HIROSHIMA DAY 6 AUG PRESS-RELEASE

6 AUG 2024

HIROSHIMA DAY 6 AUG PRESS-RELEASE AND EVENT LIST

PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

HUMAN SURVIVAL PROJECT

On 6 Aug, 1945, approximately 200,000 people in the hitherto untouched town of Hiroshima perished in the worlds first use of a nuclear weapon in anger. On 9^th Aug, a somewhat smaller number in Nagasaki likewise perished. Only the authority of secretary of state Stimson, who had visited the city of Kyoto, famous for its ancient temples, prevented that city from being bombed, and from further use of nuclear weapons.

The bomb that demolished Hiroshima and caused the death of approximately half its population was a 15Kt 'gun-barrel' design, in which a slug of uranium was fired into a larger piece of uranium, causing both pieces to go 'prompt critical'. The design was deemed so simple and dependable it hadn’t even been tested.

The Nagasaki bomb was a larger and more efficient 'implosion' design, similar to the device tested at Trinity. However, Nagasaki was a smaller city than Hiroshima, and the bomb went off-target when it was dropped resulting in a smaller number of casualties.

Both bombs would now be considered as at the small end of 'tactical' nuclear weapons, with most nuclear weapons these days being of a thermonuclear design (i.e., fusion, using a fission device the size of the Hiroshima weapon as a 'trigger'), and a typical strategic weapon would be in the range of 300-700Kt, with some weapons as large as 1000Kt. In the past, multi-megaton warheads have been more common. The largest weapon even exploded was the USSR's 'Tsar Bomba' (King of Bombs), at 50,000Kt or 50Mt.

What must be remembered however, is that while warheads have become gigantic and then decreased somewhat in size, and that while nuclear stockpiles have also been gigantic to the point of insanity, and then also declined by roughly a factor of 10, we have never been so close, for so long, to nuclear weapons use as during the last 12-24 months.

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 lasted a mere 13 days, in which some particular days saw the risk spike dramatically as there were mini-crises within the crisis.

The September 26 1983 event in which Russian computers said the US had launched and in which Colonel Stan Petrov guessed they had not, lasted a mere half hour – though half an hour in which Petrov aged visibly.

An event in the US in 1974 in which a relatively lowly officer inadvertently sent the 'go' codes to the entire US arsenal likewise lasted for minutes, though it permanently traumatised many of those involved. 1979 and 1981 incidents in which computers indicated a full-scale Soviet attack likewise lasted hair-raising minutes.

In none of these incidents were explicit or implicit nuclear threats made. No one on either side threatened 'consequences you have never seen in your history'.

Indeed both sides were overwhelmingly keen to end the crisis and for absolutely nothing to happen, and made that clear.

However, nuclear threats, and threats of nuclear weapons use, or not so subtly veiled threats of nuclear weapons use, are now a regular occurrence. True, the arsenals are significantly smaller now, but the use of 'nuclear blackmail' has become a regular occurrence.

Its not surprising that the Doomsday Clock is now at 90 seconds to 'midnight' (the end of civilisation), closer than it has ever been, including at the height of the cold war.

The danger of a miscalculation (or a deliberate decision, insane though that would be) taking us to the launch of thousands of warheads all much much larger than Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the consequences of the immediate death of over a 1-2 billion in burning cities (including in Australia), and over half of those humans who remain in the the freezing nuclear twilight that would follow (largely in non-combatant countries), and the end for at least centuries of what we call 'civilisation'.

The recent Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty Preparatory Committee at the UN in Geneva ended not unexpectedly, in no agreement. However, some NGOs were somewhat gratified to see that the draft chairs summary did include language we had pressed for including the reiteration of language in the G7 and G20 meetings that 'the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible', and that 'nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought', as well as a stress on nuclear risk reduction measures of all kinds. This is a small glimmer of light in an otherwise gloomy picture.

Hiroshima Day will be commemorated/has been commemorated by a large number of events within Australia, listed below.

John Hallam

Nuclear weapons campaigner,

People for Nuclear Disarmament,

Human Survival Project

Co-Convenor, Abolition 2000 Working Group on Nuclear Risk Reduction

Member, Global No First Use Steering Committee,

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