| ++The Nuclear Age++ |
With the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, the world entered the nuclear age. The appearance of nuclear
weapons brought the human race to the brink of destruction. Nuclear deterrence
was a theory held by the nuclear powers which maintain that threatening
other countries with powerful nuclear weapons prevents them from attacking.
In contrast, Japan in 1968, developed three non-nuclear principles: to
not produce nuclear weapons, to not possess nuclear weapons, and to not
allow their entry into Japan. In 1956, Japan also adopted three principles
to govern a peaceful use of nuclear power: transparency, civilian control
and autonomy.
With the stockpiling and proliferation of nuclear
weapons still a major concern, can we safely assume that humanity has the
wisdom to survive the nuclear age? |
| ++Horror of Nuclear Weapons++ |
Two types of nuclear weapons have been developed: atomic bombs and
hydrogen bombs. Some hydrogen bombs are over 1,000 times more powerful
than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Some smaller hydrogen bombs
such as neutron bombs have only about one tenth the power of the Hiroshima
A-bomb.
Short-, intermediate- or long-range nuclear missiles are launched
from bombing aircraft, submarines or from the ground.
Starting from an aboveground nuclear test, an underground one took
place, then a subcritical one has been conducted. Heat rays, blast wind
and radiation caused by the explosion of nuclear weapons instantly demolish
a city and innumerable human beings are indiscriminately killed, or deprived
of social infrastructure such as medical service, fire defense system and
so on. |
| ++Nuclear Winter++ |
If a large-scale nuclear war were to break out, the effects would
extend beyond the havoc wrecked by direct damage. Soot from giant fires
along with radioactive dust hurled by the bombs into the air would screen
out the sun's rays, greatly reducing the earth's atmospheric temperature,
producing a climatic condition known as nuclear winter. In an all-out nuclear
war, the lowered temperatures could persist on a global scale for several
months.
A nuclear winter would inhibit food production, and many of the Earth's
creatures would perish, possibly leading to mass human starvation.
Even after the worst effects had abated, radioactive dust would continue
to swirl around the Earth causing abnormal weather and periodically depositing
deadly radioactive fallout. Both hunger and illness caused by radiation
would spread around the world. |
| ++Nuclear Proliferation++ |
It is reported roughly 40,000 nuclear weapons now exist
in the world. Until the middle of 1980s five nuclear powers of the U.S.,
the former Soviet Union, the U.K. France and China contended for increasing
the number of nuclear weapons and improving their capability and accuracy
to hit.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), designed to prevent a
new nuclear power, came into effect in 1970. In 1974, India conducted an
underground nuclear test and showed the capability of producing nuclear
weapons. South Africa also developed atomic bombs, then announced their
abolition in 1993. Israel and Pakistan have also been suspected of possessing
or developing nuclear weapons.
In 1996, Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was adopted and nuclear
tests were completely banned. However, India and Pakistan which did not
join the treaty conducted underground nuclear tests one after the other
in May 1998. It enhanced a tension of nuclear proliferation threat.
Even after the conclusion of the treaty, the U.S. and Russia keep
on carrying out subcritical nuclear tests without explosion in order to
measure the effects by a computer. They insist their tests don't violate
the treaty because of accompanying no explosion. Yet, the A-bomb exposed
city, Hiroshima, fervently protests against them in terms of Hiroshima's
view that any nuclear test mustn't be allowed.
We call for no more nuclear arms, no more nuclear-armed nations, all- out abolition of nuclear weapons.
|
| ++Victims of Nuclear Tests++ |
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the long-running cold war
between East and West ended, but huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons remain.
Even after learning about radiation through Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
soldiers sent to nuclear test sites, and residents living in the region
were exposed to radiation during tests in Nevada in the United States,
Semipalitinsk in the Soviet Union, the Bikini Atoll, and Eniwetok Atoll
in the Pacific. Even without the wartime use of nuclear weapons, thousands
of people have become hibakusha. Their health has been threatened, and
they face an uncertain future.
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