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    Defcon

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    This document provides a history of nuclear weapons from their development during World War 2 to present day proliferation concerns. It describes how the US and Soviet Union developed atomic and hydrogen bombs during the Cold War, leading to a dangerous arms race. The document also discusses how other countries like India, Pakistan, and North Korea have since developed or pursued nuclear weapons despite UN efforts to limit proliferation. While nuclear weapons were originally created for military use, the document notes they have also been proposed for purposes like asteroid deflection.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Defcon

    Uploaded by

    api-283659108
    52 views6 pages
    This document provides a history of nuclear weapons from their development during World War 2 to present day proliferation concerns. It describes how the US and Soviet Union developed atomic and hydrogen bombs during the Cold War, leading to a dangerous arms race. The document also discusses how other countries like India, Pakistan, and North Korea have since developed or pursued nuclear weapons despite UN efforts to limit proliferation. While nuclear weapons were originally created for military use, the document notes they have also been proposed for purposes like asteroid deflection.

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    This document provides a history of nuclear weapons from their development during World War 2 to present day proliferation concerns. It describes how the US and Soviet Union developed atomic and hydrogen bombs during the Cold War, leading to a dangerous arms race. The document also discusses how other countries like India, Pakistan, and North Korea have since developed or pursued nuclear weapons despite UN efforts to limit proliferation. While nuclear weapons were originally created for military use, the document notes they have also been proposed for purposes like asteroid deflection.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    52 views6 pages

    Defcon

    Uploaded by

    api-283659108
    This document provides a history of nuclear weapons from their development during World War 2 to present day proliferation concerns. It describes how the US and Soviet Union developed atomic and hydrogen bombs during the Cold War, leading to a dangerous arms race. The document also discusses how other countries like India, Pakistan, and North Korea have since developed or pursued nuclear weapons despite UN efforts to limit proliferation. While nuclear weapons were originally created for military use, the document notes they have also been proposed for purposes like asteroid deflection.

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    DEFCON: A

    History of
    Nuclear
    Weapons
    By Matthew Stamm
    DURING THE COLD
    WAR, THE ENTIRE
    WORLD WAS
    INDANGER OF
    COMPLETE
    DESTRUCTION
    THROUGH A NUCLEAR
    HOLOCAUST.
    These weapons are the most
    dangerous pieces of military
    hardware ever devised for a
    multitude of reasons. The
    fission and fusion reaction
    generated upon detonation of
    these warheads is capable of
    instantly vaporizing millions of
    people while also producing
    profuse amounts of deadly
    radiation.

    There exists two types of


    these weapons, the first one
    to be produced and the only
    one to actually be used in
    warfare is the atomic bomb.
    This bomb uses solely nuclear
    fission for its reaction and is
    much less powerful than its
    counterpart, the hydrogen
    bomb. This sort of explosive is
    most commonly referred to as
    a Thermonuclear weapon
    and has two stages wherein it
    generates fission to ignite a
    fusion reaction.

    Now, I am become
    Death, the destroyer of
    worlds.
    J. Robert
    Oppenheimer
    The Road to Hiroshima
    and Nagasaki
    After the discovery of the
    nuclear fission reaction, there
    was an immediate rush
    between the Allies and
    Germany to create such a
    bomb during the Second
    World War.

    A group of scientists, some


    whom were European
    defectors fearful of that were
    Germans looming over them,
    where contracted by the U.S
    to manufacture a weapon that
    could harness the power of
    the atom. J. Robert
    Oppenheimer was the leader
    of this group of scientists
    stationed at Los Alamos.
    Multiple sites and factories
    were developed into, at the
    time, the largest industrial
    enterprise ever conceived.
    One such factory, K-25 (a
    subsidiary of the Oak Ridge,
    Tennessee complex, was the
    largest factory ever at the
    time and employed over 10
    000 workers, most of whom
    had no idea of what they were
    working on. The goal of these
    factories was to purify the
    stable uranium 238 isotope
    into the fissile uranium 235
    isotope. Also, adding a
    neutron to the 238 isotope
    can create plutonium, an
    unnaturally occurring fissile
    isotope. Three projects were
    developed: two gun type
    bomb, thin man and little boy
    and another plutonium

    implosion bomb named Fat


    boy. Thin man was eventually
    scrapped due to
    aerodynamics issues and the
    plutonium leading to early
    detonations.

    Above: The Fat Man bomb.

    On August 6th, 1945 the


    uranium based bomb Little
    Boy, was dropped on
    Hiroshima, Japan. Three days
    later, the plutonium based
    bomb Fat Man was
    detonated over the city of
    Nagasaki. Very soon after,
    Japan surrendered; thus
    signaling the ending of the
    Second World War.
    Recently, historians
    uncovered a drawing detailing
    a working design of a Nazi
    nuclear weapon, suggesting
    that the Nazis were closer
    than previously thought to

    building a weapon of their


    own. Some even believe that
    the Nazis had indeed create
    said device, but no record was
    ever found; much less the
    actual weapon.

    Above: Design of the Nazi Nuke

    If the Third World War


    is fought with nuclear
    weapons, the fourth
    will be fought with
    bows and arrows.
    -Lord Louis
    Mountbatten
    Thermonuclear
    weapons and the Cold
    War
    Not long after the Americans
    crafted their bomb, the Soviet
    Union produced their own
    weapon. During the United
    States research, multiple

    spies and intelligence leaks


    had advanced the Russians
    scientific efforts. They were so
    fixed on mimicking the
    plutonium implosion bomb
    dropped on Nagasaki that
    they even rejected a more
    efficient model. Through
    stubborn and ignorant
    working environments
    governed by doubtful
    administrators, the physicists
    tested their first fission bomb
    dubbed Joe-1 far before
    American predictions. The
    United States no longer had a
    monopoly on their coveted
    invention. Now that the two
    super powers had knowledge
    on fission weapons, the arms
    race began. The U.S, however,
    began testing on a more
    powerful weapon: the

    hydrogen bomb.

    Above: A war room during the Cold


    War

    For years, the thought of a


    weapon powered by the same
    energy has the sun itself had
    been contemplated but never
    brought to fruition. The idea of
    a weapon so powerful had
    always been dismissed due to
    the fact that it could only be
    used as a weapon of
    genocide. President Truman,
    however, authorized the
    testing of fusion bombs. In
    years to come, both Russia
    and the United States had
    usable fusion weapons that
    were hundreds of times more
    powerful than the regular
    fission bomb.

    On March 1st 1954, the U.S


    tested its first practical
    thermonuclear device at Bikini
    Atoll. The resulting blast was
    twice has large as predicted
    and created a large amount of
    nuclear fallout, killing some
    personnel and nearby
    fisherman. In light of the
    devastation that the weapon
    could create, the fear of a fullfledged nuclear war was now
    taken into consideration. Now
    not only were the citizens of
    the two super powers in
    danger, but the entire world
    due to the fallout of the fission
    reaction.
    Using the research and
    employment of the rocket
    used by the Nazis in the
    Second World War, the
    hydrogen bomb now had a
    delivery system for which
    hundreds or even thousands
    of these weapons could be
    deployed to any place in the
    world. In addition to this, the
    deployment of these weapons
    from submarines made
    prevention impossible. After
    the processing of think tanks
    and super computers,
    strategic operations of all out

    nuclear strikes had been


    calculated and perfectly
    planned. Wars would no
    longer be fought on
    battlefields, but in dark rooms
    filled with computers. The
    prospect of global
    annihilation, humanitys
    extinction was very real.

    developed nuclear devices of


    their own. BBC reports that In
    2006, 2009 and again in 2013,
    North Korea announced that it
    had conducted successful
    nuclear tests - they all came
    after the North was
    sanctioned by the UN for
    launching rockets. Though
    these programs remain rather
    primitive, the threat remains.

    Protests and Limitation


    With the emergence of
    nuclear weapons, so came the
    movement against them. A
    number of the weapons have
    since been decommissioned
    as so that they can never be
    used again. The U.N has
    pushed for limitations on the
    countries with existing
    weapons and the complete
    ban of those who do not.

    Second Arms Race


    Though the U.N has pushed to
    ban to development of
    nuclear weapons, many
    countries continue to pursue
    said bombs. Recently, India,
    Pakistan and North Korea have
    begun testing and even

    Above: North Korean leader Kim Jong


    un

    Non-Military Use
    Although nuclear weapons are
    usually used for military
    purposes, they can be used
    for different purposes. These
    bombs can be used for large
    scale earth moving,
    propulsion for space craft and
    most importantly for the
    avoidance of asteroids
    colliding with the Earth.

    Sources:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/scie
    nce/nature/4598955.stm
    http://www.un.org/disarmame
    nt/WMD/Nuclear/
    http://science.howstuffworks.c
    om/nuclear-bomb.htm

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