Watch the video: How to stop a nuclear attack .

Work in groups to prepare a talk on how to stop a nuclear attack. Divide into three sub-groups and prepare one section of the talk with your sub-group. Then return to the main group to finalize the talk.

 

Sub-group A: The vulnerabilities of the ICBMs

Sub-group B: The problems of the ICBMs launches detection

Sub-group C: The kinetic impact method

 

Questions for discussion

1. Does the danger of a nuclear attack still exist in the world?

2. How do the ICBMs differ from planes?

3. Why is it so difficult to stop the ICBMs?

4. What are the first things you should know to intercept the missile?

5. Can you describe the second phase of the ICBMs`trajectory?

6. What is the role of satellites with infrared sensors?

7. Can high-power airborne lasers be used for an attack?

8. What do you know about the decoys used?

9. Can you explain the main aim of the Reagan`s Star Wars program?

10. What is the kinetic impact method?

11. When was this method widely used?

12. Why could a great number of tiny targets be a problem?

13. Could nuclear-tipped missiles be used these days?

14. Do you agree with Churchill`s words “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war”?

15. During the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union built underground missile silos so they could launch nuclear weapons at each other. But what exactly does that involve?

 

7. Watch the video: How to launch a nuclear missile. In this video “How to Launch a Nuclear Missile” we are taken through the step-by-step process of launching a nuclear missile at one of the original Titan missile silos in the Arizona desert. Inside there is a deactivated Titan rocket, which was armed with 9-megaton thermonuclear bomb during the Cold War. If one of those had ever been detonated, it would have been around 650 times more powerful than the weapon that was dropped on Hiroshima.

Answer the questions:

1. Are there any technical challenges of launching nuclear missiles?

2. How can this problem be sorted out?

3. What missile silo did the journalist visit? How low is level 2 of the silo? What rocket could he see there?

4. What kind of bomb is in there?

5. What was the idea behind Titan II?

6. How many silos were there? How did they work?

7. How do they know when they need to launch?

8. What is a valid message?

9. What is sent in the secret message?

10. What is the procedure of putting in the keys?

11. Explain how the secret unlock code work?

12. What does the green light mean after a countdown?

13. When does the silo door start to slide open?

14. Were Titan Missiles used for the peaceful purposes?

 

8. Pair work. Study audio scripts for the video and role play the situations, taking turns to be a journalist and the tour guide from the Titan Missile Museum.

 

In a fission bomb like the one that destroyed Hiroshima, the reaction goes supercritical. What this means is the fission occurs at an ever-increasing rate. These supercritical reactions release massive amounts of energy: The blast that destroyed Hiroshima had the power of an estimated 15 kilotons of TNT, all created with less than a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of uranium undergoing fission.

Given its importance in nuclear fuel, researchers are keenly interested in how uranium functions — particularly during a meltdown. Meltdowns occur when the cooling systems around a reactor fail and the heat generated by the fission reactions in the reactor core melts the fuel. This happened during the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, resulting in a radioactive blob dubbed "the Elephant's foot."

Understanding how nuclear fuels act when they melt is crucial for nuclear engineers building containment vessels, said John Parise, a chemist and mineralogist at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

In November 2014, Parise and colleagues from Argonne National Lab and other institutions published a paper in the journal Science that elucidated the inner workings of melted uranium dioxide, a major component of nuclear fuel, for the first time. Uranium dioxide doesn't melt until temperatures top 5,432 F (3,000 C), so it's hard to measure what happens when the material goes liquid, Parise told Live Science — there's just no container tough enough.

"The solution to that is we heat a ball of uranium dioxide from the top with a carbon dioxide laser, and this ball is levitated on a gas stream," Parise said. "You have this ball of material levitating on the gas stream, so you don't need a container."

The researchers then beam X-rays through the uranium dioxide bubble and measure the scattering of those x-rays with a detector. The angle of scatter reveals the structure of the atoms inside the uranium dioxide.

The researchers found that in solid uranium dioxide, the atoms are arranged like a series of cubes alternating with empty space in a gridlike pattern, with eight atoms of oxygen surrounding each uranium atom. As the material approaches its melting point, the oxygens go "crazy," Argonne National Laboratory researcher Lawrie Skinner said in a video about the results. The oxygen atoms begin to move around, filling empty space and bopping from one uranium atom to another.

Finally, when the material melts, the structure resembles a Salvador Dali painting as the cubes turn into disordered polyhedrals. At this point, Parise said, the number of oxygen atoms around each uranium atom — known as the coordination number — drops from eight to about seven (some uranium atoms have six oxygens surrounding them, and some have seven, making for an average of 6.7 oxygens per uranium).

 

Word list

a high degree of survivability - высокая степень неуязвимости

against opposing forces   - против войск противника

all - weather capability - возможность применения при любых метеорологических условиях

armed with ballistic missiles - вооруженный баллистическими ракетами

defensive strategic forces - оборонительные стратегические силы

enormous destructive capability - огромная разрушительная сила

high level of readiness - высокий уровень боевой готовности

intelligence - gathering - сбор разведывательных данных

located in an operational area - расположенные в районе (непосредственных) боевых действий

missile divisions and regiments - дивизии и полки боевых ракетных комплексов

nuclear - capable forces     - войска, оснащённые ядерным оружием

offensive strategic forces - наступательные стратегические силы

operational nuclear weapons - ядерное оружие оперативно-тактического назначения

strategic early - warning systems - стратегические системы раннего оповещения

to accomplish strategic missions - выполнять стратегические задачи

to deter possible aggression - сдерживать возможную агрессию

to maintain constant surveillance - вести непрерывное наблюдение

within the theatre of operations - в зоне театра боевых действий

 

9. Translate the following sentences from English into Russian:

1) Excalibur's major advantages lie in its accuracy, low collateral damage, high reliability, all-weather capability and responsiveness.

2) The importance of survivability in aircraft design has varied throughout the 20th century, from total neglect to the highest priority.

3) Air supremacy is a position in war where a side holds complete control of air warfare and air power over opposing forces.

4) For the military industry it is vital that protections are used for systems used for reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence gathering.

5) The militarists believe that airborne early warning systems and antiballistic missiles would be pivotal to preventing or withstanding a nuclear attack.

6) His house is under constant surveillance and he has received numerous death threats.

7) The Mediterranean and Middle East theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War.

UNIT 4