New Website on the Dark History of Nuclear Weapons and Energy Proliferation

The Website is primarily intended for mainstream audiences but is rich enough in content and details to appeal to students and experts in the subject. A detailed six-part narrative begins by exploring the origins of atomic physics. It then examines the Manhattan project during World War Two, the nuclear arms race, the civil nuclear industry, nuclear waste, nuclear technology black markets and finally nuclear terrorism. The narrative also explores key aspects of the geopolitical events that influenced the proliferation of the Atom. The website can also be browsed as a condensed slide-show presentation of the narrative that includes hundreds of restored public domain photographs. In addition, the site includes some good historical film and video clips and mirrors recent news from the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). It also provides a select list of links to other important atomic history and nuclear watchdog Websites.

With preliminary private and personal seed financing, Professor O'Daly began in-depth research on the subject in 2004 at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, MD with assistance from NARA researcher Carol Miller. After two years, Professor O'Daly had developed a six-part manuscript based on many authoritative works on the subject and had obtained hundreds of still images, video and film footage clips from the public domain. Originally intended as a documentary mini-series for cable television audiences, the project could not obtain sufficient financial backing to be produced independently. In September of 2008, Professor. O'Daly decided to re-purposed his research to design and and develop a public awareness Website on the subject.

Unlike other Websites devoted to this subject, AtomDays.com (http://atomdays.com) allows visitors to navigate through the entire history of the nuclear age in chronological order. This provides educators and researchers a valuable tool to cross reference historical events on the subject matter based on a time line. The Website celebrates early discoveries of pioneering atomic scientists such as as Niels Bohr, Lise Meitner and James Chadwick during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It then inevitably describes the darker military and political implications surrounding mankind's folly with the Atom during World War Two, the Cold War and beyond.

"The greatest threat to global security and modern civilization is the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology driven by the expansion of civil nuclear energy programs throughout the world."

The last section of the Website examines the proliferation of nuclear technologies to rogue nations and their likely link to nuclear terrorism in the near future. AtomDays.com cites the warnings of many contemporary investigative journalists and scholars who believe that diplomatic barriers against nuclear weapons proliferation such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 are now completely deteriorating. The evidence presented points to the undeniable fact that as more nations seek to acquire nuclear technology for civil energy programs, the more likely such technology will be re-purposed to create secret atomic weapons programs or create black markets to sell highly enriched uranium to terrorist groups eager to acquire a nuclear weapon. Compelling evidence on the nuclear programs of Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran is cited as clear examples of this. Past U.S. policies in connection with nuclear proliferation are also examined and criticized.

"The events of 9/11 clearly demonstrate that a terrorist organization or rogue state will use any means available in an attempt to destroy societies that are in conflict with their own radical religious, military or political ideologies."

The Website also reminds us that Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard and most of the other scientists that developed the world's first nuclear weapons tried to warn us in 1945 that nuclear technology could not be kept secret or secure. Once the theoretical science had been perfected, the development of an atomic weapon is only a matter of obtaining the right materials and relatively simple engineering. Today, most experts agree that the construction of a World War Two type atomic bomb could be accomplished at a basic modern machine shop with a small supply of enriched uranium or plutonium.

"The genie was out of the bottle long ago. It is no longer a question of whether or not terrorists can acquire a crude Hiroshima type atomic bomb. It is a question of when, how, and if they will succeed."

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Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/10/prweb2992884.htm.

PRWeb.com

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