The Debate Surrounding Nuclear Weapons: The Possible Trigger of War

One problem in the world today is that nuclear weapons are getting made and putting us at risk. Some of the questions everyone asks about nuclear weapons are why are they so powerful, why do they cost so much and why do we have them? The main issue with nuclear weapons is that if the button gets pressed and it was an accident the whole world is at risk of getting killed and at risk of a nuclear war starting. Yet many people are still in favour of having nuclear weapons as they do have benefits.

For many nuclear weapons are too risky to keep because of the massive amounts of destruction they can cause. An example of a time when this issue occurred was when the Americans dropped a bomb on a city in Japan called Hiroshima. When it went off it killed 140,000 people but this figure rose to 202,118 because of those that died years later because of the effects of the radiation (HistoryHit). Unsurprisingly the Japanese surrendered after this. The long lasting effects of this on the environment were huge. Wild and domesticated animals, as well as agricultural plants were contaminated and this caused genetic mutations and disease in the generations of animals and humans that followed (sciencing). These risks are too great for those who do not want nuclear weapons.

Lots of people are against the nuclear weapons because they think that they are a waste of money and you are putting all people at risk of a nuclear attack. According to Defense News America’s nuclear weapons will cost up to $1.2 trillion over the next 30 years. North Korea's nuclear spending has been estimated at $1.1 billion to $3.2 billion overall (cnbc). With such huge amounts being spent on them many believe that this money could be better spent on more important things like healthcare, housing, transport and energy.

People also think that there shouldn’t be nuclear weapons because it is too big a responsibility for one leader to have control over. In America it is Donald Trump who has control over the big red button. Quite a worrisome thought. The United States of America and North Korea do not have a good relationship with each other and this resulted in a Twitter battle between the two leaders where they were insulting each other (The Standard). Many worried that one of them might launch a nuclear missile to prove a point and they could have. By having access to such power they are putting millions of people’s lives on the line.

Whilst there are those against nuclear weapons there are also lots of people in the world who think that nuclear weapons are a good thing because they keep smaller countries from attacking them. This is called nuclear deterrence and is the argument that peace and stability are assured by the threat of mutually assured destruction (The Guardian). Many believe that having nuclear weapons will scare off other countries or prevent them from attacking them. North Korea, the USA and the UK are major countries with nuclear weapons at their disposal and this worries many smaller nations. Yet there are many that think this argument is nonsense and that the only reason it came about was so that governments could justify creating their own nuclear weapons (The Guardian).

Many people around the world have jobs looking after and maintaining nuclear weapons and if we got rid of them lots of jobs would be lost. According to the BBC around 11,000 jobs rely on having the nuclear weapons programme up and running. This number is even higher in the US where the nuclear energy industry is “a powerful engine for job creation” (nei). The U.S. industry directly employs nearly 100,000 people in long-term jobs and this number rises to 475,000 when you include secondary jobs. Many argue that we simply cannot afford to lose nuclear jobs or miss out on the thousands of jobs that building new reactors will create. These massive statistics show that getting rid of nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants would have a massive financial impact on the country and the people themselves who could end up jobless and in debt.

In conclusion, the debate on nuclear weapons is still alive today. Many people around the world still think that nuclear weapons are dangerous, a waste of money and time and hard to look after especially when we have leaders like Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in charge. Whereas many think that they are beneficial because they can be used for defense and can provide jobs and put money back into the economy. Not a day will go by without some debate on nuclear weapons. It is clear that nuclear weapons will probably always be a way of life. I don’t think that they will get rid of them and both sides will continue to either fight to get rid of them or fight to keep them.