NEWS > BUSINESS > NUCLEAR WEAPON INDUSTRY EXPECTED TO FLOURISH IN COMING YEARS

NUCLEAR WEAPON INDUSTRY EXPECTED TO EXPLODE IN COMING YEARS

May 18 2009

Vienna, Austria – Though fully aware of the power of their new creation, it is unlikely that the creators of the first Atomic detonation at Los Alamos fully realized impact their efforts would have on future generations. On April 16 1945, as the first man made nuclear mushroom cloud rose over the New Mexico desert, the world changed
forever; a turning point that would forever redefine military weaponry, economic power, and the social arrangement of the world. Even now, more than half a century from that test, the shadow of that cloud continues to affect our daily lives.

In the intervening years many other countries acquired nuclear weaponry. From India to Israel to Britain to North Korea the proliferation of nuclear weapons has transformed the world forever. Now, as more and more states start to explore the possibility of attaining the bomb, the nuclear industry is at an all time high, proving itself to be one of the few indestructible industries capable of surviving the horrors of the economic apocalypse.

“We still live in a world where if you have nuclear weapons, you are buying power, you are buying insurance against attack. That is not lost on those who do not have nuclear weapons, particularly in conflict regions,” said Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA to The Guardian. “Pretty soon you will have nine weapons states and probably another 10 or 20 virtual weapons states.”

Among the states most likely to pursue or to continue to pursue Nuclear weapons are Iran, South Africa, and Syria. Because of the relative ease of acquiring fissile material and the continued co-operation between nuclear and non-nuclear states those numbers are expected to grow exponentially despite efforts by various government officials, primarily those already with weapons, to stifle growth.

“It’s simple market economics. There was a time when only two countries had the monopoly on nuclear weaponry and they liked it that way. As their production expanded so did the popularity and the related know-how which led to many other states not only wanting to get a piece of the action but also being readily able to pursue acquiring them,” said Scrape TV International analyst Gustav Hander. “Though obviously there are a number of aesthetic differences, the growth of nuclear power isn’t all that dissimilar from the expansion of the automobile industry. As the need increases and the technology comes down to more and more reasonable prices naturally smaller countries are going to want to get in on the action.”

The nuclear weapons industry is still dominated by the old guard of Russia and The United States who combined control 95 per cent of the nuclear warheads in the world. Those two countries, in particular The U.S. under Barack Obama, have also been the most aggressive in eliminating competition from newer states.

“The real problem they are concerned with is the possibility of exponential growth. There is little they could do about say China, or the
U.K., or France and they kind of let India, Pakistan, and North Korea into the industry by simply not paying enough attention. They learned from that though and they want to stop new growth for fear that will start to expand without restriction,” continued Hander. “If Iran and Syria get involved then Saudi Arabia and Egypt will want a chunk. As the popularity starts to increase so will the knowledge which will lead to even more increases and before you know it there is this glut of product and it just confuses everyone and pretty soon everyone has their own nuclear weapons. The last thing anyone wants to see is the advent of domestic nuclear technology. If every Tom, Dick and Harry has the bomb, it just devalues everyone’s net worth. It diffuses the industry so significantly that you are expected to have atomic weaponry. No one makes any money anymore and no one can hold it as a source of pride. It’s just kind of there.”

It is also expected that the growth in the nuclear industry will lead to an equivalent growth in the quoting of obscure 17th century poets.   

William Ashford, Business Correspondent

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