I'm a writing staff interested in the economic field and in this project, I evaluated the nuclear weapon's impacts from an economical perspective.
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<The Expensive Cost of Nuclear Weapons>
According to the book “Atomic Audit” by Stephen I. Schwartz, who was the executive director of the Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, four representative nuclear weapons including the trinity plutonium that was the first detonation of the nuclear device, the uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and the unused uranium bomb approximately cost $24.1 billion. This proves that nuclear weapons generally require a great amount of money that has a possibility to propose economic risk on a national level.
<The Economic Risks of Cleaning Nuclear Waste>
According to the chart that was revealed by the United States Government Accountability Office, there were 5 different types of wastes that needed to be decontaminated because of the radioactive contamination due to the nuclear weapons. The types of wastes include radioactive and hazardous tank waste, soil and groundwater remediation and facility deactivation and decommissioning, solid waste management, surplus nuclear materials and spent nuclear fuel and others including site services and infrastructure. To further analyze the chart, the cleanup cost of radioactive and hazardous tank waste accounts for 48% of the total cost: $127.9 billion. Soil and groundwater remediation and facility deactivation and decommissioning cost accounts for 25% of the total cost: $66 billion. Then, the cleanup cost of solid waste management and surplus nuclear materials and spent nuclear fuel each require $22.1 billion and $21 billion. Lastly, $30.6 billion is needed to clean site services and infrastructure that were exposed to radiation due to nuclear weapons. This chart substantiates that nuclear not only the process of developing the nuclear weapons but also the process of decontamination the majority of radioactive contamination cause great economic costs, and negatively impact the nation-wide economy. Moreover, the number increased just in a year. The United States Government Accountability Office estimated the waste management cost of nuclear weapons as $377 billion in 2018, including “radioactive tank waste treatment soil and groundwater remediation, the cost of closing and decommissioning older facilities, nuclear waste management, and the cost of disposing of surplus nuclear material- including plutonium, uranium, and spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants''. This number proves the point that nuclear weapons bring economic loss that might also result in economic risks. Thus, nuclear weapons have negative impacts on the economy.
<The Cost After an Attack>
Nuclear weapons possess another economic risk that can be caused by using nuclear weapons. Because of the fatal damage that can be caused by nuclear weapons, it’s plausible that the medical field requires additional funding to supplement the possible damages. The Institute of Medicine points out that there will be increased demand for medical resources after a nuclear attack. The Institute of Medicine states that “If a single one-megaton bomb were exploded over the city of Detroit, for example, it is calculated that survivors would need about 40 times the number of bum beds currently available throughout the entire United States. They would also need twice the number of intensive care beds currently available, and the need for blood transfusions would exceed the existing supply many times over.” This suggests the possible economic cost that will be requested after a nuclear attack and further establishes the point that nuclear weapons can create an enormous economic cost.
Writer: Minji Kim (Clara)