Science and Technology
In news: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called up Defence Ministers of India and China to convey Moscow’s concern about a purported Ukrainian plan to use a “dirty bomb” designed to spread radioactive material.
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told Shoigu that the Ukraine conflict should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy and the nuclear option should not be resorted to by any side.
Nuclear Bombs:
- A nuclear bomb is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion.
- Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.
- They are weapons of mass destruction as they can devastate an entire city by blast, fire, and radiation.
- In 1942, under the Manhattan Project, the first nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by U.S. during the Second World War.
- The Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to foster the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of disarmament.
- The Treaty establishes a safeguards system under the responsibility of the IAEA, which also plays a central role under the Treaty in areas of technology transfer for peaceful purposes.
- The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of nuclear weapons (TPNW)
- prohibits activities like not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.
- Not to deploy nuclear weapons on national territory
Source: Indian Express
