Nuclear - Advancing? or Destructive?

Articles:
Introduction History Nuclear Energy Nuclear Technology	Nuclear Accidents Nuclear Waste Storage Food Irradiation Conclusion

Nuclear History

The key discovery for nuclear energy, or more specifically the fissioning of atoms was in the 1930’s, Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann and Lise Meitner created the first successful fission reaction.

World War II began, and the United States began what was code-named the Manhattan Project, which the entire purpose of was to create a weapon of mass destruction. Brought together in almost one night, it was led by Leslie Groves. In late December, 1942, a group led by Enrico Fermi had constructed the first self-sustaining fission reaction, a reactor built on the floor of a squash court. Approximately 300 000 workers were employed in the production of the nuclear weapon, and the majority hardly knew what they were working on. Finally in 1945 weapons grade uranium-235 was shipped to Los Alamos, which was than loaded into an anti-aircraft gun, and one piece of uranium was then shot at another which than contracted a chain reaction of nuclear fission.

“Little Boy” was the nickname given to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August of 1945. Many Americans approved of the attack which prompted Japan’s punctual surrender. Americans admired the scientific breakthrough of the bomb. Many of those emotions began to mix, as American media began to ponder what World War III could conceive, a world devastated by nuclear weaponry.

November, 1945 was the creation of the AEC, Atomic Energy Commission. A committee created mostly from the scientists who created the atomic bomb, its purpose was to diminish the threat of nuclear weapons through controlling materials and research. As the Cold War neared with the Soviet Union, the AEC realized that their stand no longer had the impact it had sought after.

American scientists believed the Soviets would not be able to create a nuclear bomb for about 5-10 years, but were suddenly shocked when they discovered that the Soviets has exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949, ending the monopoly of nuclear weapons that the United States had. Americans believed their country to be extremely vulnerable, and so an American Civil Defense production was filmed. Throughout the United States, school children were educated in the ‘duck and cover’ drill, which was designed to protect them from a nuclear bomb.

duckncvr.mov (3.5mb)
In the early 1950s, as the USSR acquired more power and influence, Americans military realized that the best defense was the strategy of deterrence, that is, stockpiling of nuclear weapons. In theory, the more nuclear weapons that America stockpiled, the more devastating a retaliation to the Soviet Union would be, if the Soviet Union ever attacked. This was also known as mutual assured destruction (MAD). The Soviet Union also realized this concept, and thus began the nuclear arms race. In the end the race to nuclear arming forced both sides to negotiate an arms reduction in the 1970s and 1980s.

On November 1, 1952, the US detonated its first thermonuclear weapon, also known as a hydrogen bomb on Enewatak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The hydrogen bomb was a combination of fission and fusion. The concept behind this was that the uranium would split, causing a fission explosion, which would than trigger a fusion explosion. A French scientist believed that it would detonate the earth’s entire atmosphere. West Coast residents of the United States believed it would begin a tidal wave and destroy their homes. This was the very first atomic bomb test to be covered by civilian radio and press. Less than a year later the Soviets detonated their hydrogen bomb.

In 1962 the world was on the verge of nuclear warfare under the Cuban Missile Crisis as America discovered the missile base that was being constructed in Cuba. Luckily it ended in the president of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, signing an agreement to dismantle the missile base.

In the 1970’s, détente commenced, a French word meaning lessening of tension. This was the reduction of nuclear arms between United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries realized that they had enough nuclear arms to destroy each other several times over, and continued expenses were damaging their economies.

In 1979, an accident occurred at the Three Mile Island. The nuclear power plant had a partial core meltdown resulting in the evacuation of approximately 200 000 people.

In the beginning of the 1980’s the Cold War was at its height, détente dead. Ronald Reagan, current president of the United States declared the USSR an ‘evil empire’. Reagan began a massive arms buildup.

1986 the world witnessed the Chernobyl incident, where Reactor 4 exploded, causing the evacuation of 210 000 people. Only 3% of the core escaped into the environment, but this caused massive damage to the economy and the environment.

The end of the Cold War in 1990 brought along another matter: nuclear proliferation. Horizontal proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons across other countries, as exampled when India acquired a nuclear bomb in 1974. Many strategist fear that if in the case that North Korea, Iran, or Iraq obtain a weapon of mass destruction they may use it recklessly. In September 1997, President Boris Yeltskin claims that there are at least 100 suitcase sized nuclear bombs, capable of killing 100 000 people, missing in Russia.

Sources | Project Info