The explosive power of a nuclear weapon comes from nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, or both in the case of the Hydrogen bomb. A typical small nuclear weapon has the explosive yields of tens of thousands of tons of the conventional explosive TNT. A large nuclear weapon can kill hundreds of thousands of people, and when carried on a ballistic missile, can travel intercontinental distances in less than half an hour. The deployment of tens of thousands of these

As a result of the Cold War, the build-up of nuclear weapons today has never been greater. The term "Cold War" refers to the strategic and political struggle that developed after World War II between the United States and its Wester European allies on one side, and the former USSR on the other. The Soviet leaders considered the objections of the United States to Soviet actions in Poland, Hungary, and Romania a betrayal of wartime understandings about spheres of influence in Europe. Therefore the Soviet Union was placed under a military and political barrier. The stockpile of nuclear weapons that available today is the direct result of the arms race which was the highlight of the cold war. Nuclear arms at the time of the cold war were considered to be a way for countries to discourage other countries from attacking, mainly the United States and the USSR, which were the key players in the arms race of the 1950's and 60's. While the dissolution of the Soviet Union has r!

In 1980 an environmental journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences produced a series of studies on nuclear war, attempting to quantify the impact of smoke from burning forests and cities. Fires pushng smoke into the atmosphere could cause serious long-term effects and the amount of smoke likely to be generated by such fires would be enough to reduce the incoming solar energy at the earth's surface for periods of several weeks or longer. It was thought that smoke combined with dust raised from near-suface explosions would form a dark cloud at least over most of the countries involved and the continent they are on. Serious biological and agricultural problem could also result in various ecosystems due to an abrupt and long lasting atmospheric change which is thought to happen after a nuclear war. Ecosystems consist of the communtiy of plants, animals , and microorganisms that exist in the area and the physical environment of that community. They depend on the light !

iminate the possibility of large-scale surprise attack or threats to use nuclear weapons. In return, non-nuclear weapon states should agree to the measures needed to improve the non-proliferation system to become dependably effective in preventing possession of hidden nuclear weapons. If the nuclear weapon states working together can reduce on an enduring basis the global level of organized armed violence to low levels through more effective conflict prevention and peacekeeping, the argument for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons will be no longer.

At one time or another, the long-standing concept of deterrence has included maintaining nuclear arsenals in order: (1) to prevent use of nuclear weapons by others; (2) to prevent use of chemical or biological weapons by others; (3) to prevent or cope with large scale conventional attack; and (4) to enforce political compliance with the policies of the nuclear weapon states. Many experts today consider that nuclear weapons are in practice unusable and that the on

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Approximate Word count = 2016
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)