GS00320_Exam_200082314

Learning Experience

Q: Reflecting on one of your Learning Experience taster modules

examine the significance of a particular technology on your field of study

Nuclear Weapons

What are nuclear weapons?

All of humanity fears weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear.

Nuclear Weapons involve complex technology. The bombs explode due
to chemical reactions, they also consist of targets, to ensure they hit the
right position. This essay will discuss ‘The Nuclear Club’; countries that
legally own nuclear weapons. The essay will also discuss ‘Wannabe
Powers’; countries that neither deny nor admit that they own nuclear
weapons. ‘Number of Warheads’ will provide information on the number
of warheads in each Nuclear Power. It will then discuss if a ‘Plan for
Abolishment’ is possible or not. Finally, a conclusion will be made on
whether nuclear weapons are good or bad, and why.

The Nuclear Club

Nuclear is the most destructive weapon in the World. Countries spend

billions modernizing and improving their Nuclear Weapons. “All countries
with nuclear weapons are currently engaged in modernizing their nuclear
arsenals.” (Fetter, 2018). However, not all countries are lucky enough to
own one. Terms are delicate. The nuclear club consists of five states:
The United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and China. All Israel,
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India and Pakistan (which most likely have nuclear weapons) cannot
obtain the legitimate status of nuclear powers in terms of international
law. The fact is that to join the 'club' you need not the consent of its
current members, but a time machine. All countries that had time to
conduct nuclear tests before 1 January 1967 automatically became
Nuclear Powers. (UNI.LU, 2021) The chronology is this: the Americans -
in 1945, Russia - four years later, the British with the French - in 1952
and 1960, respectively. In the "last car" jumped China - 1964. (Early,
2016)

Wannabe Powers

Note that this state of affairs, in some part of the non-nuclear peoples,
has always caused and still causes a sense of indignation. Nevertheless,
185 countries around the world have adopted these rules of the game
and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Durkalec, 2018). This
means that the door to the elite nuclear establishment is closed forever.
The situation is paradoxical: any country that does not recognize the
Treaty formally has all the rights to establish its nuclear charge. The
members of the Treaty are also free to withdraw from it at any moment -
they only need to warn the rest of us in 90 days. (UN, 2017). Of course,
the potential bomb holder will have to make serious material costs, carry
out all sorts of international sanctions and perhaps even survive a
military attack. Nevertheless, particularly stubborn countries can still
become owners of the coveted bomb. 40 nations of the world today,
figuratively speaking, are on the verge: that is, they can produce national
nuclear weapons (NTI, 2021). But only four dared to cross that
threshold. In addition to those mentioned; Israel, India and Pakistan,
North Korea. These countries consider themselves Nuclear Powers.

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However, there is no reliable evidence that Pyongyang has conducted

an atomic bomb test. In this regard, some reputable experts call the
nuclear ambitions of the North Koreans a bluff. There are grounds for
this. Thus, North Korea declared itself a great Space Power, claiming
that a real satellite was launched. But in orbit, no tracking station has
recorded it. This is rather strange, especially when you consider that,
according to Pyongyang, their satellite from near-Earth space
broadcasts revolutionary songs.

Number of Warheads

There are fewer than 30,000 warheads in nuclear arsenals today. If we

assume that North Korea is not bluffing, its hypothetical contribution is
the most modest of this number. A nuclear reactor was built with the help
of the Chinese 100 km north of the North Korean capital. It was silenced
twice, under USA pressure. But, if there are a few bombs in North Korea,
their carriers are strong enough! They even have intercontinental
missiles capable of reaching the USA. Experts attributed about 50
nuclear weapons to Pakistan and about 50 to 100 Nuclear bombs in
India. Israel has a more solid arsenal: about 200 charges. "Israel
possesses a highly developed nuclear arsenal of approximately 90
warheads" (Mills, 2020). Addressing the data from Figure 1,
Approximately 195 warheads are from the UK. All are placed on four
nuclear submarines. China has approximately 290 warheads. "China
maintained a small number of attack aircraft with a range of
approximately 1,700 kilometres capable of delivering nuclear (gravity)
bombs and continue to create more."(Babiarz, 2015). France has 300
submarine-based warheads used for missiles. Russia has 1,600 active

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warheads. Finally, The USA, astonishingly, has around 3,800 active

warheads.

Figure 1: Amount of Warheads Per State (Korda et al, 2021)

Plan for Abolishment

Many States, Scholars, political and public figures and, above all,
experts in weapons of mass destruction, believe that today the question
should be raised. The question is not only about preventing the
proliferation of nuclear weapons, but on the complete elimination of
nuclear arsenals. Although no one in theory objects, nuclear-weapon
states, such as Russia, oppose "rapid and simplistic measures". Both
Russia, France, Great Britain and the United States - not always
agreeing with each other, say with one voice that it is premature to talk
about the elimination of nuclear weapons today. “Even proposals for
multilateral nuclear disarmament are often rejected on the grounds that
other parties cannot be trusted and are likely to cheat, or that nuclear
weapons cannot be dis-invented.” (Dungen, 2016). This is due to the
unpredictable environment of the world, for example, if North Korea have
nuclear weapons, and the rest of the world were to abolish them, a

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problem may arise. For all the differences, perhaps no country is in

favour of increasing its nuclear arsenals, as the more nuclear a country
has, the more trust from other nation decreases.

Nuclear Weapons: Good or Bad?

Although nuclear weapons can be used as defence mechanism, the

consequences of the use of nuclear weapons are too great. Nuclear
weapons affect our environment in several ways. It is obvious that a
nuclear war will have devastating consequences both in the area of the
explosion and in neighbouring regions. A nuclear war will lead to
catastrophic climate change, the so-called “nuclear winter” which will
result in millions of fatalities. Therefore, I believe that nuclear weapons
are bad and should be abolished.

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References
Babiarz, R., 2015. The People's Nuclear Weapon: Strategic Culture and
the Development of China's Nuclear Weapons Program. Comparative
Strategy, 34(5), pp.422-446.
CVCE.EU by UNI.LU. 2021. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons (1 July 1968). [online] Available at:
<https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/treaty_on_the_non_proliferation_of_nucle
ar_weapons_1_july_1968-en-0c1e0636-a043-4982-a8b5-
0484c27a1747.html> [Accessed 9 May 2021].
Durkalec, J., 2018. NATO Review - The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty at
fifty: a midlife crisis. [online] NATO Review. Available at:
<https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2018/06/29/the-nuclear-non-
proliferation-treaty-at-fifty-a-midlife-crisis/index.html> [Accessed 9 May
2021].
Early, N., 2016. This Is When The World's Nations Got Their Nuclear
Weapons. [online] HuffPost UK. Available at:
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nuclear-weapons-
timeline_n_6986204> [Accessed 9 May 2021].
Fetter, S., Garwin, R. and von Hippel, F., 2018. Nuclear weapons dangers
and policy options. Physics Today, 71(4), pp.32-39.
Kristensen, H. and Korda, M., 2021. Status of World Nuclear Forces.
[online] Federation Of American Scientists. Available at:
<https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/>
[Accessed 9 May 2021].
Mills, C., 2020. Nuclear weapons at a glance: Israel. Briefing paper, (9075).
Nti.org. 2021. More Than 40 Countries Could Have Nuclear Weapons
Know-How, IAEA Chief ElBaradei Warns | Analysis | NTI. [online]
Available at: <https://www.nti.org/gsn/article/more-than-40-countries-
could-have-nuclear-weapons-know-how-iaea-chief-elbaradei-warns/>
[Accessed 9 May 2021].
UN, 2017. [online] Un.org. Available at:
<https://www.un.org/disarmament/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/tpnw-
info-kit-v2.pdf> [Accessed 9 May 2021].
van den Dungen, P., 2016. Abolishing Nuclear Weapons through Anti–
Atomic Bomb Museums. Peace Review, 28(3), pp.326-333.

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