Vladimir Putin has issued a warning to the West that it may use nuclear weapons to stop any missile strikes from Ukraine. Nuclear warfare has been a looming topic of discussion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, spurring worries about a World War 3 in question.

Putin has stated that any airspace weapons or missiles or any other methods of attack across the Russian boarder would be means to consider the use of nuclear weapons.

In Ukraine news, President Zelensky has come out to say that Putin has come out to use this as a fear tactic and that he has no other means of intimidation besides this type of threat since Ukrainian successes on the front lines. Fear tactics seem to be working for Putin though as it is a very worrisome scene for the people of Ukraine.

Zelensky has been urging the West to let Kyiv utilize their missile weapons to target larger military installations in Russia to restrict the flow of Putin’s attacks. Unfortunately, this Russia news is not good for Kyiv as NATO allies are left unsure what to do.

A large concern about nuclear warfare revolves around how many nuclear weapons there are in Russia and how many NATO has to combat this. Russia has the most nuclear warheads, adding up to 5,580 weapons. NATO allies have a combined nuclear warheads count of approximately 4,223 nuclear warheads belonging to the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. The numbers should not really matter given that they would destroy the world many times over on both sides, likely mitigating their use all together.

The concern now is that with Putin’s request to revisit the nuclear weapons doctrine which lays out the strategy and limitations to their use of nuclear weapons, a limit to the amount of weapons sent to Kyiv may be initiated. This would only make matters worse for Ukraine as they fight to maintain their sovereignty.

What Does This Nuclear Warfare News mean for Nuclear Power?

As many hear the word nuclear, they immediately associate it with nuclear power. In fact, nuclear proliferation is a large supporting argument that those against nuclear power use to combat the growth of the nuclear power industry.

This associate could not be farther from correct.

The main concern that anti-nuclear power enthusiasts point out when it comes to the subject of nuclear weapons proliferation is that nuclear warheads use the same fuel as the fuel used in nuclear power plants. Uranium-235 (U-235) is the most commonly used fuel in nuclear reactors and warheads. However, the fuel used in nuclear power would be no use in nuclear weapons.

To make a nuclear warhead, the fuel must be weapons grade which means that must be enriched to over 90%. Commercial nuclear plants enrich their fuel from anywhere between 3-5%. This would not work in a nuclear bomb.

Besides, there are many regulations in place to state that the US government has control of any Uranium enrichment facilities that utilize fuel of this high enrichment, so for anyone to get it would be impossible given the power requirements needed to process the fuel.

So, amid Russian news about threats from Putin to consider use of nuclear weapons, the nuclear industry should not be affected. Public opinion has been trending in the right direction for nuclear power and a misunderstanding about the use of nuclear warheads and its relationship with nuclear power could harm the progress made in the clean power industry.