12.3 Impact of Using Nuclear Energy

Impact of Using Nuclear Weapons

• Nuclear energy must be properly regulated so that it benefits mankind and the environment.
• Early nuclear energy research in the 1940s was conducted to produce the atomic bomb.
• Plutonium, a by-product of nuclear fission in a nuclear reactor, was used to make the atomic bomb.
• The United States of America used nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.
• “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945.
• The nuclear explosion produced a powerful shock wave and immediately killed about 70 000 civilians.
• The blast heated the city until steel structures began to melt.
• The shock wave and radioactive fallout affected the environment.
• All communication systems in the city were cut off at that time.
• Countries that produce nuclear weapons are bound by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which controls and prohibits arbitrary use of nuclear weapons.

Impact of Nuclear Tests

• Nuclear tests determine whether nuclear weapons can function.
• Tests may be conducted in the open atmosphere, on land or underwater.
• Underground tests cause radiation effects on soil and water sources.
• Tests at sea destroy living things and cause pollution.
• Radiation from nuclear tests causes somatic effects and genetic effects in humans and other land organisms.

Effect	Examples
Somatic effects	Tiredness, nausea, cataract, leukaemia, hair loss
Genetic effects	Deformation in babies, cell mutation, cancer