Forty-five years of building a safer world.
It started in a San Francisco living room with one question: how do we create a safer, more secure world? The next chapter starts with you.
Where it all started
San Francisco, 1981
In 1981, philanthropist and sculptor Sally Lilienthal invited civic leader Lew Butler and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Owen Chamberlain to her San Francisco living room to discuss how they could change the world.
Chamberlain, a notably quiet person, spoke up.
“There are a lot of problems in the world. There’s only one that’s so much bigger than all the others: nuclear weapons. If we can’t get rid of them, it will destroy civilization.”
“There was silence. Then there was consensus. We had a foundation.”
When Ploughshares was created, there were over 56,000 nuclear weapons in the world; missiles on either side of the Iron Curtain stood on alert, ready to launch at a moment’s notice; and four countries conducted fifty nuclear tests in that year alone.
We were there for the first test-ban treaties. We’ve supported two Nobel Peace Prize–winning campaigns. Through the decades, there’s been a common thread: Ploughshares backs the people and ideas turning the tide on nuclear risk.
Today, the global nuclear stockpile hovers a little over 12,000. We still have a long way to go towards a safer, more peaceful world.
Today’s Nuclear Threats
The world is entering a more dangerous nuclear era. From Washington and Moscow to Beijing, Pyongyang, Tehran and beyond, nuclear threats are growing while the diplomatic guardrails are eroding.
If a nuclear weapon hit Washington, DC
A 300-kiloton W-87 warhead detonated over Washington, DC. That is about 20 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Source: Ploughshares grantee Alex Wellerstein for the Outrider Foundation. Map simplified; rings drawn to scale. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
From 56,000 weapons to about 12,000
When Ploughshares was founded, there were more than 56,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Today there are about 12,000. People and governments made that progress together, and they can finish the job.
Global nuclear stockpile
Nuclear stockpiles around the globe
Nine countries hold about 9,700 nuclear weapons in their military stockpiles. The global total of about 12,000 also counts retired warheads waiting to be dismantled. Select a country to learn more.
Swipe the map to see more, or choose a country below.
Nuclear-armed
Russia
4,400warheads in its military stockpile
Russia has possessed nuclear weapons since 1949. It is recognized as one of the five “official” Nuclear Weapon States under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, along with China, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Source
Nuclear-armed
Proliferation watchlist
Source: Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, compiled by experts from the Federation of American Scientists.
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA)
Who is covered for radiation exposure?
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) pays compensation to people who became sick after exposure to radiation from US nuclear weapons production and testing. In 2025, Congress expanded who is covered.
Use buttons to compare coverage between 2025 and 1990
Showing 2025 coverage.
Eligible locations in 2025
Downwinders: New Mexico, Idaho and Utah; in Arizona, Apache, Coconino, Gila, Mohave, Navajo and Yavapai counties; in Nevada, Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, Nye and White Pine counties and the northeast quarter of Clark County.
Onsite participants: the Nevada Test Site, the Trinity Test Site, and Pacific test sites at Bikini Atoll, Enewetak Atoll, Johnston Island and Christmas Island, plus other test sites in the South Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Uranium miners: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Manhattan Project waste (added in 2025): select ZIP codes in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alaska.
See the covered ZIP codes
- Missouri
- 63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63043, 63044, 63045, 63074, 63102, 63114, 63121, 63134, 63135, 63138, 63140, 63145, 63147, 63304, 63341, 63367, 63368
- Tennessee
- 37710, 37716, 37719, 37748, 37763, 37769, 37828, 37829, 37830, 37831, 37840, 37845, 37854, 37887
- Kentucky
- 42001, 42003, 42086
- Alaska
- 99546, 99547
Get to know our work
Check back each week as our year-end campaign proceeds for additional resources about the bold ideas that get us closer to a shared vision of a world free from nuclear threats.
2026 Year-end giving
The next chapter starts with you.
Every milestone achieved—and every milestone yet to come—is made possible by people who choose to invest in a safer world. Your 2026 year-end gift writes what comes next.
Make a year-end gift