? Essay, Research Paper
Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
Bibliography
Freeman, Harold. If You Give A Damn About Life. 79 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016: Dodd, Mead, & Company, 1987.
Jervis, Robert. The Illogic of American Nuclear Strategy. 124 Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850: Cornell University Press, 1989.
Klare, Michael. Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws. Harper Collins Canada Ltd. 1995.
Newhouse, John. War and Peace in the Nuclear Age. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1988.
Pringle, Laurence. Nuclear War. Bloy Street & Ramsey Avenue, Box 77, Hillside, NJ 07205: Enslow Publishers, Inc. 1985.
Wekesser, Carol. America s Defense: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1997.
Zuckerman, Solly. Nuclear Illusion and Reality. 625 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022: The Viking Press, 1990.
Peacock, Lindsay. B-1B Bomber. 12-14 Long Acre, London, England WC2E 9LP: Osprey Publishing Ltd. 1992.
March 29,1999 Jagdesh Cooma
HWH3 ZK82
Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
I. Introduction
II. Statistics about nuclear weapons
A. Most nuclear weapons have a blast radius of 1-5 miles
B. A year s worth of plutonium waste from an average nuclear plant can produce 800 nuclear bombs
C. Nuclear cruise missiles can be launched thousands of miles way from its programmed target
III. Reasons why nuclear war is resorted to
A. Total annihilation of one s enemy
B. Complete destruction of enemy s land
1. Can take years for adequate housing and businesses to develop
2. Destruction of farmland can severely hurt enemy nation
IV. Costs of nuclear war
A. Average nuclear bomb/missile can cost $2-8 million
B. Casualties of civilians and soldiers
1. Amount of lives lost can be unaccountably high
2. Cruel and ghastly means of death for those within two miles of blast
3. Number of civilians killed will be tremendous
C. Amount of damage done would me tremendous
D. Delivering and storage of nuclear weapons is costly and poses a high risk.
1. Air/sea crafts used to deliver weapons cost $millions for each run
2. Chances that crew on the craft or storage areas will be damaged,
destroyed or attacked poses a deadly threat
V. Affects of nuclear war
A. Millions of lives lost
B. Long-term radiation damages
1. Women exposed can bear children with birth defects
2. Survivors of the explosion can suffer from cancer to severe burns
3. Land can be unsuited for living (farming/housing)
4. Water can be deadly contaminated
5. Air can contain harmful filaments
C. In the end, there is no true winner
VI. Potential threat of countries possessing nuclear weapons
VII. Conclusion
April 26, 1999 Jagdesh Cooma
HWH3 ZK82
Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
Nuclear war is not much of a major threat as it used to be. Now a days, people
have a stronger feeling towards peace in the world. There is a higher value for human
life, and more importantly, there is a greater need for an interdependent global economy
and society.
If you are going to understand nuclear warfare, you have to understand nuclear
weapons. The primary ingredient for a nuclear bomb or missile is plutonium, the waste
product of uranium. Uranium is what is used to run nuclear power plants. As uranium
is used up, plutonium is produced. The average nuclear power plant produces enough
plutonium to create 800 nuclear bombs or missiles.
Why are nuclear weapons so deadly? 1 A nuclear bomb can have a blast radius
of 1-5 miles. That s a blast powerful enough to wipe out an entire city. The effects of
the blast can have the surrounding 1 1,000 square miles covered in a radioactive blanket.
The mushroom cloud produced by the explosion soars to about 2 miles into the
sky. The force from the cloud can send any aircraft to the ground due to a tremendous
amount of turbulence. This is why only high-range/high-speed bombers are used to deploy
nuclear weapons.
Jagdesh Cooma
Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
If a country chooses not to use aircraft in delivering the weapons, then can use
ships, submarines, and missile silos to launch nuclear cruise missiles. 2 Cruise missiles are
in a class of missiles known as fire-and-forget missiles. What happens is that the
missiles warheads are programmed to arrive at a certain location via satellite. These
missiles can be launched hundreds to even thousands of miles away from its target
location. One type of cruise missile, the Boeing AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile
(ALCM), has been reported to have an accuracy level of 3 square yards of its
programmed target. By using missiles like this, they won t risk the lives of human pilots
or multimillion dollar planes.
Nuclear war is resorted to for a few major reasons. The primary reason is that
it can lead to total annihilation of one s enemy. With a few nuclear hits from nuclear
bombs, your enemy is completely destroyed, quickly, easily, and effectively. Another
important reason is it causes 3 complete destruction of enemy land.
If you are able to have enemy land completely totaled, it can take years for them
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Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
to rebuild themselves. 4 The time the country needs to replenish its economy would be
enough to send them into a bad economic situation, possibly even a depression. If a
depression occurs, inflation is one of the strings attached with it. As inflation rises and
the value of currency goes down, it leads to unhappy citizens and discontent soldiers. If
the soldiers are paid inflated, low-value money, why should they still bother fighting?
5 If key areas during the war are wiped out, such as industries that produce
war supplies, it can allow the opposition to have a great advantage. If farmlands are
destroyed, it can cause a famines for the civilians of the nation as well as for the
soldiers fighting. Again, another advantage for the opposition.
Now, what are the costs of nuclear war? The costs basically range through three
major fields. The first field is the cost for a nuclear weapon. The second field is the loss
of human lives. And finally, the third field is the cost of transporting and storing the
nuclear weapons.
An average, nuclear bomb is has an impact of roughly 5-15 megatons . The
average cost for a weapon like this can range from $2-4 million, for a low standard,
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Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
simple nuclear bomb, to $5-7 million, for a state-of-the-art, laser guided bomb (LGB),
which can hit targets way more accurately.
An average nuclear missile can cost $3 million, where you ll get a missile that
must be launched by plane and isn t exactly accurate, to $8 million , which gives you a
top of the line cruise missile that can be launched from a submarine, ship, or a bomber.
Cruises missiles are reported to have a great amount of accuracy as you have read
before, which is why there are a favorite choice of the military.
The cost of human lives during a nuclear war is unimaginable. The amount of
lives that are lost would be uncountable. People that are close to the blast when it
occurs will be vaporized, won t have any remnants left for their lives to be accounted for.
Now the effects of nuclear war are just as devastating. There are going to be
millions of lives that will be lost. The number is so great, that it can t even be said for
certain. However, there was an estimate done on the lives that will be lost if the
bomb/missile were to hit New York city (Manhattan). The estimate was approximately
8-10 million lives. The long term affects of nuclear war would be the radiation damages.
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Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
The survivors will suffer a great deal of medical problems, land affected by the
radiation will not be suitable for any use, water exposed can be deadly contaminated,
and the air can contain harmful filaments.
People within a two mile radius of the blast will literally be vaporized due to
the immense heat dispersed from the explosion. Those people will be the lucky ones, they
wont have to suffer from what the rest will.
Anyone from 11 three to four miles away from the blast will suffer from severe
second and third degree burns. They will be in such bad condition that they would just
lie there and die a slow, gruesome death. Even if these people could be rescued, all the
hospitals within a 11 seven to eight mile radius of the explosion would either be destroyed
or heavily damaged. Even if the hospitals were in good enough condition, they each could
take no more than three to four burn victims because of the cost to support them
( between $200,000 and $400,000 is needed to treat a severe burn case ).
Of those who survive this. These people will most definitely suffer from second to
third degree burns because the clothes on their skin will be burnt off. The heat emitted
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Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
from the bomb is equivalent to several hundred thousand suns. 11 For the people that are
five to seven or eight miles away from the blast will undergo extreme radiation exposure. These
people will have a long, traumatic death or a horrible life plagued with illness.
People beyond this radius will suffer from mild to minor radiation exposure.
It wouldn t be enough for them to die, but they will most likely have health problems and women
affected by the radiation can bear children with all types of birth defects from cancer to mental
retardation.
People who survive the explosion will suffer tremendously. The survivors can suffer
13 massive amounts of burns, mainly second and third degree burns. Others that are
further away could endure side effects from the radiation exposure. This mostly emphasizes
on the types of cancers that can develop.
The affects a nuclear explosion on the land can definitely alter it. The damage
from radiation can cause the land be totally unsuitable for any kind of farming or
housing development. Anything grown or erected on the affected land can conduct the
radioactive poisons within the land s soil or surface.
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Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
Water exposed to the radiation can be severely contaminated. The water can
contain all types of substances that can become deadly when exposed to high levels of
radiation. This won t allow any kind of safe water for the area(s) that are bombed.
After the explosion, the least area considered contaminated will be the air. Dust
and all other kinds of filaments in the air will pose a deadly threat. People, animals,
and plants will eventually be seriously affected in given time. 16 If they don t die, they
would develop some type of cancerous disease.
The final affect of the war would be no true victor. Unfortunately, after any war,
there are no winners, and a nuclear war would be no exception. The amount of damage
done to both parties would be to great for either one to even claim the title of winner.
Now to begin planning for a nuclear war, we have to consider the countries that
have nuclear weapons, countries that are suspected of having it and their potential threat.
Countries that possess nuclear weapons include Great Britain, the United States, Russia,
Israel, South Africa, India, and Pakistan. Countries suspected of having nuclear arms or
who can build them if they wish are 13 Canada, Iran, Italy, Japan, Sweden, West
Jagdesh Cooma
Is Nuclear War Still A Major Threat?
Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan,
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, The
Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Yugoslavia.
The threat of theses countries who are suspected of possessing nuclear weapons is
rather disastrous because no one would suspect it and it gives these countries an extra
edge during war or times of conflict. This is because if two countries are engaged in
conventional warfare, and out of nowhere, the country least expected to have any kind of
nuclear arsenal can surprise the world and nuke their opposition.
There is a greater threat from these suspected countries than those who are known
to possess nuclear weapons because they can use them spontaneously and without no
warning, while the countries that do have them can be expected to use them which will
give their opposition 18 some kind of hint or reason to call for a greater amount of
defense.
In conclusion, I can state that nuclear war is no longer a major threat by reason
of the costs of nuclear war and the affects of nuclear war. I believe the evidence that is
present in those two listed titles and its subtitles is strong enough to support my thesis.