Nuclear and Radiation are dangerous. The angst and anxiety that come with the perceived deadly power is warranted. Over seventy five people have directly died in nuclear power plant accidents since 1961, with an approximate expected four thousand more eventual deaths from radiation exposition at the Chernobyl disaster.  These deaths are accountable to nuclear power when it’s not being used against anyone, only for human benefit. On the other side of the spectrum, within four months of the two atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki up to two hundred and twenty six thousand Japanese people died. Majority of these deaths were civilians including children of all ages. These bombs dropped on Japan when combined, totalled thirty five kilo tonnes of TNT. Within the arsenal of America there are bombs of one point two mega tonnes (twelve hundred kilo tonnes). Within the Soviet Union’s arsenal the Tsar Bomba exists at fifty mega tonnes which was successfully tested and a one hundred mega tonne (100,000 kilo tonnes) version Tsar Bomba designed. The immense death and destruction can be visualized here https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ if you can’t seem to grasp the scale. Nine reported countries have these devastating  weapons at their finger tips. Fear comes from the possibility of country relations becoming poor and reckless leaders using these bombs against the civilians of our counties that we know and love so much.  

Nuclear and radiation have been illustrated and amplified within the media since the day it was publicly conceived. From movies like “The China Syndrome”, press conferences with presidents and world leaders, documentaries similar to “Nuclear Nightmares”, public shows of power like America’s “Castle Bravo” and news reports on nuclear and radiation add to the public’s view of nuclear and radiation and their emotional consensus on them. A high percent of the way nuclear / radiation is portrayed is in negative light. This negative light pulls at the fears of life and death, the killing power and danger are usually driving points.  The fear caused by movies and media are a different breed than the fear caused by military tension. The fear I felt from “The China Syndrome” was similar to a fear of being left out of something at school or a party, but in this case it was the fear caused by the fact that the corporations want to and will if they can withhold critical information from the directly affected public. I see movies and documentaries can create a fear of homeland disaster, making the public aware of what could happen within our backyards. The fear I feel from reading articles like “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatens US with a ‘super-mighty preemptive strike” scares me at a deeper level. I know that North Korea and Kim Jon Un are volatile and that the risk of them dropping bombs on the United States, who are just kilometres below us, or even directly on us, is more viable than a reactor failing in my back yard. CNN articles like “Satellite photos show North Korean nuclear site ‘primed and ready’” back my fears up and make them worse as I can’t control the fate of the nukes and missiles in any way compared to the lobbying and protesting I could do if there was a leaking reactor a few blocks away.

Fear of nuclear / radiation manipulates peoples actions on a current basis. This fear may cause you to change your political candidate to a more aggressive and militaristic one who won’t stand to be pressured or bullied by other counties. President Donald Trump gained votes during the 2016 election because he vowed to stand up not let America be towered over by other nuclear threats. Articles like these “Facing growing North Korea nuke threat, Trump vows: ‘It won’t happen!’” published before he was sworn into office buffed his appeal among many fearful Americans afraid of the North Korean nuclear arsenal, and its threat to their lively hoods. Donald Trump has already successfully launched missiles on Syria and and dropped a M.O.A.B on isis caves in Afganistan within his first 100 days of presidency. He manipulates the fears of his people and uses it to gain support and praises that empowers him for the future. There is also the fear of disaster of non military nuclear operations that affect the lives of the people who live in the area. The fear of radiation accidents and nuclear disaster within your own city or town drives you to protest or rebel against the nuclear corporation that is in control. As seen in “The China Syndrome” the fear of health and safety caused a reporter and her faithful camera man to uncover the truth illegally and then inform the public at all costs. Within the movie we saw scenes of people protesting the nuclear safety board.  The concerned citizens were doing everything in their power to change the rules and regulations towards nuclear reactors. The protesting in “The China Syndrome” is similar to a recent protest that happened on a much larger scale. In May 2010 roughly twenty five thousand people marched tow kilometres from downtown New York to the United Nations Headquarters. They marched for the elimination of nuclear weapons entirely.