Nuclear Disarmament: Challenges, Opportunities and Next Steps.

 

 

BENCHMARK I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                Student: Tokareva Olga

                                                                                   Teacher: Gubina Elena

                                                                                   Severskaya Gymnazia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seversk 2009

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS:

 

 

 

 

1.     Introduction ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ3

2.     History of nuclear weaponsÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.3

3.     Nuclear testsÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ..6

4.     Hiroshima and NagasakiÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.8

5.     Cold WarÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.11

6.     Nuclear bomb: Types and TechnologiesÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.14

7.     Nuclear productionÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ..17

8.     Nuclear weapons in the WorldÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ18

9.     Possession of the nuclear weaponsÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ..20

10.   References and materialsÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Nuclear fuel production, nuclear arms and other aspects of dealing with radioactive materials are critical issues nowadays. More and more countries built nuclear power stations to give people heat and light, scientists invent the new ways of treatment with the help of radioactivity , but side by side with this a policy of manufacturing nuclear weapons goes on.

 

 

 

 

History of nuclear weapons.

ÒNuclear weapons are devices that possess enormous destructive potential derived from nuclear fission or nuclear fusion reactions. Starting with the scientific breakthroughs of the 1930s which made their development possible, continuing through the nuclear arms race and nuclear testing of the Cold War, and finally with the questions of proliferation and possible use for terrorism in the early 21st century.Ó 13    

My first objective was to find out how everything concerned nuclear weapon began, what steps preceded its development. So,

Faces, dates and discoveries.    

 

 

 

 

 

1898 – Pierre Curie and Maria Sklodowska-Curie had discovered phenomenon of radioactivity

 

 

 

 1911 – Ernest Rutherford proposed his most revolutionary idea, concerning the existence of the atomic nucleus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1932 – James Chadwick discovered the neutron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 1932 – Ernest Walton and John Cockroft have splited the atom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1934 – Leo Szilard proposed the idea of Òchain reactionÓ

 

 

 

 

 

 

1934 – Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie discovered that artificial radioactivity could be induced in stable elements by bombarding them with alpha particles. 

 

 

 

 

 

1932 – Enrico Fermi reported similar results when bombarding uranium with neutrons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1938 – German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman had detected element barium after bombarding uranium with neutrons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1939 – Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frish interpreted these results as being nuclear fission and confirmed this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References to photos are specified on page 23

 

Chain reaction:

             Many countries began working with radioactive materials, research their properties, make experiments to learn more about substances.

            The first nuclear project was The Manhattan Project aimed to develop the first atomic weapon during World War II. Many of the worldÕs great physicists in the scientific and development aspects took part in it. Scientists from the US, the UK, Canada worked from 1939-1946 under the control of the US Army Corps of Engineers, under the administration of General Leslie R. Groves. The scientific research was directed by american physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

            The World was at the edge of the beginning of World War II, and scientists were afraid that Nazi Germany could also investigate nuclear weapons of its own. Manhattan Project resulted in creation of multiple production and research sites that operated in secret. The centre was at the secret laboratory Los Alamos, New Mexico. Another secret site was built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee for the large scale production and purification of the rare isotope.

Two methods which separated isotopes based on their differing weights, electromagnetic separation and gaseous diffusion, were used.

           

 

      By the time, Europe had been enveloped by World War II, the USA didnÕt stop creating nuclear weapons. It had become the leading country in the development of nuclear physics. On the 16 July 1945, in the area of New Mexico, the first in the world nuclear bomb was tested. Thus the Atomic era has started.

                  

 

 

It took only forty years to create and develop the most powerful and dangerous weapons; thousands of people worked on this problem and succeeded. The first atomic bomb was created and tested by the USA that became the first nuclear country in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Nuclear tests

 

       There are four major types of nuclear tests:

 

 

1.     atmospheric

2.     underground

3.     exoatmospheric

4.     underwater.

 

        ÒNuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them. Testing nuclear weapons can yield information about how the weapons work, as well as how the weapons behave under various conditions and how structures behave when subjected to nuclear explosions. Additionally, nuclear testing has often been used as an indicator of scientific and military strength, and many tests have been overtly political in their intention; most nuclear weapons states publicly declared their nuclear status by means of a nuclear test.Ó5    

      July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 bright flash has lighted the sky above the Plato in the Jemez Mountains to the north of New-Mexico. Specific cloud of radioactive dust resembling a giant mushroom rose 30 thousands feet high. There was nothing there after wards but green radioactive glass the sand turned into. 3

ÒNuclear tests can involve many hazards. A number of these were illustrated in the U.S. Castle Bravo test in 1954. The weapon design tested was a new form of hydrogen bomb, and the scientists underestimated how vigorously some of the weapon materials would react. As a result, the explosion – with a yield of 15 Mt – was over twice what was predicted. Aside from this problem, the weapon also generated a large amount of radioactive nuclear fallout, more than had been anticipated, and a change in the weather pattern caused the fallout to be spread in a direction which had not been cleared in advance.  The fallout plume spread high levels of radiation for over a hundred miles, contaminating a number of populated islands in nearby atoll formations (though they were soon evacuated, many of the islands' inhabitants suffered from radiation burns and later from other effects such as increased cancer rate and birth defects), as well as a Japanese fishing boat (Daigo Fukuryū Maru). One member of the boat's crew died from radiation sickness after returning to port, and it was feared that the radioactive fish they had been carrying had made it into the Japanese food supply.Ó5

Each country that was researching and developing nuclear weapons tested them. On the map below you can see the location of testing areas where leading nuclear states test their nuclear weapons.

 

██ USSR (light red for former Soviet republics outside Russia where nuclear weapons were tested, dark red for Russia which is the only former Soviet republic which still has nuclear weapons

██ USA

██ France

██ UK

██ China

██ India

██ Pakistan

██ North Korea

██ areas where nuclear devices belonging to another country have been used

██ question mark denotes the possible Vela incident 5

 

        The diagram of Nuclear Weapons testing shows when and how many times per year leading nuclear powers test their weapons. One can easily see moments of aggravation and recession of nuclear testing.

All maps and graphics dealing with nuclear tests have been taken from 5

        Nuclear weapons were being regularly tested from 1945 to 1998. The last time Northern Korea tested nuclear weapons was in 2006. Radioactive radiation covered huge territory, making it unsuitable for life.

 

 

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

ÒThe atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman on August 6 and 9, 1945. After six months of intense fire-bombing of 67 other Japanese cities, the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed on August 9 by the detonation of the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb over Nagasaki. These are to date the only attacks with nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.

The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945, roughly half on the days of the bombings. Since then, thousands more have died from injuries or illness attributed to exposure to radiation released by the bombs. In both cities, the overwhelming majority of the dead were civilians.

Six days after the detonation over Nagasaki, on August 15, Japan announced its surrender to the Allied Powers, signing the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, officially ending the Pacific War and therefore World War II. (Germany had signed its unavoidable Instrument of Surrender on May 7, ending the war in Europe.) The bombings led, in part, to post-war Japan adopting Three Non-Nuclear Principles, forbidding that nation from nuclear armament.Ó

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the photos of the first bombs, which were used on population:

 ÒLittle BoyÓÉ

 

É and ÒFat ManÓ.

 

 

 

In spite of great losses in manpower rand materiel, the mankind didnÕt stop developing their nuclear programs. Atomic weapons went on developing and that process gained greater and greater dimensions. The stockpiles of warheads grew fast and were ready to strike a crushing blow to the potential enemy. It was impossible to stop that. This process was called The Arms Race and took one of the most important places in the history of nuclear armament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold War

Although the USA and the USSR were allied against Nazy Germany during World War II, the two states disagreed sharply both during and after the conflict on many topics, particularly over the shape of the post-war world. The future of Europe was decided in1945 Yalta Conference. After the World War II it would be divided into two major parts: the ÒWestÓ influenced by the USA and the Eastern Block dominated y the USSR that first liberated these countries and then occupied them. It was time when the USSR was at the peak of its popularity and so was communist ideology. Communist parties won in free selections in some European countries and had significant support in Asia.

The UK and the USA were concerned that electoral victories by communist parties in any of these countries could lead to economic and political change in Western Europe. At the end of World War II almost all countries of Western Europe received economical assistance from the USA through the Marshall Plan (most of them joined NATO organization in 1949) while Eastern Block countries refused from it.

On March5, 1945 in Fulton, USA Winston Churchill called on all the English-speaking countries to unite against the Soviets. Later on in 1947 President Truman announced The Truman Doctrine, the document stated that the USA will remain committed to ÒcontainÓ further communist expansion. Cold War was started.

ÇThe Cold War was the state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. Throughout this period, rivalry between the two superpowers was expressed through military coalitions, propaganda, espionage, weapons development, industrial advances, and competitive technological development, which included the space race. Both superpowers engaged in costly defense spending, a massive conventional and nuclear arms race, and numerous proxy wars. È 8

The USA Government thought that their nuclear weapons could prevent the USSR from overrunning Europe after the Second World War and protect them from the Soviet goal of worldwide domination. The USA was considered to be the worldÕs leading military power, the same was the USSR. Both countries wanted to preserve their right and their ability to attack before they were attacked. The USSR started its nuclear program. It was hard to believe, but with the help of German physicist Claus Fooks the first nuclear charges appeared. On August 29, 1949 the first Russian nuclear bomb was tested. The USSR became the worldÕs second nuclear power. Rivalry between two superpowers has resulted in the nuclear arm races.

 

 

 

Warsaw Pact

NATO

Neutral countries

USSR

USA

Cuba

Alban (before 1968 г.)

Belgium

China (CNR)

Bulgaria

Great Britain

North Korea (KNDR)

Hungary

FRG (after 1955)

Angola

GDR (1955 – 1990)

Greece

Vietnam

Poland

Denmark

Laos

Romania

Island

Mongolia

Czechoslovakia

Spain

 

 

Italy

 

 

Canada

 

 

Luxemburg

 

 

Netherlands

 

 

Norway

 

 

Portugal

 

 

Turkey

 

 

France (before 1966)

 

 

 

 

Table has been made by Tokareva Olga. Information has been taken from 9

 

Neither the US nor the USSR followed the open war operations but both were involved into the contest to build more powerful weapons. Because the two powers were competing with one another, both nations soon acquired a huge capacity of overkill.

Below you can see how the number of nuclear weapons of two main rivals in the Cold War changed. This graphic helps us see the moments of conflict aggravation and recession.

The key points are the peaks of increasing weapons by both the USA and the SU.

- 1965 – is a period of aggravation of local conflicts. Both countries got tired of confrontation. The necessity of arms race restriction appeared. In this year maximum level of the US armament was reached.

      - 1985 became the starting point of changes in Russian policy. Max level of the armament was reached by the USSR.

 

 

 

 

 

The Cold War is also shown in cartoons. There are three cartoons which were interesting for me.

 

                        

                  ÒGonna split it!Ó                                ÒWho will be the first to check?Ó

 

                                                 ÒThe Heritage of the Cold WarÓ

 

       These pictures are drawn by Russian caricaturist A. Samarin and they show the atmosphere of the Cold War very well.

 

The Cold Wars saw periods of both heightened tension and relative calm and drew to a close in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Before that, agreements on disarmament and reduction of nuclear weapons were gained. The US and Russia (former USSR) have decreased their weapons from 70 000 to 20 000 today. The world changed: Warsaw Pact was dissolved, several countries which had been part of the USSR regained their full independence, and in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nuclear bomb

Types and technologies

 

In the world nowadays are known some types of nuclear bombs. They are defined by reactions which are involved in their work.

Two types of nuclear reactions are used in nuclear weapons. The nuclei of some heavy elements like uranium or plutonium can split into two roughly equal sized nuclei with the release of energy. Such a process is known as nuclear fission. On the other hand, two light nuclei can undergo nuclear fusion to combine and form a single nucleus, again with the release of energy. These reactions are explained in detail later. All nuclear weapons use fission and fusion reactions in different combinations.

From the point of view of military usage, the weapons fall into two classes. The first are called tactical weapons. These are meant to be used in the battlefield against military formations and are typically low-yield weapons. The second class is called strategic weapons. These are high-yield weapons designed to kill civilian populations in cities. The different types of weapons that have been built or thought of are described below.

v Pure Fission Weapons

Weapons in which only the fission reaction takes place are called pure fission weapons or simply fission weapons. Such were the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These are the simplest nuclear weapons to design and build. They form the basis for developing other types of weapons. Their yield can range from a few tons to about a few hundred kilotons. They can be both tactical and strategic weapons. The largest pure fission weapon tested is believed to be a 500 kiloton bomb called Mk-18 which was tested by the USA on the 15th November 1952.

v Boosted Fission Weapons

The efficiency of a fission weapon can be dramatically increased by introducing a small amount of material that can undergo fusion. Such weapons are called boosted fission weapons. In boosted weapons, the fission reaction takes place first and produces the required temperatures and densities for the fusion reaction. The fusion in turn accelerates the fission reaction. The fusion only serves to help the fission process go faster and makes the weapon more ÒefficientÓ. It contributes to only about 1% of the yield. Since boosted fission weapons are more efficient than pure fission weapons, they can be made lighter for the same yield. So most of the strategic fission weapons deployed today are boosted fission weapons.

v Thermonuclear Weapons

Thermonuclear weapons, also called hydrogen bombs, get most of their yield from the fusion reaction. As in the case of boosted fission weapons, they require a fission explosion (called the primary stage) to trigger the fusion (the secondary stage). However, unlike the boosted weapons, thermonuclear weapons contain a substantial amount of fusion fuel and most of their yield comes from fusion. These are the most powerful nuclear weapons, often with yields of a few megatons (a megaton is a million tons). A third fission stage can also be added to produce very high yield weapons. The most powerful nuclear weapon to have been tested so far is the Tsar Bomba, a 50 megaton three-stage weapon exploded by the USSR on 30th October, 1961. However it is not necessary for a thermonuclear weapon to have such high yields. The B61 (Mk-61) class of tactical thermonuclear weapons deployed by the USA have yields which can be adjusted to be as small as 0.3 kilotons (300 tons).

v Enhanced Radiation Weapons

Enhanced radiation weapons, also called neutron bombs, are small thermonuclear weapons which are designed to produce intense nuclear radiation. These are tactical weapons designed to kill soldiers protected by armor (for example, inside tanks). The radiation produced by the neutron bombs can easily penetrate the armor of tanks and kill the humans inside.

v Salted Nuclear Weapons

Salted nuclear weapons, or cobalt bombs, are thermonuclear weapons which are designed to produce a large amount of long lasting radioactive fallout. This would result in large scale radioactive contamination of the area they are dropped in. The fallout from salted weapons is much more intense and lasts much longer than from unsalted weapons. The long term effects of such weapons would therefore be much worse. These weapons are called `Doomsday Devices' since they could possibly kill everyone on earth. Fortunately, though these weapons have been conceived of and discussed, none have been built or tested (as far as we know).

v Pure Fusion Weapons

These are fusion weapons that would not need a fission trigger for the thermonuclear explosion. Active research is low yields. Yet, the lethality of these weapons due to nuclear radiation and explosive force going on in the US to develop these weapons, but with no success so far. Since there is no fission trigger, pure fusion weapons could be made. For instance, a pure fusion weapon with an explosive force equivalent to one ton of TNT would kill people in an area nearly a hundred times larger than a conventional bomb with the same explosive force.

Another feature of these weapons is that since they do not use fissile material, their development would not be restricted by the FMCT. 15

There are different designs of bombs. Below you can see Teller-Ulam design bomb:

 

 ÒThe Teller–Ulam design is a nuclear weapon design which is used in megaton-range thermonuclear weapons, and is more colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb". It is named after two of its chief contributors, Hungarian-born physicist Edward Teller and Polish-born mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, who developed the design in 1951. The idea is thought to pertain specifically to the use of a fission bomb "trigger" placed near an amount of fusion fuel, known as "staging", and the use of "radiation implosion" to compress the fusion fuel before igniting it. There are a number of other additions and variations to this idea posited by different sources.

The basic principle of the Teller–Ulam configuration is the idea that different parts of a thermonuclear weapon can be chained together in "stages", with the detonation of each stage providing the energy to ignite the next stage. At a bare minimum, this implies a primary section which consists of a fission bomb (a "trigger"), and a secondary section which consists of fusion fuel. Because of the staged design, it is thought that a tertiary section, again of fusion fuel, could be added as well, based on the same principle of the secondary. The energy released by the primary compresses the secondary through the concept of "radiation implosion", at which point it is heated and undergoes nuclear fusion.Ó4

          How does it work?

            

 

A. Warhead before firing; primary (fission bomb) at top, secondary (fusion fuel) at bottom, all suspended in polystyrene foam.

B. High-explosive fires in primary, compressing plutonium core into supercriticality and beginning a fission reaction.

C. Fission primary emits X-rays which reflects along the inside of the casing, irradiating the polystyrene foam.

D. Polystyrene foam becomes plasma, compressing secondary, and fissile uranium (U-235) sparkplug begins to fission.

E. Compressed and heated, lithium-6 deuteride fuel begins fusion reaction, neutron flux causes tamper to fission. A fireball is starting to form. 1

        Here is one more design of nuclear weapons: gun-triggered fission bomb. ÒLittle boyÓ dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was made according to this design.

      

       Different types of nuclear bombs are defined by reactions which are involved in their work. But process of its production is always approximately identical.

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nuclear production

 

Nuclear weapon is the most expensive kind of weapon nowadays. During its creation are involved hundreds workers, who works on different stages of production; for its realization are necessary the techniques for extraction of the fuel, construction of factories on its enrichment and processing, and many other things.

I have considered the scheme of all stages of work with nuclear fuel, from mining to storage.

.

                         Nuclear fuel cycle  

 

       ÇThe enrichment process used in the United States involves combining uranium with fluorine to make uranium hexafluoride (UF6) followed by gaseous diffusion (see below). The UF6 output from gaseous diffusion is in two streams - one is increased, or enriched, in its percentage of U-235, and the other is reduced, or depleted, in its percentage of U-235. The depleted uranium hexafluoride product is referred to as "depleted UF6." After gaseous diffusion, the enriched uranium hexafluoride is subjected to further processing, while the depleted UF6 is generally stored. È 7

 

 What kinds of workers are needed in this cycle and at each stage separately? I have consulted with the expert.

 

Miners, electricians, mechanics, meter men, drivers;

 

Electricians, mechanics, meter men, engineers;

 

 

 

 

Electricians, mechanics, meter men, chemists, physicists;

  Chemists, electricians, mechanics, meter men, operators;

 

 

 

Serving structure: mechanic, electrician, operator;

 

Operators, welders, turners, electricians, mechanics, meter men;

 

Operators, serving structure.

 

Kinds of workers needed at each stage of nuclear fuel cycle are not too differing from other stages because nowadays the process of this cycle is automated. And in it are necessary people which to observe of normal work of equipment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nuclear weapons in the world

 

Currently there are at least 9 countries with functional nuclear weapons and some other countries which might have them or strongly wish to have them. I have made a table concerning this problem. There are 4 groups in it.

 

 

 

Countries whichÉ

 

Éhave nuclear weapons 1

 

Éhave refused the nuclear weapon

 

Éhave not nuclear weapons but research activity is conducted

 

Éwish to have the nuclear weapon

USA

Czech Republic

Australia

Bangladesh

Russia (USSR)

Switzerland

Algeria

Indonesia

Great Britain

Sweden

Argentina

Burma

France

The Republic Of South Africa

Belgium

Syria

China

Yugoslavia

Brazil

 

India

Ukraine2

Germany

 

Pakistan

Byelorussia2

Iraq

 

KNDR

Kazakhstan2

Iran

 

Israel3

 

Spain

 

 

 

Canada

 

 

 

Congo

 

 

 

Libya

 

 

 

Nigeria

 

 

 

Netherlands

 

 

 

Norway

 

 

 

Romania

 

 

 

North Korea

 

 

 

South Korea

 

 

 

Taiwan

 

 

 

Japan

 

 

 

Egypt

 

           This table has been made by Tokareva Olga.

1 – There are nuclear charges in these countries.

2 – There were nuclear stockpiles of the former USSR on the territories of these states. In 1990-1991 they were returned to Russia.

3 – Israel does not comment on having nuclear charges, but it might have about 200 of them.

 

 

The table below shows the number of nuclear weapons belonging to the leading nuclear powers.

 

 

Stockpiles of leading nuclear powers: 6

 

 

1947

1952

1957

1962

1967

1972

1977

1982

1987

1992

2002

USA

32

1005

6444

 

30893

 

 

 

 

 

10600

USSR/Russia

 

50

660

 

8339

 

 

 

 

13000

8600

Great Britain

 

 

20

 

270

 

 

 

 

 

200

France

 

 

 

 

36

 

 

 

 

 

350

China

 

 

 

 

25

 

 

 

 

 

400

India + Pakistan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<100

Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ 200

All

32

1055

7124

>30000

39563

>40000

~49000

~57000

63484

<40000

20450

 

Essential changes of stockpiles of these countries are specified in this table. Bright distinctions between quantity of the weapon in 1967 and 2002 are visible.

For example, in the USA stocks have decreased approximately on 20 000, that specifies process of disarmament. The same process goes on in Russia and Great Britain. But in France and China the stockpiles have increased. Also about disarmament speaks the general result: it is enough to look data on 1987 and to compare them with the final ones.

 

Not all the countries of the world possess the nuclear weapon. Now it is a quite little number of lawful owners - eight and they form so-called Ç Nuclear club È. However, not all countries declare presence at them nuclear charges.

The quantity of stockpiles of the nuclear weapon in the world gradually decreases, it speaks that there is a process of disarmament.

 

 

 

 

Possession of the nuclear weapon.

Conditions and reasons.

 

As we can see various countries wish to have nuclear weapons. Each of them has own reasons/motivations to acquire it. I decided to investigate these reasons and chose to consider Pakistan.

 

Pakistan appeared in August 1947, 14, owing to partition of former British colony - India. Partition has occurred because of conflicts inside of the country, because of different religions. After this partition the new states were formed: sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan (later Islamic Republic of Pakistan and People's Republic of Bangladesh) and the Union of India (later Republic of India). Religious question has been solved. What has forced Pakistan to creation of the nuclear program and how this process was developed?

 

There are always certain reasons for a country to own a supply of weapons, even the weapons of mass destruction, and Pakistan has its own. Pakistan (The Islamic Republic of Pakistan) started its nuclear development in January 1972 with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as the Prime Minister. The country decided to start the program in response to India's development of nuclear weapons. During a meeting with senior scientists and engineers which took place on January 20, 1972, in Multan, the Prime Minister asked them to build the atomic bomb for national survival. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgical engineer who used to work at the Dutch research firm URENCO, also joined Pakistan's nuclear weapons-grade Uranium enrichment program, using stolen URENCO designs. 10

PakistanÕs first nuclear test was on the 28th of May, 1998, and the last was on the 30th of May, 1998.  All in all, there were 6 weapon tests. Pakistan tested plutonium capability in their sixth nuclear test of May 30, 1998 at Kharan. The latest and most sophisticated bomb design was tested, a very compact, yet powerful device. Current stockpile is 90-250 warheads, and their maximum missile range is 5,000 km. These numbers can hardly be proved due to the secrecy which surrounds the program in Pakistan. 12

With this supply thereÕs a need to control development, usage and tests. Thus, Pakistan signed the Geneva Protocol on April 15, 1960, the Biological Weapons Convention in 1974 and the Chemical Weapons Convention on October 28, 1997. In 1999 Pakistan signed the Lahore Accords with India, agreeing on a bilateral moratorium on nuclear testing. However, Pakistan, like India and Israel, is not a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and is not bound by any of its laws. Pakistan does not follow a no-first-use doctrine and has also not issued any official nuclear doctrine. There has been a lot of criticism of Pakistan's nuclear doctrine. The organization authorized to make decisions about Pakistan's nuclear posturing is the NCA. It is composed of two committees that advise the present President of Pakistan on the development and deployment of nuclear weapons; it is also responsible for war-time command and control.

Pakistan's nuclear weapons development program is mostly based on highly-enriched uranium, which is produced at the Kahuta Research Laboratories at Kahuta, which has been in use since the early 1980s.  In the mid 1980s, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission began to pursue Plutonium production capabilities.

Since all Pakistani bomb designs are implosion-type weapons, they will typically use between 15-25 kg of uranium for their cores. To reduce the amount of uranium in cores from 60 kg in gun-type devices to 25 kg in explosion devices is only possible by using good neutron reflector, which increases the weight of the bomb. However, only 2–4 kg of plutonium is needed for the same device, so now Pakistan focuses on developing this very kind of bombs and spends a lot of means for tins type of industrial manufacturing.

Pakistan develops this area quickly and foreign help is needed for such speed.  Historically, China has played a major role in the establishment of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development infrastructure. Pakistani officials have supposedly observed at least one Chinese nuclear test. According to a 2001 Department of Defense report, China has supplied Pakistan with nuclear materials and has provided technical assistance in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which China is a signatory.11 Also, from the end of 2001 the United States has provided material assistance to help Pakistan in guarding its own nuclear weapons. This included the safeguarding of Pakistan's nuclear material, its warheads as well as its laboratories, though this cooperation is completely legal.

PakistanÕs doctrine, PakistanÕs motive for such arming is to counter the threat from its principal rival, India, and I believe this is the main reason, just not the only one. We are yet to find out what are the others, but IÕd say, just as everyone else, that it is for becoming more important, to have more opinion weigh on international political and/or economical arena.  

 

So, all in all, as far as I understand this whole difficult matter of weapons of mass destruction, it is a necessity, according to Pakistan, with a neighbor like India and in a world like ours, but it should be strictly controlled, and different world nuclear weapon control organizations are doing a decent job.

Text adopted from http://www.en.wikipedia.org/

 

                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

 Can we really say that the world has become safer? Some specialists say these two countries, USA and Russia, still have more nuclear weapons that they need. There are some other countries that have nuclear weapons, but hey are still not part of the nuclear arms reduction treaties. Some countries reduce their weapons, the other ones increase and modernize them, besides, we mustnÕt forget about nuclear terrorism. That is why it is very important for younger generation to develop their own vision of a future safer world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

List of references which have been used for citations:

 

1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_design

2 - http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/nuclear_weapons_body.html

3 - http://www.rhbz.ru/Yadernoe/page_1.1.htm

4 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teller-Ulam_design

5 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing

6 - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ядерное_оружие

7 - http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/guide/depletedu/enrich/index.cfm

8 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War

9 - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Холодная_война

10 - http://globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/pakistan/khan.htm

11 - http://csis-scrs.gc.ca/pblctns/prspctvs/200110-eng.asp

12 - http://fas.org/news/pakistan/2000/e20000609pakistan.htm

13 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_nuclear_weapons

14 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

15 – Articles from some encyclopedias.

 

 

References and materials, which helped me understand a theme:

 

 

 

References to photos: