Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament
Nuclear Weapons are weapons of mass destruction whose explosive power derives from a nuclear reaction. These weapons were first developed by the United States of America (USA) and used in World War Two against in 1945 against the Japanese. These weapons caused huge destruction and made the Japanese surrender at once. Since then nuclear weapons have been detonated over two thousand times but that was for testing and development purposes. In 1945 when USA did bomb Japan, the nuclear weapons were still in their infancy but now A modern thermonuclear weapon weighs a little more than 1,100 kg can produce an explosive force comparable to the detonation of more than 1.2 million tonnes of TNT; therefore, even a small nuclear bomb can completely devastate an entire city by blast, fire and radiation. Radiation of a nuclear weapon is deadly and it is very harmful to humans. Radiation is said to kill more people than the nuclear bomb itself because it has devastating effects such as death, cancer and horrible burns. Fire is another attribute of the nuclear weapons. People in the blast radius of a “Nuke” were vaporised instantly and had no chance of survival but however the further you got away from the blast the lesser the damage. A type of this weapon is napalm; however this is not class as a Nuclear weapon but its damage is long lasting. USA dropped napalm on the Vietnamese in the
Nuclear weapons ethical analysis
Nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is a weapon of mass destruction, the explosive power results from a nuclear reaction. The history of nuclear testing began on the morning of 16 July 1945 at a desert test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico when the United States exploded its first bomb. Since then over 2000 nuclear weapons have been detonated for testing purposes, over 500 in the atmosphere, under water or in space, and the rest underground. Of these about 1000 were conducted by the United States, 700 by the Soviet Union, 30 by the UK, 180 by France, 35 by China, 5 by India and 5 by Pakistan. The ethical problem is that nuclear weapons development and testing leads to radioactive contamination of the environment. Atmospheric tests resulted in radioactive fallouts over large areas, causing serious harm to people and tremendous damage to the environment. Underwater tests conducted close to the surface dispersed large amounts of radioactive water and steam, contaminating anything nearby, including people, ships, islands and the surrounding water ( CBTTO preparatory commission, 2008, Para 4). Approximately 3,830 kilograms of plutonium has been left in the ground as a result of all underground nuclear testing and some 4,200 kilograms of plutonium has been discharged into the atmosphere as a result of atmospheric nuclear testing. Clearly this is an issue that needs to be addressed,
persuasive speech on nuclear weapons
Nuclear weapons nature and society My dear fellows, Today I am going to inform you about the bad aspects of testing of nuclear weapons. To begin with, nuclear weapons represent humankind's ultimate confrontation with the natural environment that sustains us. The purpose of these weapons is wholesale destruction on a massive scale, which affects most forms of life. No other single human creation has such potential for harm! It must be forefended without losing any time! The threat to life posed by nuclear weapons that the International Court of Justice, the world's highest legal authority, in its 1996 landmark, stated: The destructive power of nuclear weapons can not be contained in either space or time. They have the potential to destroy all civilisation and the entire ecosystem of the planet. So, we must gather! We must recognize the gravity of threat posed by the world's 26000 nuclear weapons and respond with a similar sense of urgency! If we do not, the weapons will be used again with catastrophic consequences. Even if we may not experience those consequences, we can not ignore the following generations. Then, how can you let your children suffer my dear fellows? Obviously, nuclear weapons require either enriched uranium or plutonium as their fuel. Uranium mining and miling produces wastes which contain 85% of the radioactivity of the original ore! Remember the
Nuclear Weapons - should they be abolished?
Nuclear Weapons-should they be abolished? The peoples of the 21st century are constantly living under a menacing cloud of Nuclear weapons. The power of these sophisticated weapons is unimaginable. Only ever used twice in the past, they have proved to be devastatingly efficient. Destroying entire cities in the blink of an eye, killing tens of thousands of people whether soldier or civilian. In my speech I will talk about the positives and negatives of nuclear weapons and why I think that they should be greatly reduced in number but not completely abolished. There are around a dozen countries that owns nuclear weapons. The top four nuclear powers are as follows: the U.S with over 65,000 warheads, Russia, estimated at around 50,000 warheads, China at 310 warheads and Great Britain at 192 warheads. Each of these countries has the power to totally annihilate every city in the world. Causing catastrophe for mankind. The power of a nuclear warhead is terrifying. In November 1952, an H-bomb was dropped for testing on an island in the pacific. The resulting explosion vaporized the entire island, which was over 1km squared in size. And that is just one warhead out of over 100,000. In fact, it is estimated that if all the nuclear powers unleashed their bombs, they would destroy the planet 51 times over. Although Nuclear weapons has the capability to destroy much of the planet. So
Debate - States Ought Not Possess Nuclear Weapons
Resolved: States Ought Not Possess Nuclear Weapons AFF: states should not have nuclear weapons Definitions: States: A politically organized body of people usually occupying a definite territory. Ought: Moral obligation; duty. Possess: To have and hold as property; own Nuclear Weapons: Weapons of mass destruction that are powered by nuclear reactions. All definitions courtesy of Merriam Webster Core Value: Morality- concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong; right or good conduct. It is wrong to kill someone for no reason. And nuclear weapons kill mainly civilians to get to their government. It is in a state's self-interest to end wars quickly with nuclear weapons. Also out of fear, men can do the wrong thing just to save themselves and not consider what happens to those affected by the decision. Value Criterion: The affirmative shall prevail if and only if he can show that the possession of nuclear weapons is not moral in society and thus should not be possessed by states. The negative shall prevail if and only if he/she can show that the possession of nuclear weapons is moral in a society and thus should be possessed by states. Philosophical Basis: Napoleon Bonaparte once said "Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest." Men are self serving, natural condition of humans in a state of perpetual war of all against all,
Nuclear Deterrence: Have nuclear weapons deterred India and Pakistan from going to war?
Q. Nuclear Deterrence: Have nuclear weapons deterred India and Pakistan from going to war? Introduction The aim of this report is to see whether the nuclear weapons protect a country by deterring potential aggressors from attacking. By threatening massive retaliation, the argument goes; nuclear weapons prevent an attacker India and Pakistan from starting a war and make south Asia safer. .0 Why is it important case in the international relations? .1 The understanding of nuclear weapons acting as a deterrent could create incentives among non nuclear states to consider developing nuclear capability. .2 It is big issue because the rest of the world will take lessons from the South Asian situation. If countries decide that Pakistan withstood pressure from militarily stronger India, they might view nuclear weapons as a positive asset. If they see that nuclear weapons internationalized the conflict, making it more difficult for either country to pursue its national interests, nuclear weapons might appear less attractive. .3 Countries that might consider nuclear weapons, particularly certain countries in the Middle East will watch to see how the world, especially the United States. States want to know the international cost of developing such weapons. Most countries, however, will decide whether to pursue nuclear capability based on their perceptions of their own interests,
Can a Christian justify the use of Nuclear Weapons?
John Burns 10H Can a Christian justify the use of Nuclear Weapons? When answering the title of this essay, you have to first look at why countries retain and develop nuclear weapons. The first reason and most obvious of all is to use the nuclear device to destroy an enemy. A good Christian however can never justify this, because no matter how accurate your weapons are you will undoubtedly kill innocent civilians. If you look at the Ten Commandments laid down by God you will see that God was opposed to war, violence and any form of mistreatment. We are told, "To love thy neighbour" and "To treat our enemies, as we would want to be treated." If you were to look at these commandments you would see that nuclear warfare could never be justified and if you do provoke a nuclear war you should be punished. That brings me into the second reason of why countries retain nuclear weapons and that is as a threat. It is a way of protecting your country, but you will protect yourself and retaliate if provoked. Any Christian would feel that this was unjust, after all God did say in the Ten Commandments, "Forgive your enemy". Retaliating in any way, shape or form would be breaking the Ten Commandments and therefore you could not call yourself a good Christian. That leads me onto the third reason of why countries retain nuclear bombs that is to use it as a deterrent to anyone who may
Should Iran have nuclear weapons? The global and regional implications
Should Iran have nuclear weapons? The global and regional implications. In 2003 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran had 'failed to meet its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with respect to the reporting of nuclear material, the subsequent processing and use of that material and the declaration of facilities where the material was stored and processed.'1 The report cited a number of instances where Iran had concealed or failed to declare examples of nuclear activity, thus raising concerns about Iran's intentions with regards to the development of nuclear weaponry. Iran's nuclear programme began in the Shah's era; with plans to build 20 nuclear power reactors. After the revolution in 1979, all nuclear activity was suspended, but since the Iran-Iraq war, efforts to advance Iran's nuclear capabilities have redoubled. Many believe that alongside the legitimate efforts to expand Iran's nuclear power-generation industry runs a parallel nuclear weapons programme. Technologically, this is indeed possible, given the amounts of nuclear material involved, but the IAEA has not discovered any information to validate this claim, stating that 'the Agency has not seen indications of diversion of nuclear material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices'.2 Globally, there has always been much protest to the idea of Iran having nuclear
The Threat of Nuclear, Biological or Chemical Weapons and Terrorism.
THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP STYLE ON RECRUITING Abstract: Less than 18 pounds of plutonium or 55 pounds of highly enriched uranium are sufficient to make a nuclear bomb, and these materials circulate in civilian nuclear commerce by the ton. A study prepared for Nuclear Control Institute by five former U.S. nuclear weapons designers concluded that a sophisticated terrorist group would be capable of designing and building a workable nuclear bomb from stolen plutonium or highly enriched uranium with potential yields in the kiloton range. A 1 kiloton (KT) nuclear weapon is equal to 1,000 tons of TNT, while a 1 megaton (MT) is equal to 1,000,000 tons of TNT. Reactor grade plutonium, which is stored and circulated around the world in civilian nuclear commerce, can be used to make effective and devastating weapons (nci.org). There have been documented attempts by al Qaeda to acquire nuclear material and unclear weapon design information. Dirty bombs are also known as radiation dispersal devices (RDDs) are weapons that use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials, thereby augmenting the injury and property damage caused by the explosion. The capability of an RDD to cause significant harm is strongly dependent on the type of radioactive material used and the means used to disperse it. Previous terrorist attempts at weapons of mass destruction (WMD) production
"The possession of nuclear weapons can never be justified." Discuss.
Zöe Terry 13TFI "The possession of nuclear weapons can never be justified." Discuss. Nuclear Weapons, explosive devices, designed to release nuclear energy on a large scale, used primarily in military applications. Nuclear weapons have been in existence since the Second World War, but it's only up and till recently that the fear of them has grown. To discuss this statement fully it is important to first define three mayor terms; 'possession', 'nuclear' and 'weapons'. 'Possession' - according to the Oxford dictionary means to own or to have something belongs to you, in this case, nuclear weapons. 'Nuclear' - means, 'a mass of energy which when released or absorbed causes reactions.' 'Weapons' -means, 'thing designed or used for inflicting harm or damage.' For years countries have used their military capabilities to improve their power status, but should countries be limited to what they are allowed to possess? History has shown us the devasting effects of nuclear warfare, such as the atomic bomb exploded by the United States over Hiroshima, that killed thousands of people, not only by the impact of the bomb but also by the air pollution that continued after the attack. On average a spherical bomb about the size of a baseball produces an explosion equal to 20,000 tons of TNT so to say that atomic bomb causes devasting effects, is an understatement. The statement says
