1980

United Nations General Assembly declares the 1980s as the Second Disarmament Decade.

March 3
The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials is signed at New York. The Convention stipulates levels of protection during the shipment of nuclear materials. It also establishes a general framework for cooperation among states in the recovery and return of stolen nuclear material and defines certain serious offenses involving nuclear material which states are to make punishable.

May 20
The Brazilian-Argentine Agreement on the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy establishes technical cooperation and coordination of nuclear policy.

June 3
A 46-cent computer chip fails, causing the mistaken detection of a Soviet missile attack by the NORAD system. About 100 B-52 bombers were readied for take off along with the President's airborne command post before the error is detected.

July 25
President Jimmy Carter signs Presidential Directive 59, which calls for flexible, controlled retaliation against political and military targets in the event of a prolonged nuclear war.

September 20
A technician dropping a wrench and breaking a fuel tank causes an explosion in the silo of a Titan II Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. The explosion blows off the 740 ton silo cover and sends the re-entry vehicle with its 9 megaton warhead 600 feet into the air. The accident kills one man and injures 21 others.

September 30
An Iranian F-4 fighter aircraft bombs Iraq's Osirak nuclear research center.

October 16
China conducts the last known nuclear weapon test in the atmosphere. The last French atmospheric test was in 1974. These two countries did not adhere to the Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1963.

November 5
The Manchester City Council passes a resolution which makes Manchester the first nuclear-free zone in the United Kingdom.

December
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (also known as Superfund) is passed in the US responding to the discovery in the late 1970s of a large number of abandoned, leaking hazardous waste dumps. Under Superfund, the Environmental Protection Agency identifies hazardous sites, takes appropriate action, and sees that the responsible party pays for cleanup.