Nuclear Power And Nuclear Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Since the end of the Cold War, the cases of nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea have gathered enormous international attention. Iran 's nuclear program appeared as a result of the Cold War alliance between the United States and the late Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 2003, Iran was suspected of developing a military nuclear capability and is now developing medium and intermediate ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. On the other hand, North Korea set off a nuclear device and declared suspicions about a military nuclear program in 2006. Iran and North Korea have recently started cooperation to develop multi-stage ballistic missiles and have conducted several missile flight tests over the last few years (Schmid, 2008).

With a renewed economy and enhanced military, if Iran elects to pursue a nuclear weapon in the future, critics argue they will be able to effectively withstand renewed sanctions and more ably protect centrifuge sights. Iran is also refusing to release details to the U.S. of its past nuclear activities, critics believe that the release of this information would finally disprove Tehran’s previous statements, that Iran was utilizing a peaceful program and that Islam forbids nuclear weapons. The ambiguity of Iran’s nuclear past has led to incomplete information on the part of the US and incomplete information in international relations is often a catalyst for military action. Furthermore, Critics believe that Iran will not entirely halt their nuclear program, but rather has significant incentive to misrepresent what they are developing, and will in fact work, in secret, on smaller-scale projects, such as specialized high-explosives that could act as a trigger in a nuclear bomb. Finally, according to many critics of this deal, the US is, in essence, allowing the Iranians, who in their opinion will have no incentive to abide by the limitations of this deal after they receive the pay out of lifted economic sanctions, to build a bomb. To them this

Ever since World War two we have feared destruction and what could be the aftermath of nuclear bombs. We had a whole era in history to dedicate being terrified of weapons of mass destruction. We had bomb drills, duck and cover drills. The United States had TV drills if an attack were to happen on United States soil. For many Americans this was not hysteria, but a reality that could happen.

The world nowadays is hectic and chaotic, there will always be issues that seem to never stop. The issues that have caught a great deal of attention are the ones in the Middle East. There one can see almost anything and everything, from: displacements, killings, bombings, terrorism, blood, and war. During the strenuous days, one country started to take the initiative to make themselves better. The country of Iran has been developing a nuclear system, for some time now and the United States of America feel that it’s time to start putting sanctions on their program. After the past thirteen years of limited restriction, the government is arguing about what leniency they should have and how much. Allowing such a deal to get approved would only, delay the inevitable. Iran shouldn’t have such a loose-running program. Having a country that is known for so many heinous activities. Does it make sense to allow them to continue on this path, towards nuclear weaponry? The United States government knows this and found numerous ways to cut Iran off enough to prevent this scenario.

One of the major technological break though in the late 19th and early 20th century was the birth of atomic fission, between 1895 and 1945. In WWII, the men of science applied this new knowledge to create the atomic bomb. Only few years after the war in 1956, this cognition was applied to make new power plants, fueled by the new energy source uranium. (pg1 World Nuclear Association)

Contemporary actions against the nation of Iran stem from the United States’ self-appointed obligation to fight that terrorism abroad, as well as the rise of an Iranian nuclear program. Iran’s claim to be solely interested in nuclear power for its energy benefits is continually met with skepticism, as Iran refuses to meet all requirements of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which they are a signatory. The United States is also deeply interested in peace within the Middle East. The political, religious, and ideological differences in the region have turned into a decades-long conflict for which the American public has a waning appetite. As such, the US has employed a number of DIME efforts to induce Iranian compliance with the political goals stated in the NSS.

Weapons of mass destruction and terrorism have become the two major focuses on the international stage in today’s world. The ultimate fear of the United States is the possibility that nuclear weapons might be placed in the hands of terrorist organizations and states, which might use such weapons to attack other countries. Iran and North Korea possess large scale nuclear proliferation programs, which have recently become much larger threats to the world. North Korea, which was previously bound by a non-proliferation treaty with the United States, recently broke the treaty by resuming its nuclear programs. The United States has been unsuccessful in persuading North Korea to resume compliance with the agreement. Iran, on the other hand, is much more deceptive in its nuclear programs. When nuclear proliferation was recently discovered to have resumed in Iran, Iranian officials explained that they were producing uranium (the “main ingredient” in nuclear weapons) for national energy resources. Thomas Omestad of U.S. News and World Report states that “Iran intends to convert 37 tons of ‘yellowcake’ uranium oxide into uranium hexafluoride, a gas that in turn could be used to produce enough highly enriched uranium for five nuclear bombs” (Omestad 38). Richard Russell of Parameters quotes Iranian President

The Iranian nuclear program has been one of the most challenging issues in the world for more than a decade. The struggle was mainly between Iran and six of the world’s most powerful countries, which included China, the U.S.A, the U.K, France, Germany and Russia. What’s really worth noting is that this controversy was not solely about Iran 's willingness to have a nuclear program, which to its own merits was completely peaceful, but it was about who got to have more influence and control in the Middle East as a whole. Both sides of the conflict took measures to further their goals. Iran put whatever resources needed into developing its nuclear program, and the world’s powers (P5+1)

Since the pre World War II period, Iran continued to be a center of attraction to several superpowers such as Britain and Russia. These countries had an eye for the rich mineral and oil deposits in the country. The United States established its interests in Iran to control the supply of these commodities. Iran and the US maintained a close friendship up to the era of the Islamic Revolution in the 1970s. In this era, Iran was in constant warfare with neighboring countries and the relationship between the US and Iran deteriorated. The US had helped Iran develop their first nuclear energy in the 1960s. In the course of the same period, Iran signed a nuclear weapons treaty which stopped them from producing any forms of nuclear weaponry. However, in 1970, the country breached the treaty and started producing nuclear weapons (Oczan & Ozdamar 122).

Nuclear weapons have provided states that possess them with the firepower to deter attacks since the United States developed the first bombs in the 1940’s. Those states with the abilities to develop such weapons have solidified themselves atop the global hierarchy. Since few states have such weapons, it is naturally attention grabbing when a nation is revealed to be in the process of developing them. Iran began a nuclear program in the 1950’s with the help of the United States, who suspended help after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 (Breachy and Sinha 1-3). After the monarchy was overthrown and replaced with a clerical Islamic government, many nations, especially the United States, began to fear that the Iranians were using their nuclear program to create weapons of mass destruction (Brachy and Sinha 10-13). Over the years, sanctions from the United States, the European Union, and other central powers, have crippled Iran’s economy. After the election of President Ahmadinejad in 2005, who supported the Iranian Nuclear program and offended Israel by calling the Holocaust a myth, many great powers have began to work with Iran in an attempt to retard its nuclear capabilities in return for a reduction of international sanctions. Many actors in these negotiations want different things. Iran would like to have the sanctions against it lifted while maintaining the ability to develop nuclear weapons. This would allow Iran to boost its position at the expense of others in the Middle

As the past affects the present, and the present affects the future, it has become excessively apparent how devastating war on this world is, was, and can be. Nuclear weapons not only provides the protection The United States needs, but leads the world in world peace. In the world today nine countries have nuclear weapons. (Robinson) These nine countries are; the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Israel, South Africa, Pakistan and North Korea, also which are leading countries (lerner) . Those nine countries have protection for themselves, thus making them leading. Ultimately, protection is the necessary for power. The United States has to protect itself, and remain powerful. Nuclear weapons

“If the Third World War is fought with nuclear weapons, the fourth will be fought with bows and arrows” Lord Mountbatten. This quotes, by a famous British Naval Officer, summarizes the threats nuclear weapons present to the entire world. With the development of the atomic bomb during the Second World War, a new war was started: the Cold War. The ideology behind this war continues on to this day and has led to many treaties and other attempts to stop the production and potential use of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are a scientifically impressive feat; however, they present a difficult situation in terms of the global political system.

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s conquest for nuclear energy technology commenced during the 1950’s, inspired by U.S President Dwight Eisenhower’s program called “Atoms for Peace”. This program fabricated a plan in which the U.S Atomic Energy Commission would lend Iran as much as 13.2 pounds of low-enriched uranium in order to further develop their nuclear industries, including health care and medicine.i Two years following the agreement, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi established the Tehran Nuclear Research Center at the Tehran University, and the United States to arranged to supply a five-megawatt reactor. Several years later, in July of 1968, Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Due to the severity and danger of nuclear weapons, it is very important for nations to have some sort of regulation with regard to the nuclear program and more specifically their nuclear weapons program. After the first nuclear bomb was created by the U.S. nations states that followed the U.S. with the creation of a nuclear bomb seek to justify their creation of the nuclear. There are many reasons why a nation state will create a nuclear bomb but the key issue here is why and how nations states should be regulated with regard to nuclear weapons development. If Iran is considered a potentially hostile regime based on the perspective of western allies it would be logical to attempt to negotiate with them so that their nuclear program can have some type of regulation rather than no regulation at all or striving to strong arm them from developing their nuclear program and possibly a nuclear weapons program.

Fuel Enrichment is the process by which a sample of nuclear material either plutonium or uranium is brought from initial grade to weapons grade there are three common methods for enrichment of uranium isotope into weapons grade fissionable material these are gaseous diffusion, gas centrifuge, and laser separation. The first method used by the united states was gaseous diffusion which gave rise to the Plant at Oak Ridge Tennessee “ the plans for the facility were laid out in the autumn of 1942 when the army corps of engineers started buying up large tracts of land in the area the facility was one hundred square miles 1” this gives you an idea of how much space refinement of uranium at