Nuclear power / weapon - Research Paper Example

There are five states that own nuclear weapons under the Nonproliferation Treaty including China, Russia, France, United Kingdom and United States. Three other states which own nuclear weapons but are not under the NPT are India, Pakistan and Israel. However in the recent years it is seen that other nations are also trying to have their hands on the nuclear weapons and this can prove to be dreadful for the whole world if these weapons fall in the wrong hands. It is necessary to disarm nuclear weapons to maintain peace in the world (Arms Control Association).

History The history of the nuclear weapons can be traced back to the 1930s when the Manhattan Project was developed by the leading scientists of the world. The Manhattan Project was a scheme launched by the top scientists of the world so that they could use atomic energy to form weapons before any other country did so. The aim of the project was to maintain peace of the world but this could not be achieved as the US President Harry Truman decided to test the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are remembered till date as the most deadliest bombings as they killed more than 200,000 people.

The Soviet Union was the second country to develop the atomic bomb in 1953. It was seen that both US and Soviet Union dominated the case of weapons in the 1960s unchallenged. However in the latter years China, United Kingdom and France developed the weapons too (New Internationalist 2008; Cirincione 2007 p 80). Advantages It is believed that the Nuclear Weapons have their own advantages when it comes to certain issues. Robinson argues that the United States should increase its nuclear warheads so that the peace of the world can be ensured for a longer time.

He affirms that nuclear weapons can prove to be a great source of pressure for other nations as the fear that it has created is still felt all over the world. Nuclear war heads being possessed by different nations gives an edge to everyone. World Wars can be avoided because of these nuclear warheads. Robinson believes that the nuclear warheads of America should be further increased as this would help in “deterring wider acts of aggression from any corner of the world, including deterring the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

” (Robinson 2001). Moreover it is also argued that nuclear weapons should still be made by reliable countries in order to maintain peace as some of the previous nuclear warheads have had some manufacturing defects because of their durability (Nelson 2001). Nowadays it is seen that almost six to seven countries own these nuclear warheads and this can be cited as an advantage for the whole world. If a single country owned the nuclear warheads it would have exercised superiority over all the countries of the world and this sort of situation has been avoided by all these countries together.

Thus in other words superiority of a single country has been tackled with by the possession of nuclear warheads by different countries (Shahid 2010). Disadvantages While possession of nuclear warheads is proving to be advantageous to many nations it is also proving a threat to the whole world. Nuclear weapons have caused massive destruction in World War II and it is presumed that it may cause further harms in the coming days. It is considered to be morally disgusting and terrorizing. The nuclear weapons are made with a highly reactive element known as uranium which has the potential to harm a lot of human