International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

There are days and there are days designed to celebrate or remember things in particular ~ 26^th Sept. is another one ~ this time different !! “International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons” .. and what can we do to that ??

A very different picture of a horse solider annihilating something attracted me to this post !!

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter; a modern thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than a thousand kilograms can produce an explosion comparable to the detonation of more than a million tons of conventional high explosive. Nuclear weapons were first used in World War II on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, effectively ending the war. These two explosions are said to have been seen as the start of the eventual end of the modern world because it set a dangerous example for humanity that would come after this: that a war could be ended with nuclear weapons.

There have been attempts to use nuclear devices for peace and couple of them have gone horribly wrong too …..  one example is  "Atomic Lake." The Soviet nuclear test, called Chagan, was conducted in January 1965 at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan.  The plan was to create artificial lakes and canals and to deepen harbours with nuclear detonations. The nuclear weapon detonated there was equivalent to 140 kilotons of TNT. The location was a dry river bed from the nearby Chagan River, which the Soviet Union hoped to fill the newly formed lake from partially diverting the Chagan River. A 584 feet deep hole was dug into the surface of the lake bed, and the nuclear weapon was lowered into the ground before detonation.

The newly formed lake was 1,339 feet wide and 330 feet deep, with the lip of the crater creating a dam to the Chagan River. A channel was dug from the crater to Chagan River, flooding the crater and acting as an overflow for the river. The lake is now known as the "Atomic Lake" for its continued radioactivity.  The lake is still radioactive and there's ongoing research as to how dangerous the lake is to human health. Grass has grown around the lake but the area is fairly desolate. Radiation levels in the lake are about 100 times the permitted values in drinking water. However, the radioactivity didn't stop the Minister of the Medium Machine-Building Ministry from swimming in the crater lake soon after it was formed.

On July 7, 2017, two-thirds of the world’s nations adopted the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The Treaty recognizes the risk posed by the continued existence of nuclear weapons, as well as the potential catastrophic consequences to life on our planet that could result if nuclear weapons were ever used again.  Supporters of the Treaty hope it will help the global movement towards complete unacceptability of using nuclear weapons under any circumstances, as well as giving renewed momentum for nuclear disarmament.

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945.  It is currently made up of 193 Member States.  Established in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly occupies a central position as the chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations.   The current Secretary-General of the UN, and the ninth occupant of the post, is Mr. António Guterres of Portugal, who took office on 1 January 2017  ~ and today 26^th Sept.  is designated as : 

International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

"There are many paths to a nuclear-weapons-free world. I appeal to all states to intensify their efforts to contribute to the shared vision in their own ways."  - Secretary-General António Guterres.  The General Assembly declared the International Day in December 2013, in a resolution as a follow-up to the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on nuclear disarmament held on 26 September 2013. The resolution,  inter alia, calls for the “urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for the early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons to prohibit their possession, development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer and use or threat of use, and to provide for their destruction.”

The International Day is to promote, create and educate - public awareness-raising activities about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination in order to mobilize international efforts towards achieving the common goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.

Achieving global nuclear disarmament is one of the oldest goals of the United Nations.  It was the subject of the General Assembly’s first resolution in 1946.  Yet today, some 15,000 nuclear weapons remain. Countries possessing such weapons have well-funded, long-term plans to modernize their nuclear arsenals. More than half of the world’s population still lives in countries that either have such weapons or are members of nuclear alliances. As of 2017, while there have been major reductions in deployed nuclear weapons since the height of the Cold War, not one nuclear warhead has been physically destroyed pursuant to a treaty, bilateral or multilateral, and no nuclear disarmament negotiations are underway.  Meanwhile, the doctrine of nuclear deterrence persists as an element in the security policies of all possessor states and their nuclear allies. The prevailing security challenges cannot be an excuse for continued reliance on nuclear weapons and for abrogating our shared responsibility to seek a more peaceful international society.

These facts provide the foundation for the General Assembly’s designation of 26 September as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

26^th Sept 2017