Megadeath and Nuclear Annihilation

Nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, two terms that are used interchangeably, constitute a preventable cause of mass megadeaths. Actual mortality [Page 711]data (number and rates of deaths), resulting from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb detonations in 1945 and projected mortality data from contemporary nuclear war scenarios will be addressed. Efforts to prevent nuclear war and proliferation of nuclear components and weapons are also discussed.

H. G. Wells in his novel, The World Set Free, published in 1914, predicted a fictional war in 1956 where atomic bombs exploded continuously for days. The weapons were eagerly sought by malcontents and others. In 2007, 93 years later, the Board of Directors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock from 7 to 5 minutes to midnight signifying the increased prospect of nuclear war. Buyers and thieves avidly seek nuclear weapons on the open market. Science fiction becomes reality.

So far the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs have been the only nuclear weapons intentionally used in warfare. But since then, the destructive power of nuclear (fission) and thermonuclear (fission-fusion) weapons and their delivery systems have dramatically increased. During the cold war, the United States and the Soviet Union had a monopoly on the nuclear bomb market. Today, nuclear states include the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and possibly Israel. Thirty-two other nations, including Brazil, Argentina, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and perhaps, Iran, have sufficient fissionable materials to produce weapons. Not all will seek them. Hardware, fissile material, and the knowledge for constructing weapons are available at the international arms bazaar and on the Internet. As their availability increases, so does the probability of accidental or intentional nuclear weapons detonation, and with it, the prospect of megadeaths, megadying, and megasuffering.

Because of security issues and variations in assessment methods, public data are not totally reliable. However, exact figures are not necessary to illustrate the destructive capability of nuclear weapons. Risk assessments of nuclear war make little sense because the quality and quantity of any retaliatory response is difficult to predict. Only one detonation is necessary to elicit a large, unpredictable nuclear response that might include the use of other weapons of mass destruction (i.e., biological and chemical agents). Nuclear weapons detonation has the potential of omnicide (destruction of humanity by humanity) resulting in megadeath (deaths of people and animals in the millions). It is a form of horrendous death (HD), that is, deaths caused by people. One type of HD is motivated by the desire to kill others. Examples of this desire that could kill millions are intentional environmental assault, terrorism and war, genocide, starvation, use of biological and chemical warfare agents, and the intentional spread of deadly diseases, including new immerging and antibiotic-resistant diseases. Omnicide and HD affect large populations and entail great suffering. Both are preventable.

The First Atomic Bombs: Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On August 6 and 9, 1945, two fission-type bombs were dropped that effectively ended the war with Japan. The first bomb detonated over Hiroshima had an estimated yield of 15 kilotons (KT), equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. Its fuel was highly enriched uranium 235 (HEU). The Nagasaki bomb, powered by plutonium 239, had an estimated yield of 21 KT, equivalent to 21,000 tons of TNT. Both were fission-type bombs.

...