Mankind And Megatons—11 SOVIET AIM OF TERROR DIPLOMACY

Press, Volume C, Issue 29671, 15 November 1961, Page 14

Mankind And Megatons —1 1 SOVIET AIM OF TERROR DIPLOMACY

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. Profruor c/ Wacly AwM/wmifta Herald 1

Katttmal Untversity •Syanry Morning Herold j (Reprtsuct by

Those people who see the occupant* of the Kremlin a* a group of ruthless men bent on gaining their own ends by any means, fair or foul do not find it strange that the Soviet Government should solemnly discuss with other nations at Geneva details of a treaty to ban nuclear-weapon teste while at the same time it issued secret orders to scientific and military team* to prepare the biggest series of weapon teste yet held by any nation. They would say such double-dealing is what we should expect But there must be good reasons why Mr Khrushchev should suddenly indulge in weapon tests which he knew would enlist world opinion against him, and which he knew would leave the fellow-travellers around the world high and dry—temporarily pushing the wrong propaganda. First it is important to realise that there are two main categories of nuclear bomb—tactical bombs ranging from a few kilotons of TNT equivalent up to perhaps 100 kilotons equivalent, and strategic weapons ranging from 100 kilotons up to many megatons. Tactical or Strategic? Tactical weapons would find a vital place in future warfare for the destruction of specific military targets such as warships at sea, submarines underwater, hostile aircraft or missies in flight, concentrations of armed forces on the ground, and so on. They could, of course, also be used to destroy eities and civilian populations but would not necessarily be used in this way. Such weapons obviously are of great Importance from the point of view of defence against an aggressor.

Bombs ot vpry large yield —in the megaton class—are too big for use against specific small targets. They are really designed to decimate cities. Whereas a 20-kiloton bomb has a radius of complete destruction of half a mile, a 20-megation bomb has a radius of complete destruction of five miles. Such a 20megaton bomb could be used to destroy a city and its entire population. Its huge radius of destruction might also be used to offset errors in aim of an intercontinental ballistic missile, thereby ensuring destruction of a specific small target in a country, but this would be at the expense of enormous destruction around the target.

There is a second very important difference between the two main types of nuclear bomb—the amount of fall-out from the tactical ("kiloton”) bomb is smaller than from the strategic (“megaton”) bomb. These megaton bombs are often called hydrogen bombs, but none so far are true hydrogen bombs. "Dirty” Bomb* Hydrogen bombs usually function starting with an ordinary kiloton fission bomb as a first stage; this ignites a second stage in which certain light element reactions produce fast neutrons which, in turn, ignite and release energy from ordinary uranium—the third stage. Such bombs are radioactively “dirty”—indeed, a 20megaton bomb of this type produces 1000 times as much fall-out as a 20-kiloton fission bomb. A true hydrogen bomb, on the other hand, would derive all its energy from the fusion of light elements and none from fission, so that there would be very little fall-out—it would comprise mainly radio-active hydrogen and radio-active carbon 14. Such bombs are often described as “clean,” but, as far as is known, none has yet been made.

"Hydrogen” bombs of both tyfies can be made as big as desired. Once the trick of igniting the light element stage is learned it is only a matter of adding more material to get a bigger energy release. There is nothing magical or special about the 50-megaton bomb Mr Khrushchev threatens to fire —the United Kingdom and the United States of America have both had the capability of making such bombs for some years. The know-how of nuclear bomb manufacture is with us for all time, and such weapons in the arsenals of peace-loving nations can be a powerful deterrent to agression; but they can only be so if they are complete weapon systems—up to date and available in sufficient number with appropriate vehicles to carry them to the target.

Why Weapon Testa? This is one of the reasons why weapon testa are needed from time to time. For defence one needs a lot of tactical weapons; but one must also have strategic weapons to deter an agreasor from attempting to win submission by blackmail. With these idea* in mind, possible reasons for the Soviet action could be: They are behind the West in the development of nuclear weapons and need further tests to try to catch up; They feel an urgent need to wed their nuclear weapons to the vehicle carriers* such as the 1.C.8.M. rockets which S? v V e S? ntly been ‘ested in the Pacific: or They are testing sample weapon* from their operational stockpiles. But the fact that, in a series of some two dozen explosions, about half are in the megaton class, some being scaled up in size beyond anything which makes such a test sensible from the scientific point of view, implies other powerful reason* The first in undoubtedly an attempt to terrorise the Peoples of the world, especially the so-called uncomP 1 and the second is that the Russian stockpile of weapons, plus carriers, will contain « high proportion of megaton bombs—the high

area of destruction being intended to offset inaccuracies of aim in the carrier. Use ot such weapons in war necessarily would lead to slaughter of non-combatanta, even if the weapons were aimed at strictly military targets. There are other deductions which can be made from this serie*. Mr Khrushchev presumably will have taken the advice ot competent Soviet scientists in the matter of biological hazard:, because

Russia itself will receive at least as much and probably more of the fall-out than any other country. Vast FaL-eni Since Mr Khrushchev has given the orders to inject vast quantities of radioactivity into the atakoaphere and some, at least, of the largest and dirtiest explosions are without scientific justification, it follows that they consider the biological hazards to be small. This is a complete reversal of the original Russian propaganda position; for years efforts have been made to inculcate the idea that fallout will lead to a serious incidence of leukemia and cancer of the bone in the present generation, and all sorts of deleterious genetic mutations which will be passed on to future generations. This reversal, in fact, makes scientific sense—the biological hazards of fall-out were greatly over-exaggerated and on biological grounds alone the blanket slogan "Ban the Bomb.” could never be Justified. Certainly radiation of any kind in man’s environment should be kept to an absolute minimum and certainly no nation should fire large "dirty” weapons Irresponsibly, as the ÜB.SJL ha* just done for the cheer sake of it

But weapon test* of the type carried out by the French in the Sahara, by the British in Australia and by the United States in Nevada, which were all in the tactical region, constitute a negligible biological hazard. Mr Khrushchev’s threatened 50-megaton bomb will in fact inject more radio-activity into the atmosphere than between 2000 and 3000 of these weapons—many times as much as the entire total of French, United States, and British tests of tactical bombs.

It will be vitally important to remember this fact when arguments start if Western nations, in the absence of a properly safeguarded nuclear weapons test ban agreement, reel compelled to resume nuclear weapon teste. The West must resist the temptation to overplay condemnation of Mr Khrushchev on biological grounds or such arguments will be switched back on to them when it suits Russian convenience. “Better Bed than Dead” What doe* it all add up to? We see the present ruler* of Russia shamelessly demonstrating their bad faith in international relations—advocating complete and universal disarmament and at the same time indulging in the biggest series of bomb tests yet held, and breaking off the discussions at Geneva on the banning of nuclear weapon tests, which could be a vital step along the road to peace and sanity in the human family. We see the Soviet Union provoking trouble wherever it can, probing at the soft spots in struggling countries, and ruthlessly suppressing the human desire for freedom wherever it shows itself—in Hungary, Poland, or among East Berliners.

We are beginning to see the insidious idea purveyed in the West—sometime* by well-meaning people—typified by the slogan, “It is better to be Red than dead.” The same line of propaganda is being pushed in the underdeveloped countries, and the present series of Soviet bomb tests is probably meant to force the idea home through terror.

If the will of the free peoples can be undermined to the point where they do not back up their own Governments in providing the defensive striking power essential to deter Communist expansionist aims, we would, indeed. be in grave danger of losing our freedom.

When Mr Khrushchev said, “We will bury you,” too many people laughed; there is nothing in recent history to suggest that, on that occasion at least, he did not mean (Concluded)