LD Debate

AFF
Resolution: Be it resolved that states should not have nuclear weapons

Preferred Definitions:
Nuclear Weapons- Any weapon with a radioactive warhead
States- Any society with a functioning government

Preferred Values: Health of Humanity

Points:

1. Danger to humanity's survival

a) Cold War in 1960 came very close to wiping out humanity
I. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
i. Showed how the world could be ended by an accidental deployment
b) Security cannot be maintained at a high enough level to protect nuclear weapons
I. Pakistan's nuclear stockpile is at high risk of theft according to a research paper
compiled by the Congressional Research Service
i. It is relatively straightforward to make a bomb if you have Highly Enriched
Uranium
II. According to a top military leader's memoirs, President Clinton lost the nuclear
launch codes during his presidency

2. Detrimental to health of humanity

a) Money spent on nuclear weaponry could be better spent
STATISTIC: Money spent on nuclear weapons from 1940 to 1996 is 5.821 trillion
dollars according to the book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear
Weapons Since 1940 (Brookings Institution Press, 1998)
I. Humanitarian projects
i. Drilling wells in Middle East
1. Increase in Quality of Life = Decrease in hostility
ii. Helping countries struck by natural disasters
1. Haiti (Earthquake)
2. Pakistan (Flood)
II. Improving life expectancy
i. Money could pay for universal health care
ii. Reduce poverty
b) Waste of scientific power
I. Research time and money could be better spent on other projects
i. Medical research
ii. Robotics research
iii. Environmental research

3. Environmental damage (hurting environment = hurting humanity because environment

is critical to health of humanity)
a) Uses immense amounts of natural resources
b) If used, creates a radioactive area around impact site
I. Hiroshima is still affected with increased cancer rates 60 years afterwards
 LD Debate
NEG
Resolution- Be it resolved that states should not have nuclear weapons

Preferred Definitions-
States: Any society with a functioning government
Nuclear Weapon: Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

Preferred Values- Security, Justice

Points
1. No way to ensure safe/secure disposal, or to ensure that all states get rid of all
of their nuclear weapons
a) If one state holds onto a nuclear weapon it would have an unfair/unjust
advantage over other countries
I. States cannot be trusted with such temptations
b) Disposal / Breakdown of nuclear weapons is hazardous
I. when nuclear weapons are broken down the Highly Enriched Uranium or
Plutonium in them is shifted to use in nuclear reactors, that increases the
danger of theft
i. Reactors have lower security standards and military facilities
a) (According to the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility)
Only takes 12 pounds of plutonium to do the same damage as the
bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 ( == 22 million tons
of TNT)
b) Better to keep nuclear materials in the high-security military
compounds

2. Encourages fusion research

a) Alternative forms of energy (nuclear reactors)
I. Clean
i. Less radioactivity around a nuclear reactor than around a coal power
plant according to a study in Science magazine.
ii. More research would improve handling and processing of nuclear
waste
II. Renewable
i. “Breeder” Reactors change uranium into plutonium while still
generating power, thus changing it into a renewable resource
III. Safe
i. Nuclear reactors cannot explode, there is not enough fuel for that
ii. Chernobyl story:
a) Several safety and cooling systems were taken offline and other
unauthorized actions were taken by plant operators during tests of
electrical equipment
b) Remaining cooling systems failed
c) Reaction got out of control, blowing radioactive material into the
atmosphere
iii. Chernobyl accident was due to human error, not faulty design
iv. San Bruno, California gas line fire shows how unsafe other more
 accepted forms of energy are
b) Rocket research
I. Better rockets help us gain a better understanding of the universe around
us
II. Assists in the colonization of other planets in the case of runaway global
warming
3. Extreme measures have been necessary to preserve the health of mankind in
the past, so it stands to reason that a situation will arise in the future where
extreme measures (nuclear weapons) will be needed.
a) Extreme measures were needed in 1945 to stop Adolf Hitler
b) Nuclear weapons serve as an excellent security assurance because they are
very useful if extreme measures are necessary