Nuclear Independence Day Essays (1491 words) - Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Independence Day Nuclear Independence Day Since July 16th, 1945 the first A-bomb was discover until today, unclear weapon are playing a major part of the 20th century's most reliable military defense system. Throughout the past five decades or so, many strong military nations like United State, Soviet Union (USSR), China, France, England . . . seems very interesting to invest nuclear weapon than any other military weapon. It seems like a country without nuclear weapon wills no longer deserves the title of Great Power! A country is defenseless without nuclear protection. Over the last 50 years, nuclear weapons were developed that dwarfed the 1945 bombs in destructiveness, and major military powers stocked their arsenals with these arms. Every year the world spends 3,500 trillion dollars to restock their nuclear weapon power. Every year the world spends half trillion dollar to protect the weapon from unnecessarily exploration and stolen . . . From 1992-1996 total of 79 nuclear emergency research was recalled to NEST (Nuclear E mergency Search Team) for help. Term like ?Broken Arrow?, ?Red Six? and ? Landlord Access Red? are becoming the most common nuclear weapon warning recall used in NEST and NASA . . . The explosive power of a nuclear weapon comes from nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, or both--in the case of the HYDROGEN BOMB. A typical small nuclear weapon has the explosive yield of tens of thousands of tons (kilotons) of the conventional explosive TNT; a large nuclear weapon might have the yield of a million tons (megatons) of TNT or more. A single nuclear weapon can kill hundreds of thousands of people, and when carried on a ballistic missile, can travel intercontinental distances in less than half an hour. The deployment of tens of thousands of these weapons, primarily by the United States and the Soviet Union, has threatened annihilation with little or no warning. The devastating effects of nuclear weapons, however, may actually have deterred their use. Strategic (long-range) nuclear weapons include land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and the bombs and cruise missiles carried on long-range bombers. Many strat egic ballistic missiles carry multiple warheads, called MIRVed missiles. Tactical nuclear weapons are shorter-range weapons allocated for regional use or for use in support of battlefield operations. France, Great Britain, and China each have small but significant nuclear arsenals, which include both strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. Israel is reported to have about 100 nuclear weapons. Other countries--India, South Africa, and Pakistan-- have the capability to make nuclear weapons. Iraq, Iran, and North Korea reportedly have made efforts to develop nuclear weapons. . . During the end of World War II, in November 1945 President Harry S. Truman decided to allow the bombs to be dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki because, he said, he believed they might save thousands of American lives. For maximum psychological impact, they were used in quick succession, one over Hiroshima on August 6, and the other over Nagasaki on August 9. These cities had not previously been bombed, and thus the bombs' damage could be accurately assessed. U.S. estimates put the number killed in Hiroshima at 66,000 to 78,000 and in Nagasaki at 49,000. Japanese estimates gave a combined total of 240,000. In 1960 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev launched plans to supply Cuba with medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles that would put the eastern United States within range of nuclear missile attack. Khrushchev mistakenly assumed that the United States would take no action and when questioned denied that any missiles were being supplied to Cuba. By the summer of 1962, U.S. spy planes flying over Cuba had photographed Soviet-managed construction work and spotted the first ballistic missile on October 14. U.S. president John F. Kennedy consulted secretly with advisers, discussing options: invasion, air strikes, a blockade, or diplomacy. On October 22, Kennedy announced a naval blockade to prevent the arrival of more missiles. He demanded that the USSR dismantle and remove the weapons and declared a quarantine zone around Cuba, within which U.S. naval forces would intercept and inspect ships to determine whether they were carrying weapons. The United States was supported by other members of the Organization of American States. For several tense days Soviet vessels en route