The first nuclear weapons were developed in the United States through the top secret Manhattan project
In 1945, the US used two nuclear weapons against the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Since the nuclear age began, 2052 nuclear weapons have been detonated in testing programmes, releasing long-lived radioactive poisons into the air, land and water
Military personnel, soldiers, indigenous peoples, test site workers and the general public have been subjected to experiments on the effects of radiation
Many more have been affected through uranium mining, transport, processing, manufacturing and waste from nuclear weapons production
The 27,000 nuclear weapons that exist today are typically between 7 and more than 300 times more powerful than the Hiroshima A-bomb
Just 50 of today’s 27,000 nuclear weapons could kill 200 million people.
The biggest nuclear weapons currently deployed are equivalent to 250 Nagasaki (plutonium) bombs.
97% of the nuclear weapons in existence today are in the arsenals of the USA and Russia
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North Korea has 2* nuclear weapons
India has 50* nuclear weapons
Pakistan has 60* nuclear weapons
Israel has 80* nuclear weapons
The UK has 200* nuclear weapons
China has 200* nuclear weapons
France has 350 nuclear weapons
USA has 9960 nuclear weapons
Russia has 15 000
Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, the UK and Turkey have US weapons on their soil as part of the NATO nuclear umbrella. Over two thirds of Europeans polled in these countries want the weapons removed.
All 44 countries that have a nuclear research reactor or nuclear electricity programme have the capacity to build nuclear weapons
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Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UK, USA, Vietnam
There is a black market for nuclear technology and materials
Nuclear weapons are portable, can be launched from the field, they are on ships and submarines, and on bombers that fly 24 hours a day.
There are plans to put them in space. All the nuclear weapons states are refining and developing new ones.
Recent scientific studies have shown that even 100 Hiroshima size nuclear weapons – less than one thousandth of the global nuclear arsenal – could cause tens of millions of immediate deaths, and devastating global, environmental and climatic consequences.
But the peace and nuclear free movement is strong
Since nuclear weapons were invented, people have opposed them. And so have governments. The first ever UN resolution in 1946 unanimously called for the elimination of atomic weapons. Still today, the vast majority of governments do not have and do not want nuclear weapons.
Governments were encouraged to work for disarmament by Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell and other leading scientists and intellectuals who signed the Einstein Russell Manifesto. It warned of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called on world leaders to find peaceful solutions to international tensions.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s 1957 radio broadcast —what he called his Declaration of Conscience— set the medical and moral foundation for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Decades later, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) won the Nobel Peace Prize for uniting doctors across the Cold War divide to raise awareness of the threats posed by nuclear
weapons. Their prescription for survival was, and remains, the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.
In the 1980s, the peace and anti-nuclear movement had a great impact, forcing the superpowers to negotiate, share information and reduce the stockpiles of weapons. A million people gathered in New York in 1983 to protest the nuclear threat – at that time the biggest demonstration ever seen.
Peace camps, such as the one organised by women at Greenham Common, and large demonstrations against the US NATO weapons in Europe and throughout the world led to the elimination of some types of nuclear weapons and provided a constant reminder that the majority of citizens want a nuclear weapon free future.
Thanks to the strength of the peace and anti-nuclear movements, and pressure applied by governments, nuclear stockpiles have gone from 68,000 weapons in 1986 to 27,000 today. Also, nuclear testing in the
environment and underground has almost stopped and a treaty exists to halt nuclear testing forever.
1600 Mayors across the world have formed Mayors for Peace and campaign against their cities being nuclear targets
Physicians and health professionals have redoubled their efforts for a nuclear weapon free future, launching ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in 2007.
Working with many other organisations, professionals and prominent people, our campaign will not stop until a Nuclear Weapons Convention is negotiated. We have banned landmines, biological and chemical weapons – it is way overdue to ban the worst weapons of terror – nuclear weapons.
Together ICAN, you can, they can, we can abolish nuclear weapons.
We must – for ourselves, our children, our future.
Get Educated, Get Active. ICAN.
