Mesaieed International School Model United Nations

Forum: General Assembly 1

Issue: The Question of reducing threat posed by nations possessing nuclear Weapons.

Student Officer: Subhan Khan

Position: Deputy Chair

Introduction

The issue of nuclear weapons has been an ever-present issue within the world and was the first issue adopted by the UN (United Nations) in 1946. Nuclear armaments when detonated have devastating effects both environmentally and socio-economically via the fallout that it left behind from the bomb exploded. Many nations throughout the world are working to combat the issue, and the dismantling of all these weapons would be the perfect solution to all these issues, but this would be very difficult to do. Over 14,900 reported missiles remain on the Earth, and the decommissioning of all these weapons would be a feat for the human race.

There is also the issue that nuclear weapons provide a sense of security and defence to a nation as they can pose a severe threat to any potential adversaries looking to harm a country. The decommissioning of nuclear weapons is an effort to preserve peace in the world and eradicate further complications that are to arise due to the threat of atomic weapons. Nations such as the US (United States) and formally the are unwilling to decommission their nuclear arsenals due to the risk of an attack that may occur at any point with the invention of ICBM’s (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles).

Definition of Key Terms

WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction)

Regarded as a chemical, biological, radiological or that is capable of causing great damage to humans, infrastructure and biological systems in the vicinity of its deployment.

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NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons)

A treaty that was negotiated by the UN in 1968 that banned signatory countries from developing nuclear weapons of any calibre and also pushes for the decommission of any active nuclear weapons in all nations.

Nuclear Weapons

A device that explosively releases nuclear energy as the result of nuclear chain reactions involving fission, or fission and fusion, of atomic nuclei. Sometimes referred commonly as atomic bombs; or boosted fission weapons (a fission-based weapon deriving a slightly higher yield from a small fusion reaction); or thermonuclear weapons (weapons deriving a significant portion of its energy from fusion reactions) such as hydrogen bombs.

Fissile Material

A type of fissionable material that upon the absorption of low-energy (or thermal) neutrons is capable of sustaining a chain reaction by undergoing fission. Uranium-235, -239 and Uranium-233 being the most predominant fissile materials for peaceful and nuclear weapons purposes.

Dirty Bomb

A regular explosive device that has been combined with fissile material to release radiation into the area along with the explosion of the regular explosive.

Background Information

Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear weapons have come into widespread development across many of the de jure NWS (Nuclear Weapon States) after initial testing in the Second World War which has exempted them from the NPT that prohibits signatory nations from developing nuclear weapons but are legally obligated to fully disarm any nuclear arsenal in their possession. Nuclear weapons mainly consist of three types, and although are mainly reported there are issues with countries that state the use of fissile material such as weapons-usable highly enriched uranium or separated plutonium for peaceful nuclear energy research purposes.

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The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) sends agents to nations that state the use of fissile material to ensure that the material is indeed being used according to strict guidelines placed by the IAEA internationally and confirm that the aforementioned fissile material is only being used for peaceful and energy creation purposes and development is occurring only for that purpose.

Regional Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZ) have been established to fortify global nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament norms and unite international efforts towards peace and security.

Regional Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZ) Previous Consequences of Nuclear Explosions

As previously seen the aftermath of a nuclear explosion is not only devastating but very deadly to both humans and the biological ecosystems. Even nuclear bomb test sites are left barren and the land scorched from the immense energy in the form of heat that is released from the detonation of such a weapon.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

The world has seen first-hand the adverse effects of the two atomic bombs dropped onto the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th of August, 1945 respectively. The ‘Little Boy’ bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima vaporized 90% of the population of the city just from detonating ~3200m above the city and the repercussions of the atom bomb releasing so much nuclear and thermal energy causing the 5 mile radius to be pulverized into a dust and the radiation that was left behind causing tens of thousands of deaths on top of the 80,000 that were killed initially in the days following the first atomic bombing.

Three days after the detonation of the ‘Little Boy’ the ‘’ bomb was dropped onto the city of Nagasaki causing 40,000 deaths, although the ‘Fat Man’ was twice the weight of the “Little Boy’ and had the explosive blast force of 22kilotonnes, the number of deaths was greatly reduced due to geological features of the city mainly the surrounding mountains shielded the explosion from spreading any further than the ~4200m area.

The effects of the atom bombs dropped more than 7 decades ago can still be felt as the government of Japan has placed a restriction that prevents any civilians from staying near the ruins of the city due to the excessive levels of radiation that are detrimental to human health.

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Mesaieed International School Model United Nations Major Countries and Organizations Involved

Global Zero

Global Zero is an international organization aimed at eradicating nuclear weapons by 2045. The website states that in 1986 there were 70,300 nuclear weapons and now that count has been greatly reduced to 14,485 weapons and aims to have the number down to 0. It aims to do this through a 5 phase action plan; consisting of two parts and lays out the plan that the organization proposed to have a nuclear weapon free world in our lifetimes. The organization was set up in 2008 in Paris and is comprised of 300 world leaders and 500,000 citizens across the globe. The company also has a large international student following as the action plan is based very much around the redaction of all nuclear weapons within this generations lifespan.

UNODA (United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs)

The UNODA was established in January 1998 and referred to as the Department of Disarmament Affairs and was renamed multiple times before finally settling on the United Nations office for Disarmament Affairs in 2007. The organization has a vision to make disarmament a social norm; it states that they strive to get civilians into the mind-set of disarmament. It believes that the potential effects from the use of weapons of mass destruction – specifically nuclear weapons – demand their elimination. The organisation strongly believes that the very possession of these weapons provides an elevated level of risk within the world. It is recognized that disarmament on its own won’t result in world peace. Yet they also maintain that the advancements of both peace and development goals would come from the elimination of weapons of burgeoning weapons stockpiles, mass destruction and illicit arms trafficking.

China

By 1953 the Chinese, under the façade of ‘peaceful uses of nuclear energy’, initiated research into the development of nuclear weapons. Before 1956 the decision to develop an independent nuclear force was made. In September 1956 the Eighth Congress of the CCP was audience to a presentation on the Twelve-Year Science Plan in which the nuclear weapons research was to be implemented. The 1953 technology transfer agreements initiated with the USSR acted as a catalyst the formation of the development program designed to produce nuclear weapons and ballistic missile delivery systems.1951 marked the year Peking signed a secret agreement with Moscow through which China supplied uranium ores for Soviet assistance in the nuclear field.

The Chinese and Soviets signed an agreement in mid-October 1957 on new technology for national defence that included establishment for additional Soviet nuclear assistance along with the

Page 4 of 8 | Research Report Mesaieed International School Model United Nations furnishing of some SAM (surface to air missiles) and SSM (surface to surface missiles). The Chinese were provided assistance in building a major facility for production of enriched uranium from the Soviets. China’s nuclear development began in the late 1950s with significant Soviet assistance. Of the assistance provided, most significant to China's current strategic nuclear capability were facilities for processing uranium, a cyclotron, an experimental , and some equipment for a gaseous diffusions plant.

France

In 2014 the Arms Control Association reported about 300 nuclear warheads in France’s possession, designed mostly for delivery by SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles). The rest designed to fit the Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP) missiles carried by Rafale, Mirage 2000N and Super Étendard planes. Previous estimates had proposed an arsenal of about 350 weapons. France called for other countries to follow when in February 2015 Francois Hollande showcases how the nation stopped the nuclear tests and production of fissile materials which were peacefully replaced by simulators.

Hollande also revealed the make-up of France’s nuclear arsenal via a transparency drive, saying that the country possessed less than 300 nuclear warheads; 54 medium-range air-to-surface missiles and three sets of 16 submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The statement was condemned by the French branch of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) commenting that the speech was far from making the world a safer place.

India

A 1962 border clash with China spurred India's pursuit of nuclear weapons and by Beijing's 1964 nuclear test. India made substantial progress in fabrication capabilities and refining its weapons design; increasing their efficiency and yield and reducing the size of weapons. Indian officials and strategists denied that India possessed nuclear weapons. India refused to sign the 1968 Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Indian officials blamed the fundamentally discriminatory character of the treaty as the reason why the nation refused to sign the treaty; nonnuclear weapons states would have restrictions placed upon them and does little to curb the modernization and development of the nuclear weapons states’ arsenals. India is thought to have likely begun work on a prior to 1980. It was publicly known by 1989 that India was making efforts to isolate and purify the lithium-6 isotope; a substance key to the production of a thermonuclear device.

Israel

The international committee doesn’t really know how big Israel’s arsenal is. President Jimmy Carter estimated in 2008 that Israel probably possessed a minimum of 150 weapons in stock ready to use if the most calamitous situations were to arise. The former President revised that estimate six years later and put the figure in the 300 range which— based on Carter’s calculations — would mean that from

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2008-2014 Israel doubled its arsenal. Reporters at the United Nations were informed by the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the height of the P5+1-Iran nuclear talks that Israel is sitting on 400 nuclear warheads. The Israeli Government repeatedly stonewalled U.S. requests for information in the 1950s and early 1960s on possible weapons development and at times purposely lied to their U.S. allies in the hopes that the nuclear program would be given more room to breathe. Israel when questioned by the U.S. State Department in 1960 referred to its Dimona reactor both as a textile plant and as a metallurgic research installation. Being a state that possesses nuclear weapons but refuses to acknowledge that fact, Israel is making it making the international communities goal to accomplish ‘zero nukes’ much more difficult.

United Kingdom

During the Second World War, Britain and America worked closely in the development of the atomic bomb, with British scientists involved in the . Importantly, Britain surrendered the right to veto American use of atomic weapons under the wartime . Agreements at the Quebec Conference, Hyde Park and Washington in 1943, September 1944 in 1945 respectively promised continuing cooperation on the development after the end of the war. During the late 1940s and early 1950s the British hoped that developing their own atomic weapon programme would drive the US to revise the McMahon Act. America instead used atomic energy information (not atomic weapons information) to bargain for increased access to uranium stocks, which was successful enabling them to obtain a large quota in the Congo.

Cold War tensions mounted with an increase in Anglo-American nuclear weapons cooperation after the Korean conflict. The American Atomic Energy Act of 1954, enabling the sharing of information regarding external characteristics of atomic weapons came about after meetings between Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Further agreements were signed in the 1950s between Britain and the US. An agreement in June 1956 provided Britain with information regarding nuclear submarine propulsion systems that later allowed for its nuclear submarine programme.

Timeline of Events (Dates need to be revised as some are wrong) Date Description of event July 16, 1945 First nuclear weapon is tested in the United States at the site in Alamogordo, New Mexico August 1, 1949 Soviet Union carries out its first atmospheric nuclear test

October 1, 1952 Britain carries out its first nuclear test nicknamed ‘Operation Hurricane’ August 1, 1953 Soviet Union carries out the first thermonuclear fusion or hydrogen bomb January 1, 1954 United States successfully explodes hydrogen bomb

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July 1, 1957 International Atomic Energy Agency is created January 1, 1958 Britain successfully tests its first thermonuclear, fission or hydrogen bomb January 1, 1960 France successfully tests its first fission nuclear weapon October 1, 1961 Soviet Union tests Tsar Bomba ( most powerful bomb ever exploded with a blast force close to that of 50 megatons of TNT)

January 1, 1963 Nuclear Ban Treaty is signed, this bans all atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons

October 1, 1964 China successfully tests its first fission nuclear weapon May 1, 1974 India successfully tests its first nuclear device October 1, 2006 North Korea successfully tests its first nuclear device

Relevant UN Treaties and Events

• The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 23 December 2016 (A/RES/71/258) • Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, 4 January 2014 (A/RES/67/56) • General and complete disarmament, 13 November 2013 (A/RES/68/411)

Previous Attempts to solve the Issue

In 1946 there was a Commission that was established to deal with problems related to the discovery of atomic energy among others. The Commission was to make suggestions for the control of atomic energy to the extent necessary to make sure that it was used to make peace. A number of other joint treaties/commissions have been created since then with the aim of preventing nuclear explosion and testing, while promoting progress in nuclear disarmament. These include the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), Comprehensive Nuclear- TestBan Treaty (CTBT) and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This has fairly worked as the amount of nuclear weapons had increased over time but then had decreased by almost 50%.

Possible Solutions

Increase security in rural areas or areas where there are a lot nuclear weapons being traded. In this way the country can also stay alert of the amount of nuclear weapons and can then act upon it and make relevant decisions. In the countries that already have nuclear weapons the UN could eliminate their weapons and dispose them or make into something that can never be used again, hence not being

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able to produce nuclear weapons again. By doing this it could decrease the number of nuclear weapons being manufactured and will be like a precaution to those who will risk making it.

Create laws against nuclear weapons and make awareness of what could possibly happen if a weapon does go off. In this way, people will be more aware of the things they have been dealing with and if they get caught there will be consequences towards the action.

Bibliography

“Nuclear Disarmament Resource Collection.” Nuclear Threat Initiative - Ten Years of Building a Safer World, 7 Aug. 2018, https://www.nti.org/analysis/reports/nuclear-disarmament/

“Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima

“Nuclear Weapons Facts, Timeline History.” The ATOM Project, 25 Nov. 2014, www.theatomproject.org/en/about/nuclear-weapons-testing-timeline/.

“A World without Nuclear Weapons.” Global Zero, www.globalzero.org/.

“Vision – UNODA.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/disarmament/vision/.

Pike, John. “Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).” World Special Weapons Guide, www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/index.html.

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