A Sobering Look at Nuclear Arsenals

Whether it’s waging war, keeping the peace or scheduling TV programs, timing is of the essence. And for this reason, the Discovery Channel’s two-hour special “Stockpile: The Nuclear Menace” arrives at 9 tonight with a jarring resonance that would have been missing just a month ago.

The program, narrated by actor Martin Sheen, outlines the joint effort by the United States and Russia to safely maintain and protect their existing nuclear arsenals since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The “stockpile stewardship” project has made great strides, but when acknowledged gaps are revealed, viewers’ awareness of recent events kicks in like a supplementary track on a DVD.

Mentions of unaccounted-for plutonium, the “fission trigger” of nuclear weapons, along with one scientist’s statement that with such materials in hand, the manufacturing of a bomb is “frighteningly easy,” conjure up scenarios too horrendous to envision, yet too real not to, given the Sept. 11 prism through which we now filter life.

Illustrating the change in perspective, “Stockpile” speaks of the Cold War’s “mutually assured destruction” consequence that once served as the ultimate deterrent to superpowers with itchy button fingers.

Nowadays, that once-unthinkable trade-off may appear completely acceptable in some quarters.

“Stockpile: The Nuclear Menace” stands on its own as a cautionary tale of life after the nuclear genie’s release from the bottle. It lags a bit in chronicling at some length the perhaps overly familiar history of nuclear power, but combined with what the audience will be bringing to the table, it’s compelling viewing.