Essay Nuclear Proliferation

The proliferation, or rapid increase in numbers, of nuclear weapons among states, has become an incredibly trying and pressing issue in our world today. Tensions between states that have nuclear capabilities are reaching all time highs and fingers are being pointed in every direction. However, the entire issue regarding nuclear proliferation begins with the United States. In 1945, World War II came to an abrupt halt when, on August 6th and August 9th, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs instantly killed 70,000 individuals, and an estimated 340,000 total died as a result of the fallout (2). As a result of the monumental power and destruction that the United States demonstrated, the world’s reaction was to try and implement a plan that would ban the use of nuclear weapons. The plan would have been regulated by international law, but, unfortunately, no deal could be reached. It had taken another 25 years before the Non-Proliferation Treaty was formed. At this point, five states already possessed nuclear weapons of even greater power and magnitude than the original atomic bombs. Today, America is still dealing with the “fallout” of the United States, a fateful decision to expose the world to weapons of mass destruction (4).

When the topic of nuclear weapons, stockpiles, or power plants comes to the forefront, many people automatically associate nuclear materials to terrorist. Because of that association, people automatically think the only dangers faced are when nuclear materials are in the hands of the terrorist. However, that has been proved to be a false assumption as accidents at nuclear stockpiles and power plants pose a far greater danger to American security than the deliberate use of nuclear weapons by terrorist. Throughout the paper, arguments will be constructed backing up the previous statement. The paper will start with a basic understanding of fission and radiation to set the foundation of the basic knowledge of the science behind the subject. Then

The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a treaty signed by one hundred and ninety states used to slow down the spread of a large number of nuclear weapons while promoting the use of nuclear technologies in peaceful ways such as energy. Its purpose is to keep nuclear technology in “Nuclear States” or trusted countries until a long-term goal of total disarmament can be reached. Even though it tries to bring about nuclear disarmament, the NPT is a threat to the modern world. It is currently speculated that the United States has the most stockpiled Nuclear weapons with Russia being a close second. Each of these countries has “thousands of known stockpiled nuclear weapons with the next closest state having just a few hundred” (Rising Powers

Within our global political arena, many parties have varying motivations keen on improving their national repute and military ability, but it essential to the preservation of ourselves and our planet to think objectively about the consequences of uninhibited and ever-advancing military possibilities. We must learn from the past to be able to better prepare for the future. We have witnessed the pervasive harm that has come from the irresponsible use of nuclear arms. This has instilled in modern cultures worldwide a wariness about these weapons. We recognize the importance of keeping military technology in check in order to prevent another arms race and to mitigate current rivalries and instabilities within the global political arena. Treaties such as the NPT demonstrate the unanimous consensus of the dangers of nuclear proliferation, and the CTBT emphasizes the stark contrast between states which have little interest in ever conducting nuclear weapons research and those which view their ability to test nuclear technologies as essential to remaining global military and political powerhouses. All states, however, regardless of their ambitions with nuclear technology, are aware of the repercussions of the proliferation and use of these weapons, and recognize the importance in continuing to regulate both peaceful

the advent of the nuclear age brought with it increased concern about national security as well as human survival. since the first atomic bomb was exploded over hiroshima on august 6 1945 advances in nuclear technology and delivery systems have only served to enhance the potential dangers. whereas almost 100,000 people lost their lives on the fateful day in hiroshima, nuclear weapons currently threaten the lives of hundreds of millions. the nuclear revolution has resulted in the develpment of bombs measured in

The possibility of Iran soon having nuclear weapons is no joke. The Iranian government is growing closer to this goal every day. The Iranian government has totally disregarded United States government’s sanctions against their nuclear program and still continues to enrich uranium. An unsafe goal for such an unstable country as Iran these weapons could easily be put to use against countries like the US and Israel whom Iran openly despises. Iran does all this while also testing long range missile systems capable of launching a missile over 300 miles easily reaching countries like Israel and its neighbors. Iran is also working on an inter-continental missile which would have ranges of much over ten times of what the country has now. Therefore

The three interesting pieces for this week all point, in one way or another, to dangers of nuclear proliferations. President Barack Obama’s speech in Prague on April 5, 2009 indicated that the spread of nuclear weapons to states, not deemed capable of handling these weapons, made the current state of affairs on the international stage unstable. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, former US Secretary of States, George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, together with William Perry and Sam Nunn, wrote on ridding the world of nuclear weapons through a series of outlined measures. The third piece by Michael Horowitz from 2013 makes the case that states with nuclear weapons development programs tended to harness militaristic intentions for the weapons

Although nuclear weapons were last used in WW2, research and development of nuclear weapons have still been on-going and progressing rapidly since the initiation of the first nuclear project in 1942. However, current states that are in possession of such Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) to deter threats from other Nuclear-Weapon States (NWS), and to avoid an all out nuclear war, in particularly during the Cold War. Today, several noted groups and individuals supporting the abolition of nuclear weapons have revived the debate, and revaluate the roles of such weapons in the modern security environment of today. Individuals and groups such as several retired military officers who once held the highest “nuclear commands” during and after the Cold

Since the WW2 attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear weapons have become even more powerful. THe Hiroshima bomb produced an explosion of 15 kilotons, on kiloton equals the explosive power of 1000 tons of TNT.^If dropped the radius of the affected area would be close to a mile long, buy the fallout of the explosion would be close to 65 miles away from the drop zone. But the sheer destructive power of that explosion pales in comparison to the largest thermonuclear weapon currently in the US arsenal- The B83. Created in the late 1970s the B83 can produce an explosion up to 1,200 kilotons, eighty times more than the hiroshima explosion, this is the explosive power of 1.2 million tons of TNT.^ The affected area would be over seven miles and the fallout of this explosion would be close to 250 miles away from the drop zone. Than the 1954 Operation Castle Bravo, the United States largest nuclear bomb tested and its first lithium-deuteride-fueled thermonuclear weapon.^ Detonation site was Bikini Atoll, is an atoll apart of the Marshall islands. Castle bravo produced a 15,000 kiloton explosion, which is over 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. The radius of the affected area if detonated would be over 21 miles and the fallout would be about 560 miles away. On October 30, 1961 the Soviet Union tested the Tzar

Like so many other things in our daily lives, nuclear weapons can appear in terms of good and bad. Nuclear weapons are the most powerful and deadliest tools that has ever invented in the world. Since the use of the nuclear weapons in Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the world became aware of the power that these weapons possess. There is a total of 16,000 nuclear warheads all over the world. As of 2015, more than 90% of the nuclear warheads belong to United States and Russia. More than 7,000 belong to the United States, 7,700 in Russia, 300 in France, 250 in China, 225 in United Kingdom, 110 in Pakistan, 100 in India, 80 in Israel, and 10 in North Korea (Http://greengarageblog.org/author/greengarageblogadmin).

The Cold War was a time of great tension all over the world. From 1945 to 1989, the United States was the leader and nuclear power and was competing with the Soviet Union to create huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. However, even though the Cold War ended, nuclear weapons are still a threat. Countries around the world strive to create nuclear power, and they do not promise to use it for peaceful purposes. Some examples of the struggles caused by nuclear weapons include the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Iran’s recent nuclear weapon program. Surely, nuclear weapons have created conflict all over the world since the Cold War era.

Controlling both the horizontal and vertical spread of nuclear weapons has always been a subject of international concern since nuclear weapons began being developed in the early 20th century. There are three main types of weapons of mass destruction: chemical, biological, and nuclear. Although all three types may be proliferated and present a serious threat to international security, the focus is placed on nuclear weapons because of their enormous destructive capacity. In today’s modern international system, the concern is centered on the spread of nuclear weapons to international terrorist organizations and unpredictable rogue states. If actors such as these were to acquire nuclear weapons, the damage that they could potentially enact on

For Mock Congress I had to research bill number eleven. Bill number eleven wanted to find a resolution to decrease our nuclear arsenal. Since I was on the maroon party, I was trying to find a way to stop this bill from getting passed. At first, I had a horrible time at trying to find data and examples to use in my speech to persuade people to chose not to pass this bill. There is a lot more information and articles on how we should decrease our arsenal, because we have such a great amount, than information on the opposite side. Then I took a minute to just think of reasons why people would want more. Protection was the biggest reason I could think of. So from there I looked up how many nuclear weapons other countries have. I found that

In their effort to create a bomb that would assure destruction of enemies, the world super powers of this century have created a legacy that could presumably destroy the entire world as we know it (Schull 6). During the course of the last fifty years, nuclear weapons have continually become an increasingly detrimental threat to our own health and environment. Consequently, laws have been proposed and bills have been signed to end this senseless build-up of arsenal and testing of havoc-causing atomic was instruments. Unfortunately, enforcing such rules worldwide has proven itself to be remarkably difficult and world allies have had to use extreme caution when dealing with any and all emerging threats.

However, despite the emergence of the treaty of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation having been in existence for almost fifty years, the worldwide threat of the nuclear weapons remains. In this dissertation, the role of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the contemporary global system and the effectiveness of the prevention of the spread of the nuclear weapons is examined. There is also discussion about the comparison and contrast of two interpretations of the NPT.