Nuclear Disaster and Its Effects Alex Cutrara SOC 330 4/19/11

The first atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the US marked the start of the nuclear age. Currently, there are more than 25,000 nuclear weapons in the arsenals of nine nuclear weapons states. (Hand) The list of countries possessing nuclear weapons is headed by the US and Russia, which between them have more than 95 percent of the total on the planet. These two countries still

maintain a few thousand nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert, ready to be fired within moments of an order to do so. The other countries with nuclear weapons are the UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. (Hand) These weapons of mass annihilation can only be used to threaten retaliation against an attacker. But the threat of retaliation, known as nuclear deterrence, is not foolproof. Deterrence relies upon beliefs and effective communications. For

deterrence to work, a countrys leaders must believe in the intent as well as the capacity of an opponent to retaliate. Such a threat may be doubted since it implies a willingness to slaughter millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of innocent people. Another issue with deterrence is that of rationality: whether an opponent will always act rationally, even in times of severe crisis. The evidence does not support the proposition that all political leaders are rational at all times. Another problem with deterrence is that the threat of retaliation is essentially meaningless when it comes to terrorist groups, since they are often suicidal and cannot be located to retaliate against. There are many good reasons to doubt that nuclear deterrence makes a country more secure. One perceived exception to this may be that nuclear weapons provide
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added security for a weaker country in relation to a stronger one. For example, George W. Bush, early in his presidency, branded Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an axis of evil. He then proceeded to attack Iraq on the false charge that it had a nuclear weapons program, overthrow its leadership and occupy the country; a true modern-day example of neo-imperialism. When confronting North Korea, a country suspected of having a small arsenal of nuclear weapons, Bush was much more cautious and engaged in negotiations. This has sent a message to Iran that it would be more secure with a nuclear arsenal. For weaker countries, nuclear weapons may be thought of as leveling the playing field. They may make a stronger country think twice about attacking. But this is a dangerous game. The greater the number of countries with nuclear weapons, the greater the danger that these weapons will be used by accident, miscalculation or in an all-out war scenario. People all over the world need to realize that these weapons are being built with their taxes, and proving more fuel for the military-industrial-complex fire. Countries were so worried about whether they could split the atom; they never asked themselves if they should. Maybe man was never meant to find this incredible force. Once scientists did it for the first time, it opened a Pandoras box of social issues. An all-out nuclear war could create a nuclear winter, killing everybody on the planet in a year or so, even the vast majority of countries who do not have nuclear weapons and do not seek these weapons.
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Nuclear weapons pose a unique existential challenge to humanity.

Many

people are worried global warming, but nuclear weapons are an even greater and more acute problem for humanity. We need to shift our thinking if we are to confront the serious dangers to the human future posed by nuclear weapons. The needed change in thinking will require a major shift in our orientation toward nuclear arms. The 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty requires the countries that were then in possession of nuclear weapons (US, Soviet Union, UK, France and China) to engage in good faith negotiations for nuclear disarmament in return for other countries agreeing not to acquire nuclear weapons. (United Nations) This agreement on the part of the nuclear weapons states has not been kept and unfortunately the country that has been the principal obstacle to nuclear disarmament has been the United States. It is now obvious how the US tells people one thing, then does another. Another aspect of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is that it refers to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy as an inalienable right. For many reasons, this moves the world in the wrong direction. Nuclear energy provides a pretext for the creation of fissile materials for nuclear weapons through uranium enrichment and plutonium separation technologies. Once commerce is established in such bomb materials, the prospects of nuclear proliferation, even to terrorists, increase dramatically. Iran currently has a growing nuclear program. In preparation for writing this paper, I watched an interesting documentary called Countdown to Zero in which a smiling Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is photographed in a facility with
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centrifuges (Walker) creating highly enriched uranium (HEU). HEU can be used for generating power, or for making bombs. This is an example the faade that countries put up. They say that they are making nuclear material for generating power, but it could be used for making bombs. Even if Iran never had that intention, nuclear material could still be stolen by terrorists. There is a lot of controversy on the use of nuclear energy. It is definitely a source that should be used in moderation and discretion. It can be very useful but also very destructive in the hands of the wrong people. An example of the destruction of nuclear energy was at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant located in Pennsylvania in 1979, where radiation leaked causing many people to evacuate, but fortunately no one was killed or injured (NRC). Another example was in Soviet Russia in 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. After the leakage, many workers became sick and some even died with many fearing the future of cancer. The most recent example is the large earthquake that rocked Japan several weeks ago. The earthquake disabled the cooling systems for their nuclear reactor. The Japanese government has consistently under-rated the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere. The people of Japan have a right to know the truth. However, those who lobby for nuclear energy are quick to point out that nuclear power has many advantages. It is inexpensive opposed to oil which is quite costly. The world contains a small amount of oil resources, but with the supply of nuclear energy, electricity could be provided where and when other resources were unavailable.
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Uranium, being a key ingredient in nuclear energy, produces more energy than oil could ever imagine. While the burning of oil produce so much pollution, nuclear energy is very clean. While that seems promising for nuclear power, there are better options such as solar power. As a planet, we need to decide what is most important to us; the mass destruction and death that this powerful source can cause, or saving a few bucks.

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Citations Hand, Randall. "Nuclear Weapons Infographic." VizWorld. N.p., 08 Oct 2009. Web. 02 Apr 2011. <http://www.vizworld.com/2009/10/nuclearweapons-infographic/>. United Nations "Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons." (2002): n. pag. Web. 03 Apr 2011. <http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/treaty/>. Walker, Lucy, Dir. Countdown to Zero. Dir. Lucy Walker." Magnolia Pictures: 2010, Film. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). United States. Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident. , 2009.

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