The Birth of the Nuclear Age
The man who started the Manhattan Project
Who is US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
Two cities who experienced the only atomic bombings in history
What are Hiroshima (6th August 1945) and Nagasaki (9th August 1945)?
Fears people had around nuclear explosions
What are the risks of dying from an atomic blast and the effects of radiation poisoning (increased cases of different types of cancers, particularly thyroid cancer, increased rates of miscarriage, death)?
Aims of the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963
What is to move all atomic testing underground by banning atmospheric testing?
The aims of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
What is to work with member states of the UN to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies?
Decisions made at Potsdam
What is Japan needs to surrender unconditionally or it will be destroyed?
The options Truman had to end the war, other than using atomic bombs
What is making a statement that Japan could keep their emperor and so bring about a conditional surrender, continuing the naval blockade and conventional bombing campaign, invasion of Japanese mainland, waiting for the Soviet invasion (which came early, after the first atomic bomb was dropped), a demonstration of an atomic bombing?
When and where US were testing
What are from the 1940s until 1970s, within the United States (Nevada). From the 1940s until the end of the 1950s, the United States were testing in the Pacific (the Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll, Runit Island)?
Aims and details of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
What are to limit the United States and the Soviet Union to only 200 anti-ballistic missiles each (the Soviet Union withdrew in 2002)?
Contributions of nuclear medicine
What are the use of radioactive materials in imaging machines (X ray, CAT, MRI) to diagnose health conditions, radioactive materials used to trace health problems, and the use of radioactive materials to treat different types of cancers (radiotherapy and chemotherapy)?
Details of the Manhattan Project
What is began in 1942 and running until 1946, its aim was to create an atomic weapon for use in WWII, was a secret project (but the Russians knew what was happening), the most important work was carried out at Los Alamos, run by Colonel Leslie Groves and Robert Oppenheimer?
Types of bombs created by both the US and the Soviet Union between 1945-2011
What are uranium, plutonium, hydrogen and thermonuclear bombs?
When and where the British were testing
What are from 1952 in the Montebello Islands and Emu Field (until 1956), then from 1956 until 1957 at Maralinga?
Aims of the 1968 Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT)
What are to prevent the spread and creation of nuclear weapons, to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, to implement a safeguards system under the responsibility of the IAEA to ensure compliance, and to ultimately achieve general and complete nuclear disarmament?
Storage of radioactive waste
What is low-level nuclear waste (packaging material and protective clothing) is stored below the surface of the ground; intermediate-level waste (chemical sludges, nuclear reactor parts) is solidified in concrete and buried underground; high-level nuclear waste (spent nuclear fuel rods) is buried in deep geological repositories - deep in the ground, but above the water table)?
Details of the Trinity Test
What is the testing of the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo in New Mexico, the first bomb was called the Gadget and was a plutonium bomb, the bomb was dropped from a tower and was more powerful than the scientists expected it would be, details of the successful test was conveyed to President Truman who was just finishing up at the Potsdam Conference?
Delivery systems
What are gravity bombs, ballistic missiles (stay within the Earth's atmosphere, bombs can be sent across oceans), intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs, deployed within continents), Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV, ballistic missile with multiple warheads for multiple targets), cruise missiles (could travel a long way and deliver a large warhead with high precision)?
When and where the Soviet Russia was testing
What is from 1949 until 1989, the Soviets tested at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean and the Ural Mountains?
Achievements and Limitations of the SALT treaties between the US and the Soviet Union
SALT I - What are marks the beginning of the detente (a period of eased tensions between the two superpowers), a willingness on both sides to reduce the amount of nuclear weapons in their countries, maintained the doctrine of MAD, and slowed down the nuclear arms race BUT it did not lead to a reduction in nuclear weapons.
SALT II - What are expanded upon the limitations of SALT I (placed limits on intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers), introduced constraints on MIRVs, and improved on verification measures BUT the treaty was never formally ratified BUT both countries have informally agreed to abide by its provisions throughout the 1980s?
Details of the critical incidents at Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011
Chernobyl - What is explosions after a routine maintenance check which caused a catastrophic failure in one of the reactors, and spreading radioactive material over a wide area in Europe?
Fukushima - What is a catastrophic failure of the nuclear powerplant after an earthquake and tsunami, although deaths associated with exposure to radiation have been minimal?
Description of atomic explosion
What is the first atomic explosions were caused by nuclear fission - the neutron strikes the nucleus and is absorbed, the absorbed neutron causes the nucleus to split and release power, the splits continue, continuing to release more and more power?
The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction
What is the idea that neither the US or the Soviet Union would start a nuclear war because it would assure their destruction through a retaliatory strike (they would just keep bombing each other until there was nothing left)?
When and where the French were testing
What are from 1960 in Algeria, North Africa, then from 1966 to 1996 in French Polynesia in the Pacific (Mururora Atoll)?
Achievements and Limitations of the START treaties (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)
START I - What is from 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to reduce their nuclear weapons by roughly 35-40%, and contributed to increased stability and transparency through data exchange and on-site inspections BUT there were implementation challenges due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union (the emergence of multiple states with nuclear weapons) BUT it did reduce the numbers of nuclear weapons in the US and Soviet Union?
START II - What is further limited the number of strategic weapons each side had, with the goal of reducing each side's arsenals by about two-thirds from Cold war peak-levels, and the elimination of MIRVs BUT this treaty was never fully implemented due to political and strategic disagreements between the US and the Soviet Union?
The case FOR and AGAINST nuclear energy
The case for - What is nuclear energy is cost-efficient, reliable, doesn't produce carbon emissions, is relatively safe, does not increase the chances of nuclear proliferation and the nuclear industry is the only one to take responsibility for the disposal of their waste products?
The case against - What is the start-up costs are prohibitive except for the richest countries, if an accident occurred the country would have to fall back on the use of fossil fuels, negative effect on the environment due to uranium mining and waste-water re-entering the environment and use of water from the environment, not a renewable energy source (like solar or wind energy), while safety measures are strict, nuclear accidents do happen and they can have terrible consequences, the presence of nuclear powerplants could attract terrorist attacks, and radioactive waste can remain a storage problem for many years?