After WW1 & WW2 every country wanted to have more army & wanted to be strong in order to maintain safety with other rival/neighbor countries , even small countries wanted to become a super power. But making a nuclear weapon involves a high prolific technology ,intelligence,facilities and plenty of intelligent minds was also needed under the safe roof. But the question arises what are nuclear weapons ?
Nuclear Weapons :
They are extremely powerful explosives.
You might have heard the words atoms and isotopes from science lessons in your school if you have ever studied chemistry .They’re involved in the process of triggering a nuclear blast.
The bombs get their energy from either splitting atoms or joining the tiny particles inside the atoms together. That’s also why a nuclear bomb is sometimes called an atomic bomb.
Nuclear bombs releases huge amounts of radiation which can cause radiation sickness. So, their impact lasted longer than the blasts.
But they have only ever been used twice in history
1. Against Japan in 1945 during World War Two where they caused huge devastation and massive loss of life.
The radiation from the bomb dropped on the city of Hiroshima lasted several months and killed an estimated 80,000 people.
And the bomb dropped on Nagasaki killed more than 70,000 people.
They haven’t been detonated in war since then.
Now the question arises Who can develop them ?
With theory pretty much can country can built nuclear weapons with the help of technology ,Intelligence and facilities but its not an easy task it demands a lot of hard work and devotion to it.
Whether countries are allowed to make nuclear weapons right now?
Answer : That is another issue because of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), an agreement which aims to prevent such spreading of nuclear weapons
Since 1970, 191 states including the US, Russia, UK, France and China have joined the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons NPT . These nuclear weapon states & are allowed to have weapons because they built and tested a nuclear explosives before the NPT came into being on 1 January 1967.
But under the agreement, they have to reduce how many they have and can’t keep them forever.
Israel (which has never confirmed or denies the existence of its nukes), India and Pakistan have never joined the NPT, and North Korea left in 2003.
Following are the countries that have nuclear weapons :
1 – United States
Warheads : 1,600 / 6,185
Date of First Test : 16 July 1945
Test Site of First Test : Alamogordo, New Mexico
Delivery methods : Nuclear triad.
2- Russia
Warheads : 1,600 / 6,500
Date of First Test : 29 August 1949
Test Site of First Test : Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
Delivery methods : Nuclear triad.
3- United Kingdom
Warheads : 120 / 215
Date of First Test : 3 October 1952
Test Site of First Test : Monte Bello Islands, Australia
Delivery methods : Sea-based.
4- France
Warheads : 280 / 300
Date of First Test : 13 February 1960
Test Site of First Test : Sahara, French Algeria
Delivery methods : Sea- and air-based.
5- China
Warheads : 200 / 290
Date of First Test : 16 October 1964
Test Site of First Test : Lop Nur, Xinjiang
Delivery methods : Nuclear triad.
6- India
Warheads : 130/140
Date of First Test : 18 May 1974
Test Site of First Test : Pokhran, Rajasthan
Delivery methods : Nuclear triad.
7- Pakistan
Warheads : 0 / 150-160
Date of First Test : 28 May 1998
Test Site of First Test : Ras Koh Hills, Balochistan
Delivery methods : Land and air-based, Sea-based tested but not yet operational.
8- North Korea
Warheads : 0 / 20-30
Date of First Test : 9 October 2006
Test Site of First Test : Kilju, North Hamgyong
Delivery methods : Land and sea-based.
9- Israel
Warheads : 0 / 80-90
Date of First Test : 1960–1979 incl. suspected Vela incident of 22 September 1979
Test Site of First Test : Unknown
Delivery methods : Suspected nuclear triad.
Conclusion : As you can see that there are 9 countries with nuclear weapons which is quite terrifying because in this era if any two countries with nuclear weapons started a war against each other then this time there won’t be a War of armies,instead there will be a War of Atom bombs ,and its consequences will be very terrific and massive to all the living beings all around the Globe .No one is safe in this World from nuclear weapons destruction. Peace Out Everyone (Y).