From Hiroshima to Today

This week, 78 years ago, hundreds of thousands of people died from two atom bombs—some in the blink of an eye, burned so hot there were no remains, others months later as a result of the radiation that lived in the atmosphere. So why do we still have them?

Nuclear weapons are still used today as a form of deterrence and power. Their very existence poses an immense threat to global security and stability. In an era where tensions between nations are already high, the possession of nuclear weapons increases the risk of accidental or even intentional use, leading to catastrophic consequences. With all of these drawbacks and possible obliterating impacts, nations still continue to stockpile them to maintain their security and dominance on the world stage. We had Chernobyl, a small-grade accident, leave an entire area desolate for thirty-plus years and there is no visible future to inhabit it soon. And yet, the United States' nuke stockpile of over 5,000 is the second highest in the world. Imagine that—imagine even 1% of those bombs being used. That would be about 50, which could kill millions in 1945 and, likely, hundreds of millions now. It is logical to believe the US and the world have gone beyond the research done during the Manhattan Project in the past 80 years. The lack of transparency in the nuclear industry and the secrecy of the countries that possess these weapons make it difficult to know how many nuclear weapons exist in the world and what each one can do. Some people believe that one bomb today could kill almost 5 million people and others say that the explosion replicates one of a small star. While it is hard to prove both of these, there is a very high chance that they are true, no matter how heartbreaking they may seem. The people in this world do not know what would happen if a “nuclear war were to break out.” In the past couple of years, it has been estimated that a number larger than the United States population, 320 million people, would be killed almost instantly at the start of a nuclear war. So why do we still have so many?

The possession of nuclear weapons perpetuates a culture of fear, mistrust, and hostility between nations, hindering diplomatic efforts and peaceful resolutions to conflicts. Nuclear weapons have a unique ability to instill fear due to their immense destructive power, the potential for accidents or miscalculations, and the geopolitical tensions they exacerbate. The fear generated by these weapons permeates through societies and shapes global politics. For example, the Cold War. According to the UN, the world housed slightly more than 3,000 nukes in 1955. By the late 1980s, it was home to over 60,000 in just the US and Russia. Imagine living in that era, a time that was merely forty years ago, particularly in the United States and in Russia, where tens of thousands of bombs caused the death of billions in a mere month. Recognizing the dangers they pose, efforts towards disarmament, non-proliferation, and diplomatic resolutions are crucial to alleviating this fear and paving the way toward a more secure and peaceful world. So why do we still have so many?

Moreover, the enormous financial cost associated with maintaining and upgrading nuclear arsenals diverts resources away from crucial social and economic needs, such as healthcare, education, and poverty alleviation. While there may not be nuclear weapons, the United States has recently given Ukraine billions of dollars worth of arsenal and military equipment to help keep them stable. There is nothing wrong with that, but it does make me wonder: if you can give away billions of dollars worth of supplies so quickly and so easily, does not that mean that it is only a small portion of what you have in total? Does not that mean that the United States might have tens of billions of dollars worth of supplies, supplies possibly almost as bad as a nuke? If we have an arsenal of weapons that are not nukes that large, why do we still have so many of them when adequate protection is already present?

When thinking about nuclear weapons, and weapons in general, I often find myself coming back to the idea that we do not know much at all about atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. We know what they did on two days almost a century ago, but a lot has changed since then. The United States and the world have made endless technological advancements and crossed milestones thought to not be possible. It is rational to think that progress has been made in this specific field too, yet society does not know how much. Is that not a problem? The fact is that not just one or two, but almost 10 countries have the means and the resources on hand to destroy small countries in a matter of a couple of hours. How is it that we are just looking past these facts? How is it that we are just ignoring the social and political, both national and international, impact that this idea has? Given that other countries have access to nuclear weapons, I feel that it is okay for countries to have some, with some being a small, appropriate amount, as protection in case of a war. But, if one has 5,244, that is what fuels a war, not mitigates it.