1.1 Introduction
In a time of antagonistic situation between the European powers, a deadly weapon was introduced into the world without the knowledge of its damage. The production of this deadly weapon was partaken in its invention by many scientists. The invention of this deadly weapon was started in the beginning of the 20th century. Scientists noticed that there were elements that emit radiations and later it was noticed that an element can be broken down into different elements with the production of a tremendous amount of energy. This new discovery inspired the mind of many spectacular scientists who started to find more on their own.
During 1905, Albert Einstein discovered that a huge amount of energy can be produced from a tiny element. This idea was called “Theory of Relativity”. It is expressed in the formula E=MC2 (Energy = mass times the speed of light squared). This idea paved the way to the production of mass destructive weapons (Long, 2005).
On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the president of the United Stated, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The letter said that Nazi Germany was purifying Uranium-235 which could be used as a nuclear weapon. Then the United States had started their own project named “The Manhattan Project”. The aim of this project was to produce a viable nuclear bomb. This project was supported the United Kingdom and Canada as well. The project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers. There were over 130,000 people who worked in this project and cost nearly US$2 billion (Bellis, 2009).
The product of the Manhattan Project were the two nuclear bombs targeted on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki and they were the only two nuclear bombs ever used in a war. This caused the death of 150,000-240,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and those who survived from the nuclear blast could not survive from the radiation afterwards. The bombing also caused the destruction of buildings of the two cities. It was estimated that the radius of the destruction was about one mile which adds up to 12km2 (Bellis, 2009).
The effect and the damage of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not stop but it continued from generation to generation. This is caused by the strong radiation that the nuclear bomb had released to the environment. The generation who borne after the bombing had mutation. Radiation also caused cancer and Leukemia. According to Edward Pochin, ‘to the 103,000 deaths from the blast or acute radiation exposure at Hiroshima and Nagasaki have since been added to the radiation induced cancer and leukemia, which amounted to some 400 within 30 years, and which may ultimately reach about 550” (Bellis, 2009).
Besides the US, many countries started to produce nuclear weapon afterwards. Russia had started to produce their own nuclear weapon and many countries followed after them. The word is risky now with many countries that own their atomic bombs. The countries with nuclear facilities are included the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, and most recently Iran was allowed to have a nuclear facility under surveillance (Kimball & Collina, 2013).
But that was over 60 years ago, and the world has improved in many ways. The present nuclear weapon is much powerful than the World War 2 one. It is smaller than the previous one and also much more powerful. Countries with nuclear weapon are superior in the present time and they seem to have power. These countries are building nuclear plants instead of destroying this weapon. The United Kingdom has recently started to build a new plant which will start functioning in the next decade (BBCNews, 2013).
1.2 Problem Definition
Nuclear weapon is a weapon with mass destruction which derives its explosive power from a nuclear reaction. This reaction may be fusion or fission. This kind of weapon is very powerful and dangerous and can destroy a whole city. There are two types of nuclear weapon:
Fission weapons: This type of weapon generates its explosive energy by nuclear fission reaction. In this reaction, the most commonly used elements are Uranium-235 and Plutonium -239. In order to trigger this nuclear fission, a substance (like neutron) must collide to the nucleus of the radioactive substance. This starts the production of high energy and also the nucleus of the element splits into two nuclei (Schteicher, 2005).
Fusion weapons: This kind of weapon generates its explosive energy from the fusion of two elements. This weapon is also called Hydrogen Bomb. It is very powerful and only six countries can generate this kind of bombs. The energy that starts the fusion comes from fission (Schteicher, 2005).
There are also many other types of nuclear weapons such us Dirty Bombs (Radiological weapons). This type of weapon releases a large amount of radiation to the surrounding environment (Schteicher, 2005).
The word Radiation refers to the energy released by the nuclear materials. This energy cannot be seen but it can be felt. It has dangerous side effects to the living things. It causes deformation of gene and many hazardous effects to the humans.
2.0 Discussion
2.1 Argument One
Some of the advantages of the nuclear weapon are that it gives a political power to those countries that has nuclear missiles and it gives pride to them as well. There are others who are arguing that nuclear weapons prevent the world from going to a war and it keeps save and secure to the entire nationwide. Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom from 19979 to 1990, believed that “A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us”. But I believe that nuclear weapons brought many disasters to the humans and also to the environment.
Building a nuclear facility is very expensive and the country that builds nuclear power station spends a lot of money on it instead of other social development policies. Nuclear power plants also release a lot of radiations to the environment, which is why they are assigned to build in the countryside.
This causes a radiation poisoning which is very hazardous. In 2011, a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, had a nuclear leakage which triggered a life danger to the locals who lived near the nuclear power plant. The government of Japan had started to displace the population in the nearby towns to the nuclear power plant because of the radiation overdose. After one year, they were told that their residents are still in radiation overdose and yet they cannot return to their homes (Aljazeera, 2013). This is one example of the disasters that the nuclear plants could cause to their neighboring residents.
2.2 Argument Two
“Nuclear weapons have the potential to equalize strengths between strong and weak countries, as well as negate the advantage of conventional superiority” Professor Ahsan I. Butt said in Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center Library. He also argued that nuclear weapons smooth the progress of negotiation more than the conventional deterrence, which involves no nuclear weapon (MA, 2013). But on the other hand, I believe that the increasing nuclear weapons put our lives at stake.
Countries want to get stronger in military and in facilities as well. This increases the world to danger themselves into having a nuclear weapon. Then when two countries which happened to have a nuclear weapons attack one another than the casualties would be a worldwide disaster. Barack Obama has claimed that the world would be a better place without the nuclear weapons (Wittner, 2013). This shows that the world’s most powerful country which has realized that nuclear weapons are threats to the world.
2.3 Argument Three
Nuclear weapons are risky to the lives of the people and reducing them is the only way to control this issue. The president of the United States, Barack Obama, suggested and strategy to reduce the nuclear weapons and he asked Russia to join with him in this struggle against this massive destructive weapons. Obama said, “I’ve determined that we can ensure the security of America and our allies, and maintain a strong and credible strategic deterrent, while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one-third. And I intend to seek negotiated cuts with Russia to move beyond Cold War nuclear postures” (Beauchamp, 2013).
The world has started a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1970s which is aimed to protect the increase of nuclear weapon, to disarm the countries with the nuclear warheads, and to emphasize the peaceful use of nuclear energy. This treaty consists of eleven articles. The first article says that a country with nuclear weapons cannot transfer any nuclear facility or device to a non-nuclear weapon state (TREATY ON THE NON-PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, 2005). This shows that the world nations have realized the danger of this weapon, but the question is how to eliminate this weapon from the earth’s crust?
3.1 Conclusion
Nuclear weapons are massive destructive weapon that can wipe out a whole city. There are two types of nuclear weapons: Fission weapons and Fusion weapons. Both of these two types of bombs use the radioactive materials but they differ in the way of reactions. Nuclear weapon was introduced into the world during the World War 1 when the United States attached Japan. Two nuclear bombs were targeted on two cities in Japan namely Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two bombs are the only nuclear weapon ever used in a state of war and they caused the death of over 150,000 people and the damage of many buildings. The effect of this nuclear weapon did not stop but it continued from generation to generation because of the radiations that the bombs had released to the environment.
Despite all the downsides that the nuclear weapons have, many nations are willing to spend their money in order to get nuclear weapons. Many nations are against the nuclear weapons like the US while others like Iran had just got their permission to start nuclear facilities. The world is tired of these nuclear weapons and the people are in stage of fear when they hear nuclear facilities. I am suggesting that the nuclear weapon stages should join to the struggle against nuclear weapons and restart the lost worldwide peace.
Bibliography
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