Nuclear Weapons Essay -- Threats To World Peace

Nuclear Weapons     A Nuclear weapon is any weapon that gets its destructive power from the teddy of matter in atoms into energy. They include missiles, bombs,artillery shells, mines and torpedoes. Another name for atomic weapons areAtomic bombs or Hydrogen bombs. The United States was the first uncouth to eeruse a Nuclear weapon in battle against Japan.     The major arguments for a test ban was first proposed in the 1950s.Today, however, the stopping of radioactive fallout and the superpower arms raceare button up in negotiation. Nations have sought to limit the testing of atomicweapons to protect people and the environment from nuclear radiation and to slowthe development of nuclear weapons. In 1963, Great Britain, the Soviet Union,and the United States negotiated the first test limitation treaty, the LimitedTest Ban pact. The Treatys signers agreed not to test nuclear weapons inthe atmosphere, in outer space, or underwater. The only testing that wasallowed was underground testing.     Attempts to control the number of nuclear weapons in the world beganabout 1970. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks(SALT) was a convention held bythe United States and the Soviet Union to limit the numbers in nuclear weapons.In 1982, the United States and the Soviet Union began the Strategic ArmsReduction Talks(START). Unlike the SALT talks, these were aimed at the numberof nuclear weapons each earth could obtain. Then there was another treatysigned in 1987 which was called the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces(INF).This treaty called for the dismantling of ground-launched nuclear missiles.     A major obstructer to controlling nuclear weapons has been a lack of trustbetween the two principal powers the United States and the Soviet Union. Therelationship has improved though in the advanced 1980s after President Gorbachevintroduced the principles of glasnost and perestroika to the Soviet P oliticalSystem. In 1989 and 1990, democratic reforms spread spread across EasternEurope. These reforms have greatly reduced tensions.     The country of China still wants to test their nuclear explosions formining and for some construction. For two years China has successfully held upthe 38-na... ...s are considerednecessary.     In conclusion, Nuclear Weapons arent safe for any country no mattertheir stability amongst others. Testing Nuclear weapons destroys the well beingof our Earth. So many treaties have been passed but it still seems that thelikes of a Nuclear war is still stagable. The United States has the most knownnuclear tests having a record of 1,030 tests. The closest country next to us isRussia with 715 tests. As you can clearly see it will take a lot more thantreaties to negotiate. Lets just hope this will all polish off before that ozonelayer breaks down on usBIBLIOGRAPHY1. Budanski, Stephen. "Ban the bomb? Not quite." U.S. News and World Report     17 June 1996 302. Cohen, James. Nuclear arms. Pittsburgh 1979.3. Mitchell, Alison. "Clinton and Yeltsin underscore the positive at SummitMeeting."           Newsweek 22 May 1990 A7 Column 14. Von Hippel, Frank. "Bombs Away." Discover April 1992 32-355. Zimmerman, Tim. "Nuclear Fiction." U.S. News and World Report 24 August1996 20