole projects. The collection features stories of individual heroes with main character energy along with well-known individuals who have a nuclear sub-plot. The collection also features incidents that are almost too unbelievable to be true (but they are).
As nuclear risks rise, we need more stories in pop culture that show the realities of the most dangerous weapons ever invented and that give us hope for a safer, brighter future.
Want NTI’s help as you develop the story? Learn more about our serves to storytellers or email Elise Rowan at [email protected].
Explore the Collection
When Yeltsin Reached for the Nuclear Briefcase
When Hawaii Ducked and Covered
Georgia’s Lost Nuke
When a Bear Almost Set off WWIII
The Cuban Missile Crisis You Never Heard About
When the Unattended Baggage is Nuclear
Nukes Need Designated Drivers, Too
Plutonium, Drugs, and the Japanese Mafia
When We Leaked Nuclear Secrets on a Free App
Cheating, Drugs, and the Nuclear Codes
Cheerios and Finding Lost Nukes
When the FBI Raided a U.S. Nuclear Facility
When Nuke Tests Killed John Wayne
The Man Who Saved the World
The Girl With 1,000 Paper Cranes
The Physicist Who Wanted No Part in a Bomb
The Single Mom Who Mobilized Millions
The Analyst Who Called the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Man with Iraq’s Bomb in his Garden
The Nun Who Broke Into “Nuclear Fort Knox”
The Civil Rights Icon Who Protested Nukes, Too
When the People’s Astronomer Risked his Reputation
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood?
Pediatrician vs. Nuclear War
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