Nuclear war is an existential threat to human civilization. Therefore, its avoidance was and is the central driving force behind the development and maintenance of a global order for the control of nuclear energy. In view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and Russia's repeated nuclear threats, but also in view of North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal and other (potential) regional proliferation crises, scientists, politicians and representatives of international organizations are now warning that the risk of nuclear war has been increasing significantly. At the same time, however, the danger and consequences of nuclear war are less and less present in the general public - a phenomenon also known as »nuclear forgetting«. This panel seeks to bridge the problematic gap between increasing risk and dwindling awareness. The aim is to counteract »nuclear oblivion« by systematically scrutinizing imaginaries of nuclear war both with an eye to academic literature as well as popular culture. The panel thus seeks to address how nuclear war has been imagined and how different imaginaries have influenced the way political and military decision-makers as well societies at large have addressed the risk of nuclear war weapons and nuclear war. In addition, it seeks to address the root causes and scopes of nuclear forgetting.