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Carlos Cifuentes
Writing 340 Sec. 66800
Marc Aubertin
14 October 2013
Assignment #2: Illumin Paper
The Impact of the Nuclear Weapon
The Dawn of the Nuclear Age has placed a new and deadly weapon on our hands: the
Nuclear Bomb. Although it has its implications, it has uses in preventing full on invasions using
massive human forces and nations are more than careful to think before launching a strike.
Opponents call to ban these weapons as a result of financial and environmental problems, though
proponents claim the benefits of military might and competition after the Cold War outweigh the
cons. The main topic of essay will focus on the history of how the nuclear bomb was developed,
how it works, and its impact on modern society in terms of diplomacy and warfare.
The first nuclear test was conducted on July 16, 1945 in the White Sands Proving Ground
in New Mexico and was codenamed Trinity. Directly after its use, the first two nuclear bombs
used for combat were created: Little Boy and Fat man. They were detonated right above the
Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing around 70,000 and 45,000 people respectively
[1]. The greatest impact of these bombs were that they ended the Pacific Theater of World War II
much earlier than generals have anticipated if they went with a full scale invasion. The earliest
weapons used plutonium as one of the elements, though later on, hydrogen bombs could create
much larger explosions [2].
The way a nuclear weapon is detonated in the earlier days was nuclear fission, or splitting
an atom with a neutron to create vast amounts of energy. Originally, the choice for nuclear
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weapons in the 1940s was Uranium 235 or Plutonium [2]. However, they had to be enriched in
order for the explosion to yield good results. A gun mechanism then fired at the sphere
containing the enriched fuel, causing the splitting reaction to begin. After a certain time falling,
the bomb will have enough energy contained inside for it to generate the large deadly explosion
atomic bombs are characteristic of [3]. The first fusion bomb test was carried out on an atoll in
the Pacific Ocean in November 1, 1952 nicknamed Ivy Mike. The largest nuclear weapon
created was a 50 megaton fusion device by the Soviet Union nicknamed "Tsar bomba." Its cloud
reached a height of approximately 64 km.
However, the new techniques to create bombs hundreds to thousands of times more
powerful is nuclear fusion, otherwise known as Thermonuclear. Instead of splitting the atoms,
atoms crash together at high speeds and generate a new atom, which creates much more energy
than the fission process. The fuel used for this are Deuterium and Tritium, which are practically
hydrogen atoms with two and three more electrons respectively than the average one electron.
The creation of new atoms occurs so quickly that the temperature inside the weapon reaches
several million degrees, causing the container to ignite and release that energy [4].
Figure 1: A side by side comparison of Nuclear Fission (splitting atoms) and
Nuclear Fusion (forming atoms). Source: [5].
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There are several ways to deliver a nuclear weapon. The first way was carrying it on a
bombing aircraft, having someone trigger the gun mechanism to begin fission, and letting the
bomb drop on its target. There are more practical ways to deliver nuclear weapons now. For
example, the size of a nuclear bomb larger than the ones dropped on Hiroshima are small enough
to be carried on fighter aircraft. Submarines are able to launch them from under the sea as
ballistic missiles, which can strike targets with precision continents away, also known as ICBMs
(Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles). With the advent of GPS and Satellites, precision and
accuracy has become a reality. In addition, there are MIRV (Multiple Independently targetable
reentry vehicle) s, which are nuclear weapons that launch into space and release several
warheads to strike multiple targets simultaneously. Such examples that the United States
possesses are the Minuteman III missile and the Peacekeeper [6].
In addition to the mechanisms used to deliver them, there are several places where they
are detonated. The most deadly by far is a ground explosion, which stems from the fact that it not
only creates a large explosion, but also releases contaminated debris into the atmosphere known
as fallout. Radiation can cause fatigue, vomiting, hair loss, and cancer over the long term, and
fallout increases its likelihood. Other tests that mitigate, but still do not fully contain, fallout are
underwater and above ground tests. As an alternative, the Nuclear Ban of 1962 limited nuclear
tests to underground. The bomb is detonated around a kilometer deep in a hole 3 meters wide. A
lead encasement surrounds the bomb and buried so no fallout is released when detonated. The
last type of test is a space detonation where the bomb explodes high above our atmosphere [7].
Though seemingly harmless, these tests have the capability to wipe out satellites, leave radiation
harmful enough for astronauts, and create an Electromagnetic Pulse(EMP) [8]. The EMP
disables all nearby solid state electronics, rendering them useless [9]. The codenamed Starfish
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Prime test near Hawaii conducted in 1962 managed to disable 300 streetlights and power lines up
to 800 miles away from the detonation site [10]. The yield of a nuclear weapon is not
proportional to its size and does not necessarily mean a larger explosion. The most common units
to measure them are either in Kilotons or Megatons, which is equivalent to the force of 1000 and
1000000 tons of TNT respectively. So a 40 kiloton detonation will not create a blast radius twice
as large as a 20 kiloton device, but the larger weapon will release more energy and fallout.
Figure 2: Comparison of bomb cloud size and megatons. Source: [11].
One of the largest impact nuclear weapons has on the United States and other countries
who own them are the cost of maintenance, which is a main issue in both developed and rogue
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nations. The budget to maintain its current stockpile in the United States averages around 20
billion dollars annually. During the Cold War, the United States spent about 5.5 trillion dollars
on research and maintenance of nuclear weapons [12]. As the Cold War ended, the United States
redesigned its focus on nuclear weapons by reducing stockpiles, stopping routine nuclear tests
after 1992 and reduced research funding. As a result, testing has shifted to more theoretical
simulations by computer programs due to a program called Stockpile Stewardship. Most
opponents of this plan state that it does not provide a plan to lower maintenance costs or change
how we store them, but cleanup is a slow process [13]. Also, diplomacy is key to preventing a
nuclear disaster. Even today, the cost to maintain nuclear weapons is not clear and concise since
other sectors in the Defense Department play a role. This does not include research costs of 1.4
billion as well as 6 billion for the preparation and standby of bombing aircraft and personnel. In
addition, the training, housing, and health of the personnel can total 4 billion per year [14].
Treaties such as SALT were agreements during the 1970s in the Cold War to keep nuclear
stockpile inventories at a limit due to technological advances to launch nuclear weapons further
and simultaneously. Today, the new START treaty is one of the first after the Cold War to once
again limit stockpiles and testing. The United Nations is the main mediator for most foreign
countries, but it does not necessarily mean some countries will follow international laws, even if
there are sanctions placed. North Korea and Iran have had issues with such laws, complying at
first, but carrying on shortly afterwards [15].
Other than diplomatic relations, another impact most visible today is the radical change
of conventional warfare as a result of nuclear weapons being a deadly unconventional method.
Mutually Assured Destruction was not something both superpowers were willing to risk, so each
devised alternative methods to gain backers. During the Cold War, there were not many direct
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military confrontations between the Soviets and the Americans. The conflicts that were fought
were proxy wars, in which one side had full military support and the other obtained training
using guerilla tactics. The Vietnam War (1955-1975; a.k.a. Vietnam Conflict) and the Soviet
Afghan War (1979-1989) were egregious examples of this warfare. In Afghanistan, the Soviet
Union attempted to maintain its newly socialist government from religious freedom fighters
known as Mujahedeen, covertly supported by the United States with weapons [16]. Likewise, the
Vietnam War involved the United States backing the South Vietnamese government heavily with
a standing army while the Soviet Union backed North Vietnam with artillery [17]. The primary
motive in both was the prevention of either side from expanding their political sphere.
When negotiations and offensives are not viable, espionage becomes a far more favorable
tactic since with the advent of high flying spy planes and satellites, reconnaissance is superbly
convenient. One of the most memorable examples was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, in
which U2 spy planes exposed a large shipment of nuclear warheads, tanks, rockets, and other
technologically advanced equipment. As a result, the United States was placed on DEFCON 2
and both superpowers got in a stalemate in which the use of nuclear weapons was close to being
a reality. Fortunately, differences were resolved when the Soviet Union agreed to remove nuclear
weapons from Cuba [18]. Nevertheless, this strategy also brought problems as a U2 plane was
shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, making its pilot Gary Powers a prisoner until 1962
when the United States agreed to exchange one of their political prisoners [19].
Before nuclear weapons, the world was mostly governed by empires with colonies that
were primarily obtained by exploration and indoctrination of the natives, and resorted to warfare
if indoctrination was not possible or convenient. By the end of World War II, most of these
empires no longer controlled most of their colonies or were met with demands for independence.
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With the United States and the Soviet Union being the two superpowers with the largest
stockpiles of nuclear weapons, these older European empires were quite small in size and did not
have the space or resources to create massive amounts of nuclear weapons without their colonies.
Furthermore, most of these empires were in financial ruin, so the Soviet Union and the United
States took advantage and offered foreign aid to the territories they encompassed as they
approached Germany during World War II, creating the Eastern Bloc and NATO (North Atlantic
Treaty Organization) respectively [20].
Overall, the creation of nuclear weapons is not a one sided argument. Despite its effects
being a threat to human life, it is an effective measure to prevent direct military conflict and a
powerful weapon that can destroy most of everything in its path. In a sense, this fear of nuclear
weaponry and need for diplomacy fueled the rise of globalization. In the Manhattan Project,
several Italian and German expatriates were involved in creating the first atom bomb, and the
Cold War forced many nations to join together, as well as Third World countries choosing not to
ally with either superpower. If scientists, engineers, and politicians wanted to create a safer
world, realizing the immense cost to maintain them should encourage them to reduce stockpiles.
That way, the saved money can be diverted into security on the current stockpile so no one can
simply steal these weapons or into other government programs. Reducing a few weapons or
creating treaties may not seem like much at first, but can go a long way in the future.
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References

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
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