Jean-Daniel Kretzen

Nuclear Weapons I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. These words were spoken by J.Robert Oppenheimer, moments after the testing of the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945 in Trinity, New Mexico. On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein, a genius scientist and the foremost expert on atomic science, wrote to President Franklin. D. Roosevelt. In this letter, Einstein and several other prominent scientist told Roosevelt of Nazi Germany’s effort to purify urananium-235, which can be used to build an atomic bomb. Shortly hereafter, the United States Government started what was known simply as “The Manhattan Project.” This project’s aim was to research and find a way to produce a viable atomic bomb. The biggest problem with making the atomic bomb was that it needed copious amount of “enriched” uranium to sustain a chain reaction. At the time, it was extremely difficult to extract uranium-235. The conversation rate was 500:1. Compounding this issue was the fact that the one part of the uranium converted is over 99% uranium-238, which is next to useless in the making of an atomic bomb. To make it even worse, U-235 and U-238 are isotopes and is nearly identical in their chemical makeup. No chemical extraction could separate them, only mechanical methods could. To help with this problem, a massive enrichment laboratory/plant was constructed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Harold Urey and several colleagues then devise an extraction system and Ernest Lawrence implemented a process involving magnetic separation of the two isotopes. Then, a gas centrifuge was uses to separate the lighter U-235 from the heavier, non-fissionable U-238. Once all this was completed, the only step left was to put to test the entire concept behind atomic fission. (Or splitting the atom in a more colloquial term.) Finally, in the wee hours of the morning of July 16, 1945, the people at Los Alamos would find out if the atomic bomb would be the biggest dud of the century, or an end to the war. So it happened that at 5:29:45 A.M, in a brilliant white blaze that stretched from the basin of the Jemez Mountains in Northern New Mexico, to the dark skies, “The Gadget” ushered in the Atomic Age. The light of the explosion turned orange as the atomic fireball raced upwards at 360 feet per seconds, reddening as it cooled. The characteristic mushroom cloud of radioactive vapor materialized at 30,000 feet. Beneath that cloud, all that remained were fragments of jade green radioactive glass. The brilliant light of the explosion pierced the sky with such intensity that residents in a faraway community thought the sun had arise for a second time. Even more astonishing was the fact that a blind girl saw the flash from 120 miles away. Upon witnessing the explosion, the creators of the bomb all had mixed emotions. Robert Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad Gita. “I am become Death, the destroyer of Worlds.” Ken Bainbridge, the test director said to Oppenheimer,” Now, we are all sons of bitches.” After seeing the terrible results of the bomb, the creators of the bomb all signed a petition against loosing the monster that was the atomic bomb, but all their protests fell on deaf ears. One month later, on August 6th, 1945, the American Government, claiming they were trying to save lives, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In an instant, 66,000 people were killed, and 69,000 more were injured by the explosion. On August 9th, the Americans dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. In an instant, 39,000 people were killed, and over 25,000 people were injured. The Japanese surrendered on August 10th, 1945. Physicists that have studied this event estimated that the bombs only used 1/10th of their respective explosive capabilities. Today, nuclear weapons have forty times the power that the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had. With all the nuclear weapons in the world at the moment, it is possible to kill the population of the world three times over. Just the weapons the United States own are capable of leveling Europe and Russia, killing their entire population and destroying all the cities. Yet despite all this, countries are still all trying to build or buy their own nuclear weapons. The question most people ask though is whether these weapons of mass destruction are peacekeepers, or are they the instruments of death apocalypse.