10 Weirdest Uses of Nuclear Weapons. 10 Weirdest Uses of Nuclear Weapons. Top Lists, 06 Oct. 2015. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.
There are many ways that WoMD can be used to this day. One way is nuclear terrorism, since the tardy 1960s, people have worried about the possibility that a group of terrorists (“non-state actors”) might acquire nuclear weapons. The competency to natively engender the nuclear fuel for a bomb (enriched uranium or dissevered plutonium) is still restricted only to entities the size of states, though the technical requisites have decremented over the years. But it is unlikely for the moment that any terrorist group, even one with consequential resources, would be able to muster the technical and industrial expertise indispensable to engender the fuel themselves.
Another way is detonation of a weapon by accident. The past generations of warheads were built so that the chance of an accident producing a nuclear explosion would be exceedingly rare. But we know very little about the weapon designs of most states, and whether they prioritize safety better than the US used to in its older designs. But if one were to go off it would be just as bad as if it were meant to go off leaving the same type of destruction and mostly innocent people.
But the uncertainties are still high enough that nobody should feel too comfortable about a world with more than 10,000 nuclear weapons, even if things are probably not as bad as they once were.
Taking these scenarios all together, how likely is it that the world will once again see a nuclear weapon used against a city? If we live in a world with nuclear weapons, there will always be a risk greater than zero of “it” happening again. This worrisome uncertainty is one of the truths of the nuclear age and there is no easy way around it.
Wellerstein, Alex. "Five Ways That Nuclear Weapons Could Still Be Used | Alex Wellerstein." Opinion. Guardian News and Media, 06 Aug. 2015. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.
"Article: What Are Nuclear Weapons For? Michael May." Article: What Are Nuclear Weapons For? Michael May. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.