NuclearSpring

10/14/2026

This has happened before. When nuclear technology emerged, nations entered an era of rapid competition before international rules had caught up.

Over time, countries found ways to create agreements and institutions to reduce nuclear dangers. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, SALT I, and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty each represent moments when nations chose negotiation, cooperation, and shared responsibility in response to the risks of nuclear technology.

Today, artificial intelligence is developing rapidly and becoming increasingly connected to nuclear security and decision-making.

The technology is different. The challenge is familiar: how do we build cooperation around powerful technologies before the consequences become irreversible?

At NuclearSpring, we look to nuclear history not only to understand the past, but to ask what it can teach us about the choices we face today.

This has happened before. What can we learn from it now?

Sources: United Nations Treaty Collection; U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian; CTBTO

10/14/2026

10/13/2026

On September 29, countries gathered at the United Nations for a High-Level Meeting on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Although the official meeting report has not been released yet, statements from participating countries highlighted different experiences and priorities in the movement toward nuclear disarmament.

South Africa emphasized that “with political will, credible and verifiable nuclear disarmament is achievable,” drawing on its own experience of dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.

Kazakhstan emphasized that nuclear-armed states remain responsible for disarmament. The Marshall Islands also called attention to the lasting consequences of the 67 nuclear tests conducted in its territory between 1946 and 1958.

Kiribati highlighted the continuing human and environmental consequences of nuclear testing, along with the importance of victim assistance and environmental remediation.

These perspectives show that nuclear disarmament is about more than reducing arsenals. It also means addressing the human and environmental consequences of nuclear weapons and continuing to build the political will needed for lasting change.

And the conversation continues.

From November 30 to December 4, the first Review Conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will take place at the United Nations in New York.

NuclearSpring will be there.

Source: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), “High-Level Week 2026”

10/08/2026

What do the monuments around us say about what we value?

In Napa, landmarks like the Napa Valley Welcome Sign and the Grape Crusher sculpture help tell the story of a place. They mark a landscape, preserve pieces of its history, and become part of how a community recognizes itself.

The NuclearSpring Peace Pole approaches the idea of a monument differently.

Rather than remaining in one location, the NuclearSpring Peace Pole is designed to travel. Built by NuclearSpring student volunteers, it is the centerpiece of the Nuclear Disarmament Art Tour, traveling from Napa across the United States to bring art, education, and conversation into new communities.

Its purpose is not simply to be seen. It is to create an opportunity to stop, look, ask questions, and consider what we are choosing to build for the future.

In that sense, the NuclearSpring Peace Pole is a monument in motion. It carries a message of peace and nuclear disarmament from place to place, making a global issue visible in local spaces.

By bringing the NuclearSpring Peace Pole into different communities, we are using creativity and education to encourage people to imagine, discuss, and work toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Some monuments stay in one place. This one travels.

Members featured on slide four from left to right:
Volunteer: Pema Namgyal; Interns: Bryan Benitez, Owen Smith; Program Manager: Kevin Eapen; Business Manager: Dekyi Lhamo; and Research Scientist: Pablo Ramirez

10/07/2026

Update 6: The Peace Pole is coming to life.

What started as an idea is now becoming a towering, colorful work of art.

Our high school student interns have been hand-painting the NuclearSpring Peace Pole and bringing its 3D paper mâché designs to life. As the sculpture grows, so does the challenge: the pole has become so tall that our interns now need ladders to paint the highest sections.

Every painted surface and sculpted detail represents hours of creativity, collaboration, and thought from the next generation.

The NuclearSpring Peace Pole is being built by young people who are using art to explore the importance of peace, remembrance, and nuclear disarmament. What they create will ultimately become a public symbol designed to spark conversation and bring communities together.

This is only one stage of our journey. Follow along and support our work as the Peace Pole continues to take shape.

10/06/2026

It's time to bring nuclear disarmament back into the conversation.

For decades, millions of people demanded a world free from nuclear weapons. Today, that conversation has faded from the public eye, even though the threat has not.

NuclearSpring is working to change that through the Nuclear Disarmament Art Tour. Launching from Napa, California, the tour will travel across the country with the Peace Pole Project and other large-scale public art installations designed to spark dialogue, inspire reflection, and engage communities in the movement for nuclear disarmament.

Art has the power to bring people together in ways that statistics and headlines often cannot. Every stop on the tour is an opportunity to start a conversation, and every conversation brings us one step closer to meaningful change.

Follow our journey and help bring nuclear disarmament back into the conversation.
Learn more at www.nuclearspring.org

10/05/2026

On September 26th, NuclearSpring commemorated the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, often referred to as Nuclear Abolition Day, by bringing its Peace Pole to several sites throughout Napa Valley, California.

The Peace Pole was transported by trailer and placed within familiar community landscapes, creating a visible expression of the nuclear disarmament cause. By bringing the installation into public spaces, NuclearSpring used art, public engagement, and accessible education to encourage curiosity, conversation, and reflection around an issue that can often feel distant from daily life.

The observance was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, following its first-ever high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament on September 26th of that year. Observed annually since 2014, the day raises public awareness about the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and renews international attention to their total elimination.

Nuclear disarmament is not only a matter for governments and international institutions. Public understanding, education, and civil-society participation are part of the broader effort to reduce nuclear risks and envision a world without nuclear weapons.

10/01/2026

Meet Gabriel Boldizsar, NuclearSpring Program Coordinator.

At 22, Gabriel has already spent years thinking about the relationship between art, advocacy, and political change. Through NuclearSpring, he has found an opportunity to put that thinking into action.

“NuclearSpring gave me the chance to test something I'd spent years researching—that art can shift the conditions for real political change. But what keeps me here is the people.”

For Gabriel, NuclearSpring is ultimately about what happens when people come together around a shared responsibility: making the world safer.

“They don't compete. They build.”

Gabriel’s work as Program Coordinator helps move that vision forward, bringing people together through art, education, and action for a future free from nuclear weapons.

We’re grateful to have Gabriel building that future with us.

Follow along with us and learn more at www.nuclearspring.org.

09/30/2026

At 93, Andy carries a memory from the earliest days of the nuclear age.

As a young boy in Los Angeles, he and his brother woke before sunrise to watch a publicly announced nuclear test. From hundreds of miles away, they witnessed the enormous flash illuminate the landscape around them.

Stories like Andy’s show the reach and power of nuclear weapons through the eyes of someone who experienced it firsthand. They remind us that the history of nuclear weapons is not only about governments, military strategy, and technology. It is also about the people who witnessed these events and carried those memories with them.

At NuclearSpring, we preserve these stories because remembering the human history of the nuclear age is essential to building a future without nuclear weapons. Through art, education, and storytelling, we are working to reignite the movement for nuclear disarmament and inspire a new generation to take action.

Andy’s story is one of many. We believe these voices can help move the conversation forward and remind us why this work matters.

09/29/2026

At a major United Nations meeting on nuclear weapons, Magritte Gordaneer delivered a clear warning: nuclear weapons are not just a political issue. They are a threat to people’s lives, health, and safety. In the UN, Gordaneer was representing the organization PPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War).

Speaking for health professionals around the world, she explained that no hospital system or emergency response could fully handle the damage caused by a nuclear weapon. That is why countries must do more than talk about reducing nuclear risks—they must take real steps toward disarmament. Gordaneer says,
“The response to this manufactured chaos cannot be business as usual.”

At NuclearSpring, we believe these conversations should not stay inside government meetings. Through art and the Peace Pole, we are helping more people understand what is at stake and imagine a safer future.

Change requires action from leaders, but it also requires informed and engaged communities.

What would meaningful action toward nuclear disarmament look like to you?

Source: Ippnw. (2026, May 1). We are in a crisis. . .the response cannot be business as usual. IPPNW Peace and Health Blog. https://peaceandhealthblog.com/2026/05/01/we-are-in-a-crisis-the-response-cannot-be-business-as-usual/