A World Free of Nuclear Weapons
“I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I’m not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly — perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence.”
—U.S. President Barack Obama, April 5, 2009
In 1931, Albert Einstein described himself as “not [...]
The Transformation of U.S. Nuclear Policy
Today’s Threats
The people of the world confront four types of nuclear threats. The first is the possibility of a terrorist group getting a nuclear weapon and detonating it in a major city. The second is the danger of an accidental, unauthorized, or intentional use of one of the existing 23,000 nuclear weapons held by nine [...]
Nonproliferation’s Contribution
The great destructive power of the first atomic bomb persuaded many leaders of the need to constrain that power. Thus was born the goal of nonproliferation and the search for a nonproliferation regime: a set of norms, rules, institutions, and practices to prevent both the spread of nuclear weapons and the material and know-how necessary [...]
Successes and Failures
Washington Naval Arms Conference
The Washington Naval Arms Conference, in session from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922, produced the first major international disarmament agreements since the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The conference also marked the emergence of the United States as a major diplomatic actor, despite the country’s rejection of the Treaty of [...]
Young People to the Fore
Today’s world leaders have ceded to the next generation the goal of achieving a nuclear weapons-free world. In the past, young people around the world have often driven political, cultural, social, and intellectual movements, achieving progress that older generations had discarded as illusions. To meet the challenge of eliminating nuclear weapons, youth’s contributions must yet [...]
The Commitment of Non-Nuclear Weapon States
Nuclear disarmament depends upon cooperation between nations possessing nuclear weapons and those without them.
The need to eliminate nuclear weapons is clear: not only because of the devastation they cause, but also because of the resources they drain away from a quality of life already minimal in some nuclear-armed states.
As long as nuclear weapons remain a [...]
Japan’s Nuclear Danger Zone Widens; More Experts Work the Crisis
The Japanese government is telling citizens within 30 kilometers of a damaged nuclear power plant to stay indoors to protect themselves. The March 15 advisory said people near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant should attempt to prevent exposure to the colorless, odorless radiation that escaped from reactors.
The warning followed a March 12 government-ordered evacuation for [...]
Major Powers Agree on Iran Sanctions
By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the major powers have agreed on a draft sanctions resolution against Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
“We have reached agreement on a strong draft with the cooperation of both Russia and China,” Clinton said at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing May 18. “We have [...]
Global Leaders Endorse Securing of All Nuclear Material by 2014
Following two days of meetings in Washington, leaders from around the world agreed to take tangible and meaningful steps to secure the world’s nuclear materials.
President Obama, who initiated the global effort in a speech in Prague in April 2009, called the collective agreement “a testament to what is possible” in multilateral partnership.
Speaking at the conclusion [...]
Fission, Fusion
Nuclear weapons achieve exponentially increasing nuclear chain reactions by different designs, fission and fusion.
Fission bombs, often called atomic bombs, detonate when neutrons bombard the fissile material, uranium or plutonium isotopes, splitting the atoms into lighter elements and releasing vast amounts of energy in the process.
There are two types of fission bombs. One type, a gun-assembly [...]
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