Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: "There is more (weapons grade) material on civilian sites than all weapons stockpiles put together" [View all]PamW
(1,825 posts)And the thing is we had ww2 won without the use of the atom bombs.
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Bad history, as always. Madokie is evidently ignorant of the fact that the Manhattan Project was not created because of the Japanese.
The Manhattan Project was created by FDR because of the Einstein letter, and the concerns that Einstein, and Szilard, and other scientists had with regard to Germany, not the Japanese. The fear was that the German nuclear weapons program led by Heisenberg would bear fruit, and the USA would be facing off against a nuclear-armed Germany. A couple things worked in the USA's favor; namely that the German program made some mistakes, like not believing that graphite could moderate a natural uranium reactor, so the Germans were working on heavy water reactors. ( Blame von Bothe for that error ). The other is that Germany was defeated before either nation could develop nuclear weapons.
The Japanese were preparing to defend their homeland voraciously. Look at the cost in lives of US servicemen just for that little postage stamp of an island called Iwo Jima. Can you imagine what the toll would be when the home islands of Japan were invaded.
Thankfully, the bomb that was intended for use on Germany, was ready when it was time to finally defeat Japan.
PamW