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Advanced LD Brief January/February 2020

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Advanced LD Brief January/February 2020 Advanced LD Brief January/February 2020 1 Resolved: States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. This topic brief was written by Jesse Meyer. Jesse is a diamond coach, recipient of the Donald Crabtree Service Award, the state of Iowa’s 2015 Coach of the Year, member of the TOC’s PF advisory board, and board member of the Iowa Forensics League. He is currently an assistant coach at Iowa City West High School. He can be reached at [email protected]. 2 Table of Contents Contents Advanced LD Brief January/February 2020 ................................................................................................... 1 Resolved: States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. ......................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Topic History and Background ................................................................................................................... 5 Topic Analysis............................................................................................................................................. 8 Values, Criterions, and Definitions .......................................................................................................... 10 Miscalculations ........................................................................................................................................ 14 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 16 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 18 Deterrence ............................................................................................................................................... 19 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 21 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 25 Proliferation ............................................................................................................................................. 26 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 28 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 32 Morality.................................................................................................................................................... 33 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 36 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 40 Social Contract ......................................................................................................................................... 41 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 43 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 46 Survival ..................................................................................................................................................... 47 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 50 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 54 Accidents/Disposal................................................................................................................................... 55 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 58 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 61 Spark ........................................................................................................................................................ 62 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 64 3 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 67 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 68 Aff and Neg Arguments At-A-Glance ....................................................................................................... 69 4 Topic History and Background The concept of radioactivity was discovered by scientists and husband and wife Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898. During an experiment a substance that was created by the processing of inert elements created the element Radium. This element emitted a huge amount of radiation over time and slowly poisoned the Currie’s. Shortly after their deaths, scientists saw the potential behind the idea of radioactive elements in both energy production and potentially weaponization. However, dur to the times, ideas had moved faster than science and technology and all attempts at this failed. The dream of radioactive energy fueled many a science fiction writer. In 1914, HG. Wells, was inspired to write the alien weapons in his book, War of the Worlds, off of the potential destructive power of atomic energy. In 1924. Winston Churchill wrote a speculative policy on the political implication of atomic weapons. In 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. His desire to create a third Reich that spanned the globe, he determined that a weapon of immense power would be needed to overcome the resource disadvantage of the German empire. Fearing what he might make them down Jewish and other German scientists fled the nation and settled in London and the United States. It was through this migration that Leó Szilárd fled to London where he proposed, and in 1934 patented, the idea of a nuclear chain reaction via neutrons. In August 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning him concerned that Germany might have its own project to develop fission-based weapons. Roosevelt responded by setting up the Uranium Committee, It was only after the attack on Peral Harbor that Roosevelt took things seriously. Roosevelt appointed Robert Oppenheimer to head up the group of scientists whose soul job was to develop atomic weapons into something that can be used the allies before the NAZI’s. This project was called the “Manhattan Project.” With headquarters at Blue Ridge and Los Alamos, the Americans began their work. During this time, the United Kingdom was read into the file, but the USSR was not. Oak Ridge processed the uranium into workable nuclear material and Los Alamos constructed the weapon. In 1943, Oppenheimer advocated two detonation devices receive further testing. One was a plutonium gun to trigger the chain reaction and the other was a plutonium implosion. By 1944, the implosion method was chosen, and Operation Fat Man was given the green light. Testing commenced in mid-1944 in the desert of New Mexico. From the testing, three weapons were created for final use. After D-Day and the inevitable victory in Europe, Allied High Command determined that an invasion of the Japanese home islands would take millions of troops with a potential of a half a million Allied soldiers killed. In weighing the potential for deaths vs war speed, the choice was made to drop the bomb. On August 6, 1945, a uranium-based weapon, Little Boy, was detonated above the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and three days later, a plutonium-based weapon, Fat Man, was detonated above the Japanese city 5 of Nagasaki. Over one hundred thousand civilians were killed in the initial blast with thousands more dying in the years after due to radiation relations effects. Shortly after the end of World War II, Soviet spies began sending data from the tests and projects back to the USSR. USSR troops began to search the remains of Europe for any remaining German scientists who might have information on the German nuclear projects. In 1949, the USSR, using mostly stolen science, tested their first atomic bomb. The nuclear arms race had begun. After the detonation of the first atomic weapons test in the United States, the scientists of the Manhattan project called for a restriction of nuclear energy as it had the potential to end the world. However, the alure of power was too powerful for politicians and the race continued. Over the next two decades, the nations of China, France, the United Kingdom, and South Africa would all develop nuclear weapons. In the 1971’s rumors would circulate that Israel had developed a small number of nuclear weapons with the help of the United States. These
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