Omar Jean Del Pino González
May 8, 2018
Homero, 10th Grade
Creative Writing
Nuclear Usage, Is It Worth Risking Our Lives For?
The discovery of radiation has broadened our understanding of how our planet functions
and it has driven humanity forward, but with events, such as the Fukushima Nuclear Plant
Meltdown after the 2011 Tsunami in Japan and Hiroshima Explosion at the end of World War II,
the image of Nuclear Usage has been tinted with fright, danger, and panic with good reason,
Nuclear Usage has peaked in popularity since their creation, it has killed millions of people all
over the world and with the evolution of technology, it has become easier to create, target, and
destroy. Additionally, Radiation levels have risen over the last decade, tensions between
countries have grown and it feels as if World War III is around the corner. Fusion destroying
Ecosystems and Nuclear Weapons worldwide pointing at every superpower country on the globe
we can confidently say that Nuclear usage is destined to drive humanity to extinction if not
Controlled
Nuclear Energy is presented as if it were to be the solution to everything. But is it really?
Nuclear Energy came intertwined with the invention of the Atom bomb, one after the other. But
there are two basic parts of Nuclear Energy, Fission, and Fusion. Fission is the process where
atomic nuclei, the center of the atom, split because of the overwhelming force of neutrons firing
at them, which creates two atoms. In a nuclear plant, high energy Neutrons split uranium atoms,
which produces high amounts of energy. That energy is used to convert water into steam, which
spin turbines that create electricity we can harness. After some time, the Uranium rod used gets
depleted and it becomes radioactive waste. The uranium is Still highly radioactive, but it
becomes useless for the production of energy. Nuclear Fusion , on the other hand, is defined as is
an atomic reaction in which multiple atoms combine to create a single, more massive atom. The
resulting atom has a slightly smaller mass than the sum of the masses of the original atoms. The
difference in mass is released in the form of energy (Nuclear Fusion, 2005) . It significantly
much better than Fission because it does not create nuclear waste because it does not use any
radioactive element, it uses Helium-4 and Hydrogen which are not rare elements. Unfortunately,
no country has been able to the scale the production to the point needed for an efficient source of
energy.
Current Nuclear Power Plants are dangerous. A consequence of one failure on a Nuclear
Power Plant can create a domino effect which affects not only the surrounding area but the
World. Radioactive fallout travels long distances when it gets picked up by the wind which
means it can spread very easily and with the radioactive waste the Fusion Power Plants create, it
is easy to see why things need to change (Holt, 2012). Nuclear Energy needs a full makeover to
not make our children or our children’s children be born in a world surrounded by waste and
radioactivity.
Nuclear Weapons have been the star these past decades. They have become a worldwide
phenomenon. But first of all, let's define the concept of a Nuclear Weapon. Nuclear Weapons are
defined as any weapon of mass destruction that is powered by nuclear reaction, such as the
bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the end of World War II. There are various
types of nuclear weapons of which include, fusion bombs, hydrogen bombs, and the infamous
atom bomb. All of these weapons cause massive damage to the environment and to the fauna and
flora living inside of it (Simon, 2015). One example of the this is the Trinity Test. The Trinity
test, or at the time named the Manhattan Project, consisted of the testing of the first nuclear
bomb created, detonated July 26 in 1945 and on the soils of New Mexico, USA. The Bomb
named the Gadget was started developments just three weeks before the detonations of the
Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombs by J. Robert Oppenheimer and a group of scientists (Trinity
Test, 2018). When detonated, the atom bomb explosion was felt by the surrounding populace and
left a crater about twelve hundred feet wide. It also created a substance called trinitite. It was
created by the rapid melting of sand and exposure to radioactive isotopes. It is estimated that the
nearby populace got exposed to radiation ten thousand times this recommended dose level by the
fallout created by Gadget which increased the risk of cancer (Simon, 2015). This is one of the
less catastrophic examples such as the Hiroshima explosion in Japan which killed so many
people that a new way of charting deaths was created, Megadeath, which is equal one million
deaths (Roper, 2015).
It is a fact that nuclear weapons are devastating. They are so devastating that post World
War II, yes there was a war, but a war of persuasion over a war of action, the Cold War. Just the
thought of what the enemy’s intention was, frighted both parties of which both of them had the
thought of Mutually Assured Destruction. This meant that if the enemy were to shoot at me with
their nuclear bombs me would shoot mine as well, because if I lose you lose too (Roper, 2015).
As Albert Einstein once said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but
World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones” (Einstein, 1912). This train of thought is
still very prevalent throughout the world and now with the increasing conflicts and tensions in
Syria and North Korea, that idea is spreading even more as we enter the second chapter of the
Cold War, an exact copy of the first chapter, but with different characters.
Nuclear energy was not created to kill people or win wars, they were created with good
intentions, for the good of humanity. But good things can always go bad. Previous Nuclear
Reactor failures have contaminated our waters, terrains and atmosphere with radioactive isotopes
therefore they have increased the average radiation levels globally. Nuclear Weapons are
different. Nuclear Weapons should have never been invented. Yes, they pushed humanity
forward but it is not worth risking our humanity's existence for it. There is a point of no return
very easy to get to. Just from a push of a button humanity could be sent into a downward spiral.
But there is hope, if all of humanity, all of us, join arms globally, we could be able to go
anywhere, do anything, but if not, Doom will come for us. Humans always join forces when their
survival is at stake, why haven't we now?
Works Cited
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