nuclear weapons
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008
nuclear weapons weapons of mass destruction powered by atomic, rather than chemical, processes. Nuclear weapons produce large explosions and hazardous radioactive byproducts by means of either nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. Nuclear weapons can be delivered by artillery, plane, ship, or ballistic missile (ICBM); some can also fit inside a suitcase. Tactical nuclear weapons can have the explosive power of a fraction of a kiloton (one kiloton equals 1,000 tons of TNT), while strategic nuclear weapons can produce thousands of kilotons of explosive force. After World War II, the proliferation of nuclear weapons became an increasing cause of concern throughout the world. At the end of the 20th cent. the vast majority of such weapons were held by the United States and the USSR; smaller numbers were held by Great Britain, France, China, India, and Pakistan. Israel also has nuclear weapons but has not confirmed that fact publicly; North Korea has conducted a nuclear test explosion but probably does not have a readily deliverable nuclear weapon; and South Africa formerly had a small arsenal. Over a dozen other countries can, or soon could, make nuclear weapons. In addition to the danger of radioactive fallout , in the 1970s scientists began investigating the potential impact of nuclear war on the environment. The collective effects of the environmental damage that could result from a large number of nuclear explosions has been termed nuclear winter . Treaties have been signed limiting certain aspects of nuclear testing and development. Although the absolute numbers of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles have declined since the end of the cold war, disarmament remains a distant goal. See atomic bomb ; cold war ; disarmament, nuclear ; guided missile ; hydrogen bomb ; nuclear energy ; nuclear physics .
Bibliography: See L. Martin, The Changing Face of Nuclear Warfare (1987).
Author not available, NUCLEAR WEAPONS.,
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research
|
The bomb has many friends.(supporters of nuclear weapons)
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; 3/1/1997; Arkin, William M.; 2488 words
; ... public slumber and to capture the public's attention. Through it all, the two communities -- myself included -- thrive on bad news. On one side are the anonymous colonels, bureaucrats, and scientists at nuclear agencies, laboratories and strategic commands ...
Read more
|
|
The gift of time. (possibility for ending threat of nuclear holocaust by destroying all nuclear weapons)
The Nation; 2/2/1998; Schell, Jonathan; 41479 words
; ... early December, a disconcerting piece of news seeped out of the White House. The nation ... the Clinton Administration confirmed the news. It was, of course, disturbing in this ... Arriving a half-century late, they are still news. The photographs display the fate of a ...
Read more
|
|
Nuclear weapons and Canada.
Ploughshares Monitor; 9/1/1998; Robinson, Bill; 4480 words
; The question of what to do about nuclear weapons is increasingly on the international agenda. In this report, an updated version of Project Ploughshares' February 1998 submission to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Bill Robinson summarizes the current state of the
Read more
|
|
Retired generals re-ignite debate over abolition of nuclear weapons
Arms Control Today; 11/1/1996; Craig Cerniello; 1011 words
; IN A HIGHLY publicized address to the National Press Club on December 4, retired General Lee Butler, former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Strategic Air Command, and retired General Andrew Goodpaster, former supreme allied commander in Europe, released a joint statement arguing in favor of the
Read more
|
|
"The means to match their hatred": nuclear weapons, rhetorical democracy, and presidential discourse.
Presidential Studies Quarterly; 12/1/2007; Taylor, Bryan C.; 14566 words
; ... defense contractors; a timid and amnesiac news media; and official demonization of anti-nucle ... foreign policy and the populist vernacular of news media coverage. This discourse, its critics ... interests. Specifically, Rojecki discusses the news media's reliance on limited and stereotypical ...
Read more
|
|
|
Is There a Role for Nuclear Weapons Today?
Arms Control Today; 7/1/2005; Pomper, Miles A; 4769 words
; Mikhail Gorbachev John P. Holdren Henrik Salander Frank Miller C. G. Weeramantry William F. Burns More than a dozen years after the end of the Cold War, the frozen nuclear strategies of that conflict have began to thaw. Russia is itching to make further cuts in its strategic forces. Several
Read more
|
|
|
The future of U.S. nuclear weapons policy
Arms Control Today; 5/1/1997; Security, NAS Committee on International; Control, Arms; 4969 words
; The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a major policy report on June 17, entitled The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, recommending substantial changes in U.S. nuclear weapons policies and forces to bring them into conformity with the post-Cold War environment. The report's central
Read more
|
|
Sleepwalking in a nuclear minefield: the United States still worships at the altar of nuclear weapons--yet cries 'heresy' when others want to join the sect.(United States is still advocating nuclear weapon)
Sojourners Magazine; 3/1/2008; Roche, Douglas; 2265 words
; [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS THE 21ST CENTURY UNFOLDS, a new truth is gradually being recognized: Nuclear weapons and human security cannot co-exist. Almost two decades after the end of the Cold War, there are still 25,000 nuclear weapons in existence, about 95 percent held by the United States and
Read more
|
|
|
Curb Nuclear Weapons Excess
Arms Control Today; 5/1/2004; Kimball, Daryl G; 781 words
; More than a decade has passed since the end of the Cold War and President George H. W. Bush's 1992 decision to end the production of new nuclear weapons. Today, U.S. military might is unrivaled. By far, its greatest security challenge is stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and reducing the
Read more
|
|
A 21st-century role for nuclear weapons: new security challenges and improved conventional weapons mean new roles and requirements for nuclear weapons.
Issues in Science and Technology; 3/22/2004; Schneider, William, Jr.; 3830 words
; The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has become a metaphor for 21st-century security concerns. Although nuclear weapons have not been used since the end of World War II, their influence on international security affairs is pervasive, and possession of WMD remains an important
Read more
|
Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses
|
Nuclear Weapons
Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security
Nuclear Weapons █ LARRY GILMAN/ K. LEE LERNER/ DEAN ALLEN HAYCOCK Nuclear weapons are explosive devices that utilize the processes ... destroy a large city. The destructive power of nuclear weapons derives from the core of the atom, the nucleus ...
Read more
|
|
|
North Korean Nuclear Weapons Programs
Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security
North Korean Nuclear Weapons Programs █ K. LEE LERNER ... program to "enrich uranium for nuclear weapons." History. With the assistance ... Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Shortly thereafter, however ...
Read more
|
|
nuclear weapon
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
... tritium or deuterium. Most modern nuclear weapons actually combine both processes. Nuclear weapons are the most potent explosive devices ... radioactive fallout . The number of nuclear weapons reached its peak in the 1980s, when ...
Read more
|
|
|
intermediate-range nuclear weapons
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Class of nuclear weapons with a range of 620–3,400 mi (1,000–5,500 km). Some ... dismantle these and shorter-range weapons. intermediate-range nuclear weapons intermediate-range nuclear weapons intermediate-range nuclear weapons
Read more
|
|
nuclear disarmament
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
... reduction and limitation of the various nuclear weapons in the military forces of the world ... overwhelming destructive potential of nuclear weapons and the threat to humanity posed by ... manufactured or stored, and even attacks on nuclear weapons themselves, called ploughshare ...
Read more
|