The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Weapons

During the 1940's humanity created a weapon that could vaporize and destroy all in its path. This one weapon was unlike any other utilizing an existing element that has for years only been known as just a lump of rock. Thanks for the many efforts of scientists most notably Albert Einstein the power of this seemingly unimportant rock became the most powerful weapon known to mankind. Throughout the many decades this weapon has made many impacts on the geological and political landscapes unlike anything else before it. World leader need to come together to bring about the safe eradication of all nuclear weapons so that the threat of nuclear annihilation no longer exist. The threat of a terror attack using nuclear weapons in both direct and indirect

The cost of nuclear weapons has been on the rise in the U.S and it is not going to stop. the U.S budget for nuclear weapons in 2016 is estimated to be 22 billion dollars; that is only around a third of what the United states spends on education of its citizens. The cost can be attributed to four major categories: storage, deployment, maintenance, and training of personnel. However, this was not always the case. Only as far back as 2010 the yearly budget was only 16 billion; in six years the cost rose by six billion dollars. A great example of this comes from Stephen Schwartz who stated, “Distributed evenly to everyone living in the United States at the start of 1998, the total estimated cost of nuclear weapons equals $21,646 per person. Represented as bricks of new $1 bills stacked on top of one another, $5,821,027,000,000 would stretch 459,361 miles, to the moon and nearly back” (Schwartz). Although the cost seems to be rising others bring up the point of the profit and jobs spurred on by production and mining of the elements needed for nuclear weapons. A great example of this comes from the contracts given by Atomic Energy Commission to mining companies in boom towns " this new arrangement called for the sale of 12,970,012 pounds of yellowcake over the next seven years, at eight dollars a pound this meant a total of $103,760,096 for the company"(Amundson). However profitable the nuclear elements may be the issue of cost over shadows the profit gained by a long shot. Most of the boom towns that come out of uranium mining went bust and are now totally gone; only foundation's remain of the once massive mining towns. Once world leaders dismantle nuclear weapons massive amounts of funds become available to be put towards the future of their countries instead of total