A World without Nuclear Weapons #01

A Nuclear-Free World
Stopping the spread of nuclear weapons

On April 5, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. He said that countries should work together to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. I was very inspired by Obama’s speech. However, I know that the U.S. has the most atomic bombs of any country in the world. I want to learn about nuclear weapons, including why countries have them and what should be done to stop them.
The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The second was dropped on Nagasaki three days later. These bombs created a blast of 4,000 degrees Celsius. Instantly everything near the bomb blast was vaporized. The bombs killed tens of thousands of people, and caused sickness and death for many more in the following years due to radiation poisoning. It is said that the two bombs have caused nearly 400,000 deaths as of September 2007, and many people are still sick today.
The atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had other effects throughout the world. The Soviet Union became afraid of America’s power and increased development of its own nuclear weapons. This started a nuclear arms race. Countries did not use their weapons, but just having them gave a feeling of security. This period was called the Cold War. It lasted from around 1945, the end of World War II, to 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. At the height of the Cold War, there were about 60,000 nuclear weapons in the world.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the U.S. had a better relationship with Russia. The two countries began to gradually reduce their stocks of nuclear weapons. However, the still have about 30,000 weapons. Also, the U.K., France and China ― the three other countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council ― have them. India, Pakistan, and North Korea say that they have nuclear weapons, and Israel, Iran and Syria are also thought to have them.