Nuke-Clear
Seven years since the war in Iraq there have been a little over 4,000 casualties, but the amount of bodies counted in this amount of time is nothing compared to what happened in 1945. On August 6, 1945 an estimated 100,000 people were killed because of the use of a nuclear weapon, but this number would reach nearly 200,000 over the next five years because of the continuing effects of nuclear radiation. I believe that the total eradication of Nuclear weapons would be best for humanity because they are so dangerous, unnecessary, and because of what might happen if we keep them.
Although people have seen pictures and cartoons use a mushroom cloud to demonstrate a big explosion, the public is unaware of the total power and danger a nuclear weapon. A nuclear bomb could be no bigger than a car and still level a city and leave a big handprint on its victims. When these bombs are detonated, or used, great disaster occurs. A brief blinding flash is then accompanied by a great thermal heat blast that vaporizes anything within a mile. After the blast, a firestorm is created by massive winds and heat that burns everything around. Winds are actually pulled back to the blast-point so it burns and sucks everything back into the explosion area. After all this damage is done, radiation lingers from the cloud of the explosion and has great affects on life around the explosion. If someone wasn’t killed by the first explosion, they would be killed by the firestorm. If they weren’t killed by the firestorm and they were further away, they would be exposed to the radiation and develop radiation sickness. After a nuclear explosion occurs the radiation from the bomb lingers and it could be a couple days or months before the waste fully decays. If someone survived the explosion, but suffered from radiation sickness they would feel the effects in weeks. Some people, after a nuclear explosion, developed cancer from the radiation and would later die. This is why the number of casualties’ sky rocketed from 100,000 people to almost double in five years, because the survivors suffered from the radiation and later would die from it. The bombs’ explosion that dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 was measured at an estimated 15 kilotons which is the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT. With our current day science we have the capabilities to make the same size bomb as Hiroshima, but much more powerful. Imagine a bomb being detonated in Seattle, Washington. If the weapon was measured at any higher than the one used in Hiroshima, it would not only devastate Seattle, but probably nearby cities, like Everett. The explosion would level buildings and set fire to all the trees, starting extremely dangerous firestorms. It would shake buildings and knock out window miles away from the initial explosion. In Hiroshima, the target was mainly a military base.
So instead of thoroughly destroying part of Hiroshima, a small precision strike would have been more effective and less negligent. Nuclear weapons are both unnecessary by cost and performance. They are cannot be considered national defense because they do not defend anything, they are only offensive tools. Our military has nuclear interception tactics like small scatter missiles that would have a high success rate of force-detonating the nuke in flight. Even though no current offensive uses of nuclear weapons have been used, the fact that we still have them is an issue. Why have nuclear weapons then? They are very costly and unnecessary too. The Manhattan Project alone (which were the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan), cost an estimated 20 Billion dollars. There are many new weapons that can be more effective now than using nuclear bombs and the Tomahawk Missile is one of them. Instead of having a huge and wild explosion, why not have a smaller and more efficient weapon that only costs an average of 1.5 million dollars. The Tomahawk Missile is a precision weapon that can be guided by a human. With having this new age weapon, there should be no more reasons to the existence of nuclear weapons. The Tomahawk Missile can be guided to a hidden base and minimize unnecessary deaths, including civilian lives. Although the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was meant only for a base, there is no doubt in any person’s mind that they knew how powerful that bomb was GOING to be.
There are nine known countries that possess nuclear weapons: The United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. With all these countries there are more than 22,000 weapons, not all which are active though. All these nations combined, have enough nuclear weapons to blow the world up 10 times over. The thought alone is staggering. If there is that possibility, then why should we even second guess keeping them and what might happen if we keep nuclear weapons? With our modern day technology, instead of eliminating nuclear weapons we have found a way to modernize these weapons. If we continue to keep nuclear weapons and programs in existence, we are also inviting other gateways to more horrible weapons, such as biological or chemical wareheads.The scientists of the world have found a way to make more effective nuclear weapons and they are: Chemical and Biological weapons. With the weapons today there is no question that the United States couldn’t make a Chemical Weapon that could contain a large amount of Anthrax. If a weapon like this was detonated in a large population of people, the results would be horrifying. Infecting a whole group of people with such a terrifying disease that easily spreads is very inhuman. Not to say that any of this is or has been done, but there is always the possibility with the way our technology is developing. If we are to keep nuclear weapons and we go to nuclear war with another country like North Korea, we could cause a nuclear winter. Nuclear winter is only theory, but what it is, is what happens IF two countries had a nuclear war and deployed a large amount of nuclear weapons. The amount of things being burned would cause enormous amount of clouds that would block out the sun and dramatically change the weather. The temperature would drop to freezing and it would be like that for years. With this happening, the ozone would deteriorate and human health problems would take effect. If the world is to keep nuclear weapons and we have a nuclear war, where will you hide?
Nuclear weapons are dangerous, extremely unnecessary and if we had a nuclear war, how would things actual happen? I don’t think that we should have ever created such a weapon but as long as we feel like we are in power with having these weapons, nothing will ever change.
