Nuclear Testing

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Nuclear Testing Intro "In the dim light of a hospital room, seven year old Jimmy was remembering the day on which he was told he had leukaemia. He remembered his mother's tears, his father's bewildered anger, the alien feeling of the hospital's environment. His mind replayed the nausea and the diarrhoea caused by radiation therapy and chemotherapy, his hair falling out and kids laughing at him... Jimmy died gently, utterly exhausted having lost so much blood. His tissue had broken down completely, and he was bleeding from every body opening. His bed looked like a battlefield." Jimmy: Hiroshima atomic bomb victim Why Nuclear Tests Are Carried Out? A Nuclear Test is an experiment involving the setting off of a nuclear warhead ("nuke"). All throughout the twentieth century almost every nation has developed and often tested nuclear weapons. Conducting nuclear tests provide scientists and military forces with information about how nukes work (known as "Weapons Related" testing), as well as how the weapons behave under a range of different conditions. Various structures and buildings are also subjected to nuclear explosions (known as the "Weapons Effects" testing). Additionally, nuclear tests are conducted to show a countries strength, many tests are openly conduct and political in their intention. Most states and countries publicly conduct nuclear tests to show their nuclear status and power. Nuclear weapons tests are generally classified as being either: "atmospheric" (in or above the atmosphere), "underground", or "underwater". Of the three, underground testing (conducted in deep shafts) poses the least health risk in terms of fallout. Atmospheric testing poses the highest risk, coming in contact with the ground and ... ... middle of paper ... .... The high yield tests in the 50s and 60s probably did cause significant depletion, but the ozone measurements made at the time were too limited to pick up the expected changes out of natural variations. Bibliography Books: · Angus M. Gunn, 2003, Unnatural Disasters, Greenwood Press, United States of America. Internet: · Carey Sublette, 15 May 1997, Nuclear Weapons Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.14 [On-line],http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq5.html, 9th of April. 2006 · Maria Hendrikaplein, 1991, For Mother Earth [On-line], http://www.motherearth.org/nuke/begin2.php, 9th of April. 2006 Internet/Encyclopedia: · Wikimedia, 2001, Wikipedia: The Free Online Encyclopedia [On-line], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing, 6th of April. 2006

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