May 2008 issue
-Loose Nukes

What's stopping terrorists from getting their hands on the materials to build a nuclear bomb?
The terrifying answer : not much .

This article is written by J. Peter Scoblic about the nuclear powers in the hand of the terrorists .
He drafted a detailed fictional but realistic scenario of a nuclear attack by terrorist organization .
It is about Brussels, a city in Europe, in ruins after a nuclear attack . Within a kilometre of the blast ,no structure is standing and no person is alive . For several kilometres beyond that , buildings are shredded. Fires burn everywhere, fuelled by ruptured gas lines and fanned by hurricane force winds the follow in the wake of the blast . Those not burned , crushed or suffocated must contend with the gamma rays and neutrons that fly from the Ground Zero , tearing apart living cells. In the first few minutes, 40,000 people are killed ; another 300,000 are injured .

He further described how humans felt after the attack ; like "panic quickly engulfs the survivors . Traffic clogs up the roads as people trying to flee the city. " . A drafted idea of the consequences and impacts of the nuclear attack were given . Economic consequences of the blast quickly spread across Europe and around the globe , which I think it is really true as the impact of nuclear attacks deals a huge blow on the economy due to the pythonic amount of deaths and commerce and activities that comes to a halt . The attack also disrupts the international trade and the death or incapacitation of thousands of people will cost hundreds of billions of dollars , shuttering businesses , jacking up unemployment and perhaps triggering a global recession .

Likewise , he articulates about creation of nuclear weapons and the international efforts laid by countries around the world . All nuclear weapons are fuelled by either plutonium or uranium, materials that are extremely difficult to make. Uranium mined from the earth has to go through complex refining and enriching process before it is "weapons-usable. And plutonium doesn't exist in nature - it is produced by only when uranium is run through a nuclear reactor ( the atomic reaction transmute one element into another ) . Further on with the tedious process organizations have to go through before getting their hands on the nuclear weapons . Countries like North Korea , Iran and Russia contains potential of fissile materials . I feel that , if any country takes a step back and gives up on their nuclear weapon research , then the world will have one less threat to face . After reading this article , I had understand more about the destructive force that nuclear weapons can hold . Well , there has been more international efforts put in now ; America has been helping Russia to secure it nuclear material . "Securing nuclear material may not be the sexiest foreign policy issue , but it is vital ." I agree with this sentence as every effort is deem important as it reduces the amount of nuclear weapons stole by the terrorists .

"With the age of terrorism threatening to become an age of nuclear terrorism, perhaps it's worth another look . There would be sacrifices , but surely not as great as losing a city . " This sentence is definitely veridical . Although there might be sacrifices that might come upon nuclear protection , it can at least save the world from being destroyed by these nuclear explosives , I suppose ?

Siew Yan (23)