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Nuclear Weapons And Its Effects

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It is undeniable that the nature of nuclear weapons has changed military and political relationships among states significantly. Thus, nowadays nuclear weapons are considered to be a traditional means of politics and security. It has been about seven decades since the only case when nuclear weapons were used on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With each passing year the use of nuclear weapons has been very unlikely, and the idea of world without nuclear weapons is becoming stronger. However, threats of using them still continue, since states still rely heavily on such weapons and continue investing in development of their arsenals. Therefore, those actions are strongly criticized by people all around the globe since they think that…show more content…
Fission weapons are complex and require sophisticated engineering, however most states are capable of building them as well as some private groups. The difficulty lies under obtaining fissionable materials and plants to build those weapons. The uranium and plutonium bombs have been used ones each to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 100,000 of civilians (Russett et al, 2004:239). Therefore, Dannreuther (2013:228) claims that fusion weapon derives its force from two small atoms which fuse together into a bigger atom. Fusion weapons are highly expensive and technically more complex than fission weapons: it can be obtained only by richest and most technologically advanced countries.

The effects of nuclear weapons are catastrophic. They include not only the blast of explosion that has an immediate destructive power, but also heat and radiation. There is a potential that a heat itself can create a firestorm in an area which was targeted, while radiation in large doses kills people and creates long-term sicknesses such as cancer. In addition, according to thebulletin.org (2015) nuclear weapons have an ability to create and electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) which destroys and disrupts electronic equipment. In the case of using a large amount of nuclear weapons at once (as in a war) would have an enormous effect on global climate- possibly a nuclear winter.

Nuclear weapons have been disliked by many, and some countries even stopped their
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