The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Testing

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The anti-nuclear movement opposes various nuclear technologies. In 1945 in the New Mexico desert, American scientists conducted “Trinity,” the first nucular weapons test, marking the beginning of the atomic age. On August 6, 1945, towards the end of World War II, the Little Boy device was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT. The blast and thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings and killed approximately 70,000 people, among them 20,000 Japanese soldiers and 20,000 Koreans. Detonation of the Fat Man device exploded over the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later on 9 August 1945, destroying 60% of the city and killing approximately 35,000 people, among them 23,200-28,200 Japanese civilian munitions …show more content…

It's purpose was to test the effect of nuclear weapons on naval ships. Manhatan Project scientists' argued that further nuclear testing was unnecessary and environmentally dangerous. A Los Alamos study warned "the water near a recent surface explosion will be a witch's brew" of radioactivity. To prepare the atoll for the nuclear tests, Bikini's native residents were evicted from their homes and resettled on smaller, uninhabited islands where they were unable to sustain themselves. In my opinion, radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing didn't draw public attention until 1954 when a Hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific contaminated the crew of the Japanese fishing boat Lucky Dragon. One of the fishermen died in Japan seven months later, the incident caused widespread concern around the world and "provided a decisive impetus for the emergence of the anti-nuclear weapons movement in many countries". The anti-nuclear weapons' movement grew rapidly because for many people the atomic bomb "encapsulated the very worst direction in which society was