Critical Issues Forum

Nuclear Disarmament

Benchmark I

Background Knowledge

The Author: Serkov Fyodor

Form 11

School №2

Student

The Advisor: Matasova Irina

Victorovna

School №2

English teacher

Russia, Zarechny

2009

Contents

1. Objective 1

a) The history and development of nuclear weapons. 3

b) Celebrated scientists of that time. 4

2. Objective 2

a) Types of nuclear weapons. 7

b) List of professions involved in production of nuclear weapons. 9

c) Effects of nuclear testing. 9

d) Effects of the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 14

3. Objective3

Motivations behind efforts of various countries to acquire nuclear weapons 17

4. Conclusion 19

5. Bibliography 20

Objective 1

a) In books on History the given date of creation of nuclear weapons is 1944 when at the end of the WWII American scientists made it.

The head of the top-secret American “Manhattan project” was Leslie Grooves and the head of Los-Alamos laboratory was Robert Oppenheimer.

The Manhattan Project is the program to develop nuclear weapons in the USA; it was started in September, 1942. Some serious break-troughs in the branch of nuclear physics had been made before under the control of S-1 Uranium Committee. But “The Manhattan Project” attracts us much stronger than S-1 UC. In 1942-1945 physicists managed to create three nuclear bombs, for the first time in the history. [12]

They are: “Trinity” with plutonium fuse and two uranium bombs: Fat Boy and Little Boy. The last two were exploded in peaceful Japanese cities – Hiroshima in August, 6, 1945 and Nagasaki in August, 9, 1945.

Let’s imagine the Soviet Union, approximately in 1918. On 24, September, 1918 Radiological and Roentgenologic Institute was created in Saint Petersburg with Professor A. Ioffe at the head. Soviet scientists made their research in peaceful atom energy application. The news about US plans connected with nuclear weapon production made Joseph Stalin start the process of total industry militarization and provide all branches of science related to nuclear physics with all kinds of support. The Russian program of developing an atomic weapon was much smaller than its American counterpart, but it developed very quickly due to an effective spy network that involved Los Alamos researchers Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall. It is a well-known fact that during WWII and after it military espionage was a very important source of getting information.

The articles in Wikipedia revealed the historical past of the process.

“Joseph Stalin was first informed of American nuclear research because of a letter sent to him in April 1942 by Georgy Flerov, who pointed out that nothing was being published in the physics journals by Americans, Britons, or Germans, on nuclear fission since the year of its discovery, 1939, and that indeed many of the most prominent physicists in Allied countries seemed not to be publishing at all. This nonevent was very suspicious, and accordingly Flerov urged Stalin to start a program. However, because the Soviet Union was still involved with the war with Germany on its home front, a large scale domestic effort could not yet be undertaken.”

The development of the Soviet atomic project was supervised by the State Defense Committee since September 1942. I. V. Kurchatov and other world-famous Russian physicists Yuli Khariton, Yakov Zeldovich among them fulfilled a lot of tasks connected with nuclear fuel cycle. The government of the USSR and J. Stalin were proud of the scientists’ success. But the soviet nuclear weapon was not constructed until the end of WWII. The USA succeeded in constructing it.

b). The names of many celebrated scientists belong to the History and to the whole mankind. They are:

a) The USA: Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenhaimer, Leo Scillard, Nills Bohr

b) The USSR: Igor Kurchatov, Juliy Hariton, Andrei Sakharov, George Flyorov

c) The United Kingdom: John Cockroft, James Chadwick, Rudolf Payers, Klaus Fucks, Otto Frish

d) France: Frederic Joliot-Curie, Francya Perren

e) China: Van Gunn-Chan, Pan Hyan-u, Chjy Guan-ya, Dan Tszya-syan, Chan Hai-tszya, Go Youn Huan

f) Germany: Werner Heisenberg, Max von Laue, Otto Hahn, Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe [14]

The names of two scientists are closely connected with the history of my native town. Our city forming enterprise Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant is named after I. V. Kurchatov, the head of the Soviet nuclear project. When in June 1942 the Soviet Government received reliable information that in both Germany and the United States scientists keep secret work aimed at creating a new powerful weapon, Soviet Government consulted some of the country's most prominent scientists on the physicist best suited to direct the Soviet atom bomb project. The man they named was Igor Kurchatov.

I.V. Kurchatov’s bas-relief on the building of BNPP and his words

“I’m happy to be born in Russia and to serve the Nuclear Science of this country”

Kurchatov gathered together nuclear physicists whom the war had scattered all over the country. The State Committee for Defense sent him the people he asked for regardless of whether they were in the army or in the defense industry. One of those nuclear physicists was Georgy Flyorov.

He was rather young at the time the Soviet nuclear project started, but it was he who wrote to Stalin in April 1942 and pointed out the conspicuous silence within the field of nuclear fission in the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. It was Georgy Flyorov. His urgings led to the eventual development of the USSR's own atomic bomb project.

My friend’s grandfather is the veteran of Russian atomic industry and was lucky to meet Georgy Flyorov four times in his life. Stanislav Karpechko told me about Flyorov’s visit to Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Institute of Reactor Materials”. (Until 2003 the institute was part of the State Unitary Enterprise “Scientific Research and Design Institute” named after academician Dollejal). It is another nuclear enterprise of our town.

S. Karpechko: “My meetings with Georgy Flyorov were not of private character. I had a unique chance to listen to his lectures on the nuclear-physical methods of research in Tashkent, Obninsk and Alma-Ata.

In 1976 he visited Zarechny as the head of Moscow Commission to study the application of some new methods of analyses developed in the Institute. He was impressed by young scientists’ workings out and since that time he supervised those methods and helped to provide the Institute with necessary equipment to continue research work in this direction. During that visit G. Flyorov met the leading engineers of the Institute (S. Karpechko among them), listened to their detailed report on the new method usage.

He impressed me greatly. First of all G. Flyorov was one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever seen. He seemed to be full of brainstorming ideas, he shared them with young colleagues and each of his ideas could be the thesis subject. I remember him a very energetic person with clever acute eyes and open to communication. He had charisma, as they say now.

He considered necessary to interest young people in physics and involve them in scientific research.”

Photo from Karpechkos’s personal archives

S. Karpechko recounted his meetings with another famous scientist – academician Boris Litvinov, whose interests are connected with research aimed at making nuclear charge for different purposes: for strategical forces, industrial nuclear explosions and conducting experiments using the energy of nuclear fission.

Besides he pays much attention to education of young generation. There is a Russian saying that a gifted person is gifted in everything. Litvinov’s prose made me agree with it.

Photos from Karpechkos’s personal archives

Objective 2

a).In this objective my task was to investigate the basic weapon types and their construction as well as the effects of nuclear weapon use and the effects of nuclear weapons testing.

To begin with, nuclear weapon is designed to cause damage through an explosion, which is created by changing the atoms themselves-they are either split or fused to create new atoms.

So, there are two types of nuclear weapons:

• Atom bombs that use fission as the main reaction.
• Hydrogen bombs that use fusion as the main reaction.

The core of a fission bomb is made of either plutonium or highly enriched uranium. From my school course of physics I know that the bombing of the atomic nucleus with neutrons can cause the chain of reactions with neutron separating and following bombarding of nucleus of other atoms. This process is very interesting for every curious person.

Plutonium and highly enriched uranium are the only materials that can achieve a powerful fissile chain reaction under carefully designed circumstances.

In fusion weapon (hydrogen bomb) two isotopes of hydrogen are fused together to create heavier atoms. Fusion can happen at extremely high temperatures and pressure. It is created in a fusion weapon by using a fission explosion to cause the fusion reaction.

In this part the work the construction of the typical nuclear bomb will be investigated. There is not much difference in structure between the bombs. The “bomb of the bombs” is the plutonium bomb.

The main elements of this bomb are:

1) Bomb body (shell). The body of the device is designed to accommodate a nuclear charge and automatic systems. It also protects bomb filling from different mechanical effects. The shell has to be made from the materials of high quality such as steel, titan or maybe different fusions.

2) Computer and navigation systems. They provide the explosion of nuclear charge at a given time and they exclude accidental release. It includes:

o Systems of preventing and arming;

o Accidental detonation system;

o System of undermine charge;

o Source of power;

o System of undermine sensors;

The means of delivering of nuclear warheads could be ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and air defense, aviation also can do this role. Nuclear devices are used for filling bombs, mines, torpedoes or artillery shells (203.2 mm and 155 mm SU SU-USA).

Different systems were invented to detonate a nuclear bomb. The simplest system is the weapon of the injector type, with a projectile made with the use of some fissile material, charged in the sender and creating in its turn a supercritical mass. The atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, had a detonator-type injector; the energy equivalent was about 20 kilotons of TNT.

The scheme of the plutonium bomb:

1) A tail cone

2) Tails stabilizer

3) Detonator on the basis of atmospheric pressure changes

4) Hole for fresh air

5)

[1]

An altimeter to calculate height; pressure sensors

6) Electronic devices

7) Protective container made of lead

8) Neutrons absorber

9) Converter fuse

10) Plutonium-239

11) Tank for beryllium or polonium mixture to initiate chain reaction

12) Bypass which should be charged into the bomb [1]

b) It’s always interesting to investigate people’s professions while learning some serious things. Producing nuclear weapon is rather a difficult and long process with a lot of nuances and special features. That is why the circle of professions involved in production and development of nuclear bombs is very wide and diverse.

Here is the list of these professions: engineers, programmers, physicists, testers, chemists and chemical industry workers, electricians, curators, diplomats and some others.

Nuclear scientists, technicians and engineers are involved in the process of designing and construction of nuclear reactors, developing and production of weapons, evaluation of environmental and ecological research. Nuclear engineers also design, build, and operate facilities to store, treat, transport, and dispose of radioactive wastes. The most attention is given to treatment and disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Nuclear engineers are responsible for fuel accountability and management.

For solving different problems nuclear engineers should have knowledge of mathematics, economics, and engineering principles and computers techniques. Safety plays an important role in all aspects of their work. Their work often requires high degrees of patience and precision. People of these professions should work effectively as part of a team, and they should have the ability to communicate. Nuclear engineers should be creative, analytical, detail-oriented and curious.

c) Countries that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Nuclear tests give information about how the weapons work as well as how they behave under various conditions (weapons related tests) and how structures behave after the detonation of nuclear weapons (weapons effects tests).

Most nations test nuclear weapons to indicate scientific and military strength, and to declare their nuclear status.

Searching the chronology of nuclear testing I have learnt that from 1945 until 2006 there have been at least 2000 nuclear tests conducted worldwide (numbers are approximated, as some test results have been disputed).

Nuclear Testing

Country	Number of tests	Locations
United States	1054	Nevada Test Site, Marshall Islands, Amchitka Alaska, Colorado, Mississippi, New Mexico
Soviet Union	715	Semipalatinsk Test Site and Novaya Zemlya, various sites in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine
France	210	C.E.S.M. near Reggane, C.E.M.O. near In Ekker in the then-French Algerian Sahara, Fangataufa, French Polynesia secret base B2-Namous, near Ben Wenif, C.I.E.E.S, near Hammaguir in the Sahara
United Kingdom	45	Australian territory( in mainland South Australia at Maralinga and Emu Field), Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, the U.S.( as part of joint test series)
China	45	Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Base, in Malan, Xinjiang
India	6	Pokhran
Pakistan	6	Ras Koh Hills, Chagai District and Kharan Desert, Kharan District in Balochistan Province
North Korea	1	Hwadae-ri

Summarizing the information given in this table one can see that the United States has conducted more tests than other nuclear weapons states. Moreover, it was the first and only country to use a nuclear weapon in wartime. The United States conducted the first atomic test at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945 and the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed “Mike” at the Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952.

In 1974 India tested a nuclear weapon of up to 15 kilotons and called the test a “peaceful nuclear explosion”. India stunned the world when in May 1998 it conducted six underground nuclear tests in Pokharan, Rajasthan and declared itself a nuclear state. [16]

Russia was the second country in the world to conduct nuclear tests. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the “Tsar Bomba” of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961 with a yield of around 50 megatons. Despite testing, this weapon never entered service because it was far too expensive for production and offering minimal additional benefit over smaller bombs. It was simply a demonstration of the capabilities of the Soviet Union's military technology at that time. [19]

In 1963 all nuclear and many non-nuclear states signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty and took a pledge to refrain from conducting nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer space. This Treaty permitted underground nuclear testing. Nevertheless, most countries continued testing nuclear weapons until the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was adopted in 1996 and all the countries have pledged to discontinue all nuclear testing. Non-signatories India and Pakistan last tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

The most recent nuclear test was conducted by North Korea on October 9, 2006 at Hwadae-ry.

There arose the question if it was possible to test a nuclear weapon to its full extent without releasing some amount of radiation into the atmosphere. So, I understood that even under ideal conditions it was impossible.

At first let’s look at what happens to produce a nuclear explosion.

Radioactive atoms of uranium-235 or plutonium-238 are impacted by free-moving neutrons. The result of these collisions is the decay and the chain reaction within uranium or plutonium atoms and the following release of neutrons. More and more free-moving neutrons cause the intensive process of atoms fission. So if circumstances are ideal the number of neutrons in the environment can double 80 times in 1 microsecond and cause extremely terrible explosion. The result of the process is not only a great explosion but also the release of tremendous amounts of radioactive particles which spread hundreds of miles, depending on the size of the device.

Let’s find out what kind of harm these nuclear weapon tests have produced.

As far as I know the energy released from the detonation of nuclear weapon can be divided into 4 categories:

o 50% of a total energy - blast. The rapid release of energy creates a shock wave of overpressure (which crushes objects) and generates high velocity.

o 35% - thermal radiation, which is made up of a wide range of electromagnetic spectrum. It includes infrared, visible and ultraviolet light and some soft x-ray emitted at the time of explosion.

o 5% - ionizing radiation. It consists chiefly of neutrons and gamma rays emitted within the first minute after detonation.

o 10% - residual nuclear radiation. It is the hazard in fallout.[5]

However, the energy distributed to these categories can be increased or decreased to the point of nullification as it depends on the design of the weapon and the environment in which it is detonated.

While speaking about the effects of nuclear weapon tests the scientists note that there are 4 types of atmospheric weapon tests: atmospheric (1), exoatmospheric (2), underwater (3), underground (4).

Atmospheric tests release all the radioactive fallout of a nuclear bomb that is detonated in mid-air or on the surface of the ground. In these tests the nuclear weapon can be dropped from a plane, carried into the atmosphere by a balloon or it can be fixed atop a tower.

These tests are usually carried out in desolate areas like the Nevada desert, where damage from the fallout can be reduced because of a little life in the area.

The Castle Bravo test was conducted in 1954 on a man-made island in the Pacific. In U.S. history it was the biggest nuclear-testing disaster. In this atmospheric test engineers had taken all necessary precautions. But unfortunately, they took these precautions for a much smaller-yield bomb and the test far exceeded expectations. The explosion was twice the size the engineers had expected, and the radioactive fallout was far greater than they had predicted. When the weather changed, the wind carried this mass of radioactive particles into areas that had not been evacuated before the test. So, the result is - radiation burns, high cancer rates and next-generation birth defects.

The high number of atmospheric tests performed by France in the 1960s and '70s in French Polynesia led to three times the rate of thyroid cancer and four times the rate of acute myeloid leukemia.

Underwater testing causes the explosion rises well out of water, but the amount of radioactive fallout in the atmosphere is decreased as a good portion of it is contained in the water and this causes its own problems. The result from these tests is the destruction of coral reefs and the death and contamination of other marine. Fishing villages and their seafood-subsisting populations are affected by underwater nuclear tests, though they are conducted hundreds miles from their shores.

Underground testing is the safest method of nuclear testing because it doesn’t cause dramatic radioactive fallout but leads to the venting of nuclear debris in the form of radioactive gases. Underground testing provides the possibility of containment, though containing a nuclear blast is not an easy task. A 1-kiloton-yield bomb, for example, needs to be at least 90 meters underground in order for its explosion to be contained.

Underground nuclear tests can break through into the atmosphere and the underground nuclear explosion can irradiate tons of soil that then rains down on everything in the surrounding area.

Exoatmospheric tests have all sorts of weird ionization and electromagnetic pulse effects but are too high to have much fallout . Both the United States and Russia performed these high-altitude tests during the Cold War, sending up the devices by way of rockets, for the purpose of testing the effectiveness of the weapons in decommissioning enemy satellites. But they stopped performing these tests because the deflection of radiation in the Earth's atmosphere resulted in a powerful electromagnetic pulse that wiped out electrical systems in major cities on Earth. [5]

The increase of radioactive materials in the global ecosystem affected human, animal and plant life. Cancers, birth defects, genetic damage, lowered immunity to diseases: these are only some of the potential effects of nuclear testing, uranium mining, radioactive waste burial and all the phases of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy production.

Radiation released from every step in the nuclear weapons production cycle, in the testing of nuclear weapons, has spread invisibly around the planet. Radioactive elements enter the body and do their damage secretly. They will continue their rampage until they are exhausted, which for some radioactive elements, will be over a hundred thousand years from now. [9]

During the period 1949-89 about 460 nuclear weapons tests were conducted within the Semipalatinsk Test Site, which was one of the major sites used by the former USSR for testing nuclear weapons.

The first Soviet bomb, Operation First Lightning (nicknamed Joe One by the Americans) was conducted in 1949 from a tower at the Semipalatinsk Test Site. The explosions were conducted on the surface or in the atmosphere. Five of these surface tests were not successful and resulted in the dispersion of plutonium in the environment. Starting in 1961, more than 300 test explosions were conducted underground. Thirteen of the underground tests caused the release of radioactive gases to the atmosphere.

Nuclear tests unleashed a plague of birth defects because the people living there, were not evacuated. Local officials say that there were hundreds of thousands of people who lived in the region during the nuclear testing. Thousands of people are still paying a terrible price. Almost every family, 20 miles from the old test site, is affected.

The genetic defections and illnesses are frequently a source of shame. People hide their deformed family members from outsiders. For decades,” they have felt like animals in a zoo”, and had grown to distrust prying eyes.

The region also has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, according to local health officials. [8]

A unique test that was conducted in 1954 in Totskoye range attracted my attention because this military range is situated in the Southern Urals, not far from Sverdlovsk region (the region where I live). A 40kt bomb was released at 8 meters from a Tu-4 Bull bomber and exploded at a hight of 350 meters. The experiment was designed to test the performance of military hardware and soldiers in the event of a nuclear war. The villages around the range were evacuated. Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Stalin’s most senior World War II Commander, safely witnessed the blast from an underground nuclear bunker.

During this test some 45,000 people, Soviet soldiers and prisoners, were deliberately exposed to radiation from a bomb twice as powerful as the one dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. They are believed to have died as a result of radiations, both immediately and in the years following. The pilot flying the Tu-4 developed leukemia and his co-pilot developed bone cancer. For many years the Soviet government denied that a nuclear explosion in Totskoye range had taken place, the test was kept in secret. [18]

d) Atomic bombs have been used twice during World War II. The United States dropped a 4.5-ton uranium bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy», on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Almost immediately, tens of thousands of people died or sustained serious injury. A plutonium bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" fell on Nagasaki, with equally destructive results three days later.

These two bombs had a destructive force that stretches the limits of human imagination. Creating temperatures of 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit and winds of 1,000 miles per hour, they killed about 210,000 people immediately. Another 160,000 have died over the years from illnesses caused by the radioactive "black rain" that followed.

"A bright light filled the plane," wrote Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb. "We turned back to look at Hiroshima. The city was hidden by that awful cloud...boiling up, mushrooming." For a moment, no one spoke. Then everyone was talking. "Look at that! Look at that! Look at that!" exclaimed the co-pilot, Robert Lewis, pounding on Tibbets's shoulder. Lewis said he could taste atomic fission; it tasted like lead. Then he turned away to write in his journal. "My God," he asked himself, "what have we done?" (special report, "Hiroshima: August 6, 1945") [2]

The Little Boy generated an enormous amount of energy and a significant amount of radiation that subsequently caused devastating human injuries. When the heat wave reached ground level it burnt all before it including people. The people who saw the Little Boy often say "We saw another sun in the sky when it exploded."

The strong wind generated by the bomb destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.5 miles radius. When the wind reached the mountains, it was reflected and again hit the people in the city center. More than 140,000 people died by the end of the year and many more in subsequent years because of radiation exposure (the total number is about 200,000 people). Some people had genetic problems which sometimes resulted in having malformed babies or being unable to have children. [2]

The damage given to Nagasaki was slighter than that given to Hiroshima though the amount of energy generated by the Fat Man was larger than that of the Little Boy, because of the geographic structure of the city. It is estimated that approximately 75,000 people died due to the bombing.

A-bomb blast center
no human shadows at all
the winter full moon (Shigemoto Yasuhiko) [13]

This haiku was written by the Japanese poet. It describes the world’s first nuclear attack. Shigemoto Yasuhiko was fifteen years old when the atomic bomb was dropped over his city of Hiroshima. The explosion and fires killed half of Shigemoto’s classmates and destroyed his city.

It was heartbreaking to read the recalls of some survivors of the bombing in the article by Hugh Gusterson.

“Sumiteru Taniguchi, a teenage mail carrier on August 6, 1945, takes off his shirt and matter-of-factly invites the viewer to look closely at the burns on his arm and back, the ribs fused to skin, and bones so brittle they break if he coughs too hard. As a child being treated for burns, the pain was so awful that he begged the doctors to kill him. "I've shown you my wounds because I want you to know this can't happen again," he says.”

"I can't describe what I witnessed. I don't have the words. It's like when you burn a fish on the grill. That's what they looked like," a survivor recalls. One of the burned fish, a woman now reconstructed by plastic surgery, describes her father peeling her charred face away from her head with scissors. Another recalls looking at a woman whose body had been burned beyond recognition and realizing from the gold tooth that it was her mother. As she and her sister reached out, their mother crumbled to ashes before their eyes. "This happened 60 years ago, but I'll never forget it," she says quietly.” [10]

The scale of destruction and suffering after the detonation of Little Boy and Fat Man was so shocking that no nuclear weapons have been used since.

I was surprised by the fact that today, the fallout from Little Boy and Fat Man continues to settle. More than sixty years later, the number of dead continues to rise (each year thousands of people die from radiation poisoning).  

[13]

It was interesting to know that Hiroshima has become a popular site for international conferences on peace and social issues. Its Peace Memorial Park houses the "A-Bomb Dome," one of the few remaining buildings that was bombed and memorials dedicated to the victims of the bombing. Each year, approximately 10 million origami paper cranes are dedicated in its Children’s Peace Park as a symbol of peace and friendship. [13]

So, the history shows that the development and testing of nuclear weapons have had disastrous effects on the environment. Nuclear explosions caused devastation, environment disasters and wide-spread nuclear contamination.

Objective 3

My task was to learn the motivations behind efforts of various countries to acquire nuclear weapons. First of all there is a question, why so many countries want to have such powerful ways of power impact, such devices which are the world’s greatest threat.

Among the motivations that made states to acquire nuclear weapons there are some serious that I should mentioned:

1. Security concern that was evident in the original American and Soviet decisions to develop nuclear arsenals.

2. Desire to increase and maintain international prestige.

3. Technological, economic and bureaucratic reasons.

Taking the security motivations into consideration we can divide states into some categories:

· nuclear weapons states

· states which are allied with nuclear weapons states and protected by them,

· states that belong to nuclear weapons – free zones for which some form of international guarantee is available

· states that were not parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

· states that did not sign the NPT

States which are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons are

known in global politics as former “nuclear club”. Nine states have successfully detonated nuclear weapons. Five states are considered to be “nuclear weapon states” (NWS). This internationally recognized status was given by NPT. These NWS are: the United States, Russia (former the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, France and China. [17]

Nowadays they continue to retain the mass of their nuclear forces. Most governments keep information about their nuclear arsenals in secret. The figures below show nuclear holdings of each nuclear weapon state, including both strategic warheads and lower-yield devices that refer to as tactical weapons.

China: 100-200 warheads.

France: Approximately 350 strategic warheads.

Russia: 4,237 strategic warheads, approximately 2,000-3,000 operational tactical warheads, and approximately 8,000-10,000 stockpiled strategic and tactical warheads.

United Kingdom: Less than 160 deployed strategic warheads.

United States: 5,914 strategic warheads, approximately 1,000 operational tactical weapons, and approximately 3,000 reserve strategic and tactical warheads. [18]

Three states — India, Israel, and Pakistan — never joined the NPT and are known to possess nuclear weapons. The first test of India in 1974 encouraged Pakistan to start work on its secret nuclear weapons program. India and Pakistan both publicly demonstrated their nuclear weapon capabilities with nuclear tests in May 1998. Israel has not publicly conducted a nuclear test, does not admit to or deny having nuclear weapons, and states it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Nevertheless, Israel is believed to possess nuclear arms. The following arsenal estimates are based on the amount of fissile material that each of the states is estimated to have produced. India and Israel are believed to use plutonium in their weapons, while Pakistan is thought to use highly enriched uranium.

India: Up to 100 nuclear warheads.

Israel: Between 75 to 200 nuclear warheads.

Pakistan: Up to 60 nuclear warheads. [18]

North Korea was a member of the NPT, but announced a withdrawal on January 10, 2003. In February 2005 North Korea claimed to possess functional nuclear weapons. However, in October 2006 it conducted a nuclear test to confirm

its nuclear status.

Such states as Iran and Syria are known to have nuclear weapons programs. These states have been accused by Israel or the United States of attempting to develop nuclear weapons technology. The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate of December 3, 2007 judged that “ Iran probably would be technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon sometime during the 2010-2015 time frame” if it decides to do so. Iran’s representative to the UN has explained that Iran categorically rejects the development of nuclear weapons and Iran is guaranteed the right to peaceful nuclear technology under the NPT.

U.S. officials sometimes name Syria as secretly seeking nuclear weapons. Syria has made a promise to give up nuclear weapons as a state-party to the NPT and its research reactor is subject to IAEA monitoring. In September 2007, Israel conducted an airstrike on what some analysts state have been the construction site of nuclear research reactor similar to North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor.

The U.S. has provided nuclear weapons for Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey to deploy and store. So, the pilots and other staff of the “non- nuclear” NATO states are involved in practicing handling and delivering the U.S. nuclear bombs and adapting non-U.S. warplanes to deliver U.S. nuclear bombs. Canada also received shared nuclear weapons until 1984, and Greece- until 2001.

Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine had nuclear weapons but returned them to Russia and joined the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon states. South Africa secretly developed and dismantled a small number of nuclear warheads and also joined the NPT in 1991. Iraq had an active nuclear weapons program before the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but was forced to dismantle it under the supervision of UN inspectors. Libya voluntarily renounced its secret nuclear weapons efforts in December 2003. Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, and Taiwan also decided to abandon nuclear weapons programs. [18]

Conclusion

While doing this Benchmark I have investigated a lot of new information about the nuclear bombs history, about great men who were involved in the process of developing and creating NW in the world and about the first countries of “The Nuclear Club”: the USSR, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, and China. Our planet is too fragile to carry the stockpiles of nuclear arsenals. Today there are too many countries which want to possess NW. They break International laws; their governments hide information about their developing of NW and nuclear tests. But common people are who suffer and we should join affords to turn things right.

Learning new facts and turning pages of the world history is the greatest time spending and a good chance for my individual research. Working on Benchmark I taught me to be methodical, industrious and diligent.

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