What are nuclear weapons?  

How many nuclear weapons are there around the world?  

Does everyone have them?  

These are just a few of the questions that our guest speaker Joe Jukes discussed with the Sixth Form on Monday 16th November. Joe Jukes, a member of CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) helped us to understand the different political and social reasons behind the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, the global situation, and arguments for and against the usage of nuclear weapons.

He explained to us how nuclear weapons are the largest explosives that humans have ever been able to make. He also illustrated how they work and how a nuclear bomb uses nuclear fission, where a radioactive atom of uranium or plutonium splits in half to form more neutrons to then split more nuclei, forming an explosion.

In order to keep his lecture related to current affairs, we also discussed President Trump’s policy over the last four years in terms of nuclear weapons. President Trump withdrew from the US-Russia nuclear agreements which has meant more nuclear weapons are being invested in and made. He stated he wanted to have more nuclear weapons than everyone else in the world and he also suggested in August 2019 to use nuclear weapons to stop hurricanes from hitting the USA.

On behalf of the FHS I would like to thank Joe for coming in to help educate and broaden our understanding on nuclear weapons.

Sophie Brown, LVI