Nuclear Weapons §

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• The Different Uses of Nuclear Technology ¹
  1. Generate energy in a nuclear reactor: uses controlled nuclear chain reactions to generate heat for power
  2. Produce nuclear weapons: create explosion using fusion or fission as WMD
• Types of Nuclear Weapons
  • Fusion: fusing two atoms together, releasing a bunch of energy (currently not viable)
    • Hydrogen fusing → Helium
  • Fission: splitting atoms, releasing a bunch of energy
    • Plutonium
    • Uranium-235
    • Unenriched Uranium-237
  • Thermo Nuclear Weapon
    • 50% Thermal Radiation (X-Ray, Gama-Rays…)
    • 40% Blast
    • 10% Radiation
• Nuclear Weapons cause damage in 3 ways ¹
  1. Blast: normal method to measure casualties (1 Megaton is 50% fatal to people in 7.5 km of ground zero)
     • Shock wave: wind speed
  2. Thermal radiation (heat) + fire: fireball
  3. Nuclear radiation: long term casualties from detonation or fallout
     • Roentgen-Equivalent-Man (REM): to measure radiation energy absorbed by living creatures
     • Dirty Bombs: built to spread radioactive materials and cause terror
  4. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP): disrupt electronic equipment
• Challenge to creating nuclear weapons ¹
  • obtaining weapons-grade fissile material: Plutonium and
    • process Uranium-235 through enrichment
    • Plutonium is created as a byproduct of the reactor process and is reprocessed

Nuclear Proliferation §

1. Methods of Nuclear Proliferation §

1. Horizontal Proliferation: spread of nuclear weapon units to countries that didn’t have them ²
2. Vertical Proliferation: the spread of nuclear weapons technology ²
   • Due to Security Dilemma: an arms race could push states to intensify R&D of nuclear weapons technology and delivery systems.
3. Second Tier Nuclear Proliferation: developing states share limited scientific manufacturing capabilities of nuclear weapons to each other.
4. Third Tier Nuclear Proliferation: states can’t control non-state actor’s commerce of nuclear weapons, even if its against the state’s interest
   • In hands of Terrorism
   • Usually proliferated through non-state actors
   • black market selling nuclear weapons
   • stealing technology or warheads

What are the motivations of a state for acquiring nuclear weapons? ¹

💡 Models for states’ motivations of nuclear proliferation

1. The security model: States build nuclear weapons to increase national security against foreign threats, especially nuclear threats.
2. The domestic politics model: States build nuclear weapons because these weapons advance parochial domestic and bureaucratic interests.
3. The norms model: States build nuclear weapons because weapons acquisition, or restraint in weapons development, provides an important normative symbol of a state’s modernity or identity.
4. The psychology model: States build nuclear weapons because political leaders hold a conception of their nation’s identity that leads them to desire the bomb.
5. The political economy model: States build nuclear weapons because the nature of their country’s political economy-mostly interest, whether or not it is globally integrated gives their leaders different incentives for or against having nuclear weapons.
6. The strategic culture model: States build nuclear weapons because their strategic culture leads them to hold certain ideas about how valuable the acquisition and use of nuclear weapons will be. {#6a85ac}

2. Historical Development of Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons ¹ §

• Since 1945: Nuclear technology (power) has spread across the globe

• Prevention of nuclear war between superpowers (US & Soviet Union)

  • Nuclear Deterrence & Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): might have hasten collapse of the USSR ³

• NATO was scared of USSR’s nuclear weapons, needed US deterrence {#533fc3}

  • Counterforce Strategy: US nuclear weapons silos spread throughout Europe to threaten USSR’s military bases and assets
  • Countervalue Strategy: to threaten USSR’s cities, population, industrial, & social life.
  • Extended Deterrence: threat of nuclear response if one of its allies is attacked (Dilemma: if US willing to trade itself for European countries)

• After Cold War: ³

  • US and Russia’s number of nuclear weapons shrunk by 80%
  • Most remaining nuclear forces are de-alerted, nuclear modernization programs slowed
  • De facto nuclear test ban stopped advances in nuclear weapons technology
  • India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran still want big nuclear programs and limited nuclear capabilities for security, prestige, diplomatic advantage for regional stability
    • Problem: could lead to arms race, crisis, instability, war, terrorists have access to nuclear expertise, material and weapons due to proliferation

• Current Day: 9 possess nuclear weapons (US, USSR, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel)

Concerns and Challenges of Nuclear Weapons ¹ §

1. Challenge of spread of nuclear power to international security and nuclear safety
   • Control of Fissile Material:
     • IAEA is in charge of monitoring who didn’t sign NPT
     • In hands of terrorists:
   • Nuclear Energy Technology is complex and prone to human error with high human and environmental consequences. (Fukushima)
2. Nuclear Deterrence is no longer appropriate strategy in dealing with non-state and decentralized actors
3. Preventive Attacks might be more frequent international IR as government use excuses from small threats
4. Blur line of commercial and strategic use of nuclear technology
5. Increase possibility of non-state or terrorist gets their hands on nuclear weapons/tech (third-tier proliferation)

1. Convention and Solution Attempt §

• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): 1970, to safeguard and promote use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes ³
  • 5 countries with nuclear power (US, USSR, UK, France, China)
  • Purpose:
    1. Prevent spread of nuclear weapons and technology
    2. Promote peaceful use of nuclear energy
    3. Achieve general disarmament and complete disarmament
  • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): established in 1957 originally in force for 25 years, extended to indefinite in 1995
    • ‘Have-nots’ have access to commercial nuclear technologies under IAEA safeguards
    • Acknowledged Nuclear States would make determined efforts to eliminate their existing nuclear arsenals
  • NPT Challenges:
    • No clear line between commercial nuclear tech use vs weapons program, NPT’s safeguards aren’t up to date on current nuclear technology
    • Nuclear technologies and equipment’s are no longer strictly controlled by state actors
    • Persistent report of black market fissile material trade

2. Cases of Nuclear Weapon Tensions §

• World War 2: US using nuclear bombs on Fukushima & Nagasaki of Japan
• Cold War’s Cuban Missile Crisis, US-Soviet, almost led to nuclear war Fog of War Documentary
• US’s invasion of Iraq in search of nuclear weapons and VX (nerve agent) and found none
• North Korea using and testing nuclear weapons and ICBMs
• Ukraine-Russia Conflict: Russia putting its nuclear force back on alert

References §

Footnotes §

1. Lesson Globalization on Nuclear Proliferation ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Vertical Nuclear Proliferation — Nuclear Issues ↩ ↩²

3. C12-RHOSS-Routledge handbook of security studies-Routledge (2017): Weapons of mass destruction and the proliferation challenge ↩ ↩² ↩³