Nuclear weapons debate

The nuclear weapons debate refers to the controversies surrounding the threat, use and stockpiling of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_weapons/QVdBcMdm">nuclear weapons</a>. Even before the first nuclear weapons had been developed, scientists involved with the <a href="/facts/Manhattan_Project/gtg8yRK2">Manhattan Project</a> were divided over the use of the weapon. The only time nuclear weapons have been used in <a href="/facts/Warfare/MPluTbJ0">warfare</a> was during the final stages of <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> when <a href="/facts/United_States_Army_Air_Forces/0mtva6Cw">USAAF</a> <a href="/facts/B-29_Superfortress/79pXKprr">B-29 Superfortress</a> <a href="/facts/Bombers/S65BPSLX">bombers</a> <a href="/facts/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki/fRpj8aJA">dropped atomic bombs</a> on the Japanese cities of <a href="/facts/Hiroshima/WuFDhz14">Hiroshima</a> and <a href="/facts/Nagasaki/5HMR4mnp">Nagasaki</a> in early August 1945. The role of the bombings in <a href="/facts/Surrender_of_Japan/SM4dd1M9">Japan's surrender</a> and the U.S.'s <a href="/facts/Nuclear_ethics/D0ofkEXS">ethical</a> justification for them have been the subject of scholarly and popular debate for decades.
<a href="/facts/Nuclear_disarmament/oVFwor4E">Nuclear disarmament</a> refers both to the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world. Proponents of disarmament typically condemn <a href="/facts/A_priori_and_a_posteriori/C567SkcV">a priori</a> the threat or use of nuclear weapons as immoral and argue that only total disarmament can eliminate the possibility of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_warfare/HLRLRh4F">nuclear war</a>. Critics of nuclear disarmament say that it would undermine <a href="/facts/Deterrence_theory/rllU6aJf">deterrence</a> and make conventional wars more likely, more destructive, or both. The debate becomes considerably complex when considering various scenarios for example, total vs partial or <a href="/facts/Unilateralism/1NaRBAct">unilateral</a> vs <a href="/facts/Multilateralism/nSgHsg8m">multilateral</a> disarmament.
<a href="/facts/Nuclear_proliferation/f8dSJyAR">Nuclear proliferation</a> is a related concern, which most commonly refers to the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries and increases the risks of nuclear war arising from regional conflicts. The diffusion of nuclear technologies -- especially the nuclear fuel cycle technologies for producing weapons-usable nuclear materials such as highly enriched uranium and plutonium -- contributes to the risk of nuclear proliferation. These forms of proliferation are sometimes referred to as horizontal proliferation to distinguish them from vertical proliferation, the expansion of nuclear stockpiles of established nuclear powers.

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Nuclear weapons debate