| Nuclear Strikes Essay, Research Paper
Nuclear Strikes
Scientifically, there is no obstacle for a nuclear or atomic bomb. There
are no secrets in Nuclear Science anymore. Anyone with a reasonable physics
degree and access to a good technical library could design a workable atomic
bomb in less than 6 months, so why hasn t anyone. Maybe there has been,
no one is exactly sure. In the last 52 years there has been enough nuclear
warheads made to destroy every city in the world and still have thousands left
over.(Church 40) This all happened during the Cold War, a period of 45 years (1947-
1991), between mainly the two superpowers (United States and the Soviet
Union). Other nations were involved, and 2 wars were fought over it (Korea
and Vietnam) and a nuclear war was almost waged (Cuban Missile Crisis).
Now with the breakup of the Soviet Union into a loose Commonwealth
no one is exactly sure who has all the weapons. Certain nations inherited
them, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Russia, while others tried stealing
them, Iran, Libya, and North Korea. And since the breakup certain people
have been caught stealing the materials needed to make a bomb. These
terrorists have never been caught in the United States but numerous times in
Europe.(www.pbs.org) As a matter of fact, the Russians say someone stole a bomb
simulator, which will explode and make mushroom cloud but has no nuclear
component.(Wilkie) People know that despite efforts to keep control on the old
Soviet stockpile and waste, terrorists are getting the plutonium and
uranium needed to make nuclear weapons to kill masses of people.
This is kind of the history of the nuclear & atomic bomb: (all from Williams)
The first atomic bomb was thought up by Albert Einstein in the late
30 s. In 1942 Enrico Fermi brought about first nuclear reaction with isotope
Uranium 235. From this the Manhattan Project was brought about and took
place in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Then July 16, 1945 near Alamogordo,
New Mexico world s first atomic bomb was set off. Three weeks later on August
6, 1945 “Little Boy” hit Hiroshima and had the force of 26 million pounds of
TNT. Next on August 9, 1945 “Fat Man” missed it s mark but still
devastated Nagasaki causing an unconditional surrender by the Japanese.
Then in 1946 the United Nations tried to outlaw the weapons but the Soviets
used their veto power against it. Finally in 1949 they developed their own
weapons. In 1952 the first hydrogen bomb was made with a force of 800
Hiroshima s. In 1953 the Russians did it too (thanks to the Rosenberg s).
In 1958 the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union stopped
testing but in 1961 France started. Then the Cuban Missile Crisis happened.
This event was the closest we have ever come to a nuclear war. This event
it really kind of woke the United States and Soviet Union up about what
could happen. Because of this a direct phoneline was set up between the Kremlin
and the white house.
The main question today is who has control of the weapons. The
former superpower Russia is in political turmoil. Now instead of two people
with their hands on the button there could be dozens! Even the Central
Intelligence Agency director John Deutch said he is afraid of loose nukes
being smuggled out of Russia.(McGirk 35) The United States is in pretty good condition
because not much nuclear waste is stolen (they believe) and no missiles ever
have been stolen. But in some countries nuclear technicians haven t been
paid in six months (Russia). Security is breaking down, and waste is leaking
out. What is everyone going to do the next morning after a nuclear terrorist
attack.
The four new formed nations of Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and
Russia all have nuclear missiles. Although Ukraine and Belarus say they
want no part of them it is not known their real stance.(www.pbs.org) If they don t want
them then where will they go. They will probably send them to third world
nations or terrorist with a lot of money, because they are so poor. One
Russian political columnist Vladlen Sirotikin said, “give me a million bucks,
and I ll have a nuclear tipped missile bought or stolen and delivered anyplace
you want.” The Pakistani Interior Minister General N. Babar admits his
government has been approached by smugglers with nuclear shopping lists.
In fact one Russian proverb which I think applies is, “The less you know,
the better you sleep.”(www.pbs.org)
There is 15 nations in the world with nuclear weapons. Besides the
United States other Declared Nuclear weapon states are China, Russia, Great
Britain, France and Kazakhstan. The Undeclared but known nuclear weapon
states are India, Pakistan, Israel, and Bangladesh. The Soviet successor states
that say they are getting rid of the weapons and waste are the Ukraine and
Belarus. There is three countries with active programs and wide spread
government condoned terrorism, Libya, Iran, and North Korea. The scary
thing about China is that they are a declared nuclear weapon state and it is
well known that Beijing is willing to sell nuclear weaponry (along with
anything else) to any state with the cash to pay for it. (www.pbs.org) Another scary thing
is about Iran because they have 10,000 students in our country, and Oliver
Revell, the second highest in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that
300 of the 10,000 who came as students are under a careful watch. Some of
the 300 are members of Iran s Revolutionary Guard and their intentions are
far from academic. (McGirk 35)If they have nuclear capabilities, who knows? Plus
another suspected nuclear state, Libya, won t accept American passports.
That shows how much they like us.
What would it be like if one of these countries or terrorists did drop
the bomb? I mean if they don t make one they could just steal one. There
is 18,000 warheads compared to 2300 cities throughout the world.(Williams) Maybe
even a crazy American president with followers could start it. In 1973 the
United States signed the War Powers Act in which the president could
conduct and start a nuclear war for 60 days without congressional approval.(Mayers,
Teena) And what if he does, in 1862 Henry Adams said, “Someday science may
have the existence of mankind in it s power and the human race will commit
suicide by blowing up the world.”(Mollins) Since the 60 s the superpowers were able
to destroy each other over and over. This is called MAD, Mutually Assured
Destruction.
What would it be like at ground zero after the fallout. The three main
effects of the blast is pressure, heat, and radiation. The pressure of the
explosion causes physical damage to anything that happens t be in the way.
The heat of the blast burns everything, even things that aren t supposed to
burn. With the combination of the two can even vaporize people near the
epicenter. Then there is radiation which is just a side effect and can reek
havoc for generations with mutations and cancers etc. It s no wonder that
a terrorist wants this against a certain ethnic group or nationality. Especially
Islamic fundamentalist countries, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Libya as well as
Israel and it s Jewish population.(Andrews)
On November 23, 1994 the United States military completed
Operation Sapphire. This took place in Kazakhstan and the U.S. had to
take 600 kilograms of very highly enriched uranium from the Ulba
Metallurgical Plant. That is enough to build 25 Hiroshima-type bombs.
(Sapphire)Iran had been at the base and was actually on it s way to pick it up when
President Clinton approved the operation and sent Americans on the way
with 20 million in cash to buy it and airlift it back to the United States and
brought it to Tennessee.
Terrorists acquire the materials to build the nukes from either the third
world countries, China, or poor, underpaid, overworked, Russian nuclear
power workers who have not been paid in months. There has 14 different
occasions in Germany alone of nuclear smuggling being caught at airports!
There has many incidents involving a base in Obninsk and a man
named Leonid Baranov. One such incident occurred when Baranov recruited
Aleksandr Sherbinin to smuggle material out of Obninsk, roughly 30 miles
outside of Moscow, to Prague. Sherbinin was in Prague for six months trying
to sell his material. Finally on December 14, 1994 he was arrested. They
found 6 pounds (2.72 kilograms) or weapons grade uranium in the back
seat of his car. That is only enough to build one tenth of a bomb, but what
if he spread it into part of a city. Then it could seep into the water supply
and air conditioning system, contaminate buildings and streets, and drift
invisibly without even an explosion! Baranov is a suspect in two other
smuggling cases in Germany. One such case involves three Spaniards,
Justiano Torres Benitez, Julio Oroz, Javier Bengoechea. They were caught
in a German sting with 560 grams of MOX fuel (363 grams of uranium &
plutonium). This is a very controversial case in Germany because they
allowed this substance to be let into Germany. It is also controversial in
Russia because the Russians were notified of the sting and believe that
it was a ploy against them because they international atomic controls
implemented against the Russians. Although it is well known it was
stolen by Leonid Baranov and from the Obninsk facility the Americans
and Russians refuse to admit it. There is a way to tell where it is from by
it s radioactive fingerprint but the Russians will not release theirs.(PBS)
The first known theft of nuclear materials was by the Russians against
Leonid Smirnov at a train station in Podolsk. It was 98% enirched uranium
238 with uranium 235. He said quote, ” I didn t know what I was doing,
I needed money”. He had over 1.5 kilograms of the highly enriched uranium
and was going to just go around knocking on peoples doors trying to sell it.
He got it by taking little by little over five months and no one noticed. His
co-workers didn t suspect anything because he would take it when they were
on their smoking breaks. He was found guilty on March 11, 1993 of stealing
and storing radioactive materials. His sentence was only 3 years of probation
but it could have been up to 10 years in jail. He still lives in the same
apartment as he has for 25 years. (PBS)
On June 14, 1995, a training exercise was carried out at the Kursk
Atomic Power Plant in the summer of 1995, is an event that Russia’s
security forces point out to show that they are taking seriously the threat of
terrorism involving nuclear and radioactive materials. In the scenario,
terrorists take the nuclear plant hostage, declaring that they will
blow up the reactor if their demands are not met. Local police, fire, and
medical facilities are involved in the exercise, along with agents of the
Federal Security Service and other federal forces. When negotiations
fail, the command team decides to take the plant by force. A masked SWAT
team is assembled, storms the reactor building, and is able to stop the role
playing terrorists. The event was videotaped and made into a public relations
video that the FSB has used to successfully lobby for the creation of a new
Anti Terrorist Task Force. And on an ironic note, this anti terrorist exercise
would have been declared a complete success if only it didn t happen the
very same day Chechen separatists had taken hostage a hospital full of people
in the city of Budyonnovsk, Russia. Let s hope these attempts work so
nuclear terrorists won t get the materials or be able to use them.(PBS)
So in conclusion terrorists are able to get the materials required to
make a nuclear weapon or contaminate an area with nuclear waste. A
government official from Pakistan raises a good question when said, “This
material is supposed to be strictly controlled, and if the Russian Mafia or
whoever else is smuggling it out then it is very serious. Many of the things
hawked out are radioactive There is potential for a terrorist group buying
up bits and pieces”. There is growing fear that sooner or later the Irish
Republican Army, or another extremist group could explode a bomb. So
if they are getting it from Russia why isn t there any extra international
prevention in the former Soviet Union? Weapons are being dismantled at an
alarming rate. It s good thing to, because finding a needle in haystack is
easier than finding a bomb in an international city.(Waller 17) There is three
main ways they would destroy a terrorists bomb: 1. Use conventional weapons
to blow up the bomb without the nuclear aspect going off. 2. A 30 millimeter cannon
blow a nuke to pieces without an explosion. And 3. Pour liquid nitrogen over
the bomb to freeze it s electronics.(Waller)
There is obviously a higher risk for a strike now because so many
people have their hands on the buttons with 15 nations and who knows
who else might have the button to kill millions. So despite attempts to keep
control on nuclear material terrorists and third world countries are getting
their hands on the material to kill large masses of people. Key players in
trying to stop this is usually the United Nations or leaders (i.e. Reagan &
Gorbachev). Looking into the future, it will be a time of either great
destruction in the world or great reduction of nuclear based uses.
993
Allen, Arthur. “Operation Hades” New Republic August 21, 1995: 12.
Andrews, Elaine. Civil Defense in the Nuclear Age Franklin Watts, New
York: 1985.
Church, George J. “Soviet Nukes on the Loose” Time December 16,1991:
CD-ROM.
Frontline: Loose Nukes PBS. WMHT Albany, New York. November 19,
1996: 50 minutes.
Luttwak, Edward N. “International Arms Control” Microsoft Encarta 1995
Mayers, Teena. Understanding Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control.
Education in world: 1983.
McGirk, Tim. “Pakistan s Radioactive Bazaar” World Press Review July
1996: 35.
Mollins, Carl. “Paying for the Bomb” Macleans August 7, 1995: 38.
Talbot, Strobe. “The History of the Bomb” Time January 30, 1989: CD-ROM.
Waller, Douglas. “Nuclear Ninjas” Time January 8, 1996: 38-40
Weiss, Ann E. The Nuclear Arms Race, Can we survive it? Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983.
Wilkie Tom. “Terrorist and the Bomb” World Press Review July 1996: 37
Williams, Gene B. Nuclear War, Nuclear Winter New York : Franklin
Watts, 1989.
WWW.PBS.ORG/WGBH/PAGES/FRONTLINE/SHOWS/NUKES
No author named. “Operation Sapphire” Macleans December 5, 1994: 35.
No author named. “Bombs across the Ocean” Time April 20, 1989: CD-ROM.
No author mentioned. “A Nasty Spat Against Friends” Time May 8,1989:
CD-ROM.
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