Atomic Education

by Jason Soo

"Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British Grand Slam, which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare ... It was an atomic bomb." -- Radio announcement by US President Harry Truman Morning of August 6, 1945 (Washington time) I have no doubt that the American public breathed a coordinated sigh of relief upon hearing that radio message. The U.S. government had developed a super-weapon that would guarantee a swift and victorious end to a long and costly war. Parents with sons on the warfront could now expect their safe return. Daughters could come back from the weapons factory assembly lines. Resources such as steel and electricity could be used to make pots and pans instead of bullets and bombs. Life would return to normal again.

What follows is a brief but hopefully effective perspective on history, technology, and consequences.

On December 8, 1941 (Japan time), Japan entered the Pacific War with a landing on the northern Malay Peninsula and a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. In the early stages of the war, Japan achieved military success and advanced rapidly. In 1943 however, after losing the battle in Guadalcanal, Japan's military situation took a turn for the worse.

In November 1944, the US Air Force began full-scale air raids of Japan from its air base in Saipan. By late spring 1945, the US 20th Air Force had effectively destroyed or disabled many of Japan's major cities with firebombing raids. A 10-day bombing spree in March killed at least 150,000 Japanese citizens.

During this time, Gen. Leslie R. Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project, was busy trying to develop an atomic super-weapon. Two billion US dollars had been spent and 200,000 people at 37 secret laboratories were working on the project. On July 16, 1945, the efforts of the Manhattan Project team culminated in a brilliant flash in the desert near Alamagordo, New Mexico. The first atomic bomb had been tested. The bomb's yield had by far exceeded most expectations. The explosive power was equivalent to between 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT.

By this time, there were few Japanese cities left to be good targets for the super-weapon. After some consideration, Hiroshima was chosen as the first target, with Kokura and Nagasaki as second and third targets. The attack would occur as soon after August 2 as weather permitted.

On the morning of August 6, the citizens of Hiroshima were busy dismantling buildings to make fire lanes in preparation for enemy air raids. Members of volunteer army corps and several students were working at their appointed places, dripping with sweat under the hot midsummer sun. The sky over Hiroshima was perfectly clear. At 8:15 AM the news announcer at the Hiroshima Central Broadcasting Station began to announce that 3 large enemy planes had been sighted nearby. Before he could finish, the 15 kiloton "Little Boy" exploded over Hiroshima. With that single bomb, the city of Hiroshima was doomed to destruction. Three days later at 11:02 AM, the 22 kiloton "Fat Man" was dropped over Nagasaki. Deaths immediately resulting from the bombings exceeded 140,000 people, over 100,000 of which were civilians. Thousands more were to die later from the radiation after-effects.

When Little Boy exploded 580 meters above Hiroshima, it created a fireball 60-100 meters in diameter. Within 17 meters, the explosion temperature was 300,000 degrees Celsius. Within 50 meters it was 9,000-11,000 degrees, and at ground level beneath hypocenter the temperature exceeded 6,000 degrees. The blast pressure under the hypocenter was between 4.5-6.7 tons per square meter for about 0.4 seconds.

Within 1,000 meters, all buildings (including reinforced concrete ones) were completely destroyed by the blast and resulting fires. Within 1,800 meters, all wooden buildings ignited by direct radiant heat from the explosion. Within 2-3 kilometers, buildings were severely damaged. Within 3-4 kilometers, houses were badly damaged. A slight concussion could be detected up to 60 kilometres from the hypocenter.

Deaths by the explosions were caused by several factors. Everyone within 500 meters of the hypocenter was incinerated instantly by the thermal flash. People farther away were burned by thermal rays and injured by glass and other flying objects. Thousands more were killed by the uncontrollable fires that raged throughout the city. All persons within 4 kilometers of the hypocenter who were exposed to the radiation developed severe radiation poisoning. In addition, for 1 to 2 hours after the explosion, a radioactive "black rain" poured down over the city. All those exposed to the black rain developed similar symptoms to those who were directly hit by the explosion of the atomic bomb.

50 years later we know that life can never return to the way it was before the atomic bomb. Atomic weapons have globalized the nature of warfare. The key factor is this: the destruction caused by even a single atomic warhead cannot be localized. The very possession of such a weapon implies that, under certain circumstances, there is a willingness to indiscriminately annihilate thousands of plants, animals, and people. This is exactly why the Mayor of Hiroshima describes the possession of nuclear weapons as a "crime against humanity" in his 1996 Peace Declaration. As members of the group called humanity, we must defend ourselves from such crime.

The key to that defense, I am convinced, is education. If we only knew the destructive power of atomic weapons, if we knew the consequences of using, and in fact even possessing atomic weapons, then perhaps we would not seek to have them.

There is only one way to guarantee the prevention of a nuclear holocaust. We must eliminate all existing nuclear weapons, we must eliminate the development of new nuclear weapons, and we must eliminate the desire for nuclear weapons.

Previous Index Next