Nuclear Warheads: Twenty Thousand And Counting...

The nuclear security summit in Seoul, South Korea was partially designed to raise global awareness of the dangers posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

With recent developments in North Korea and Iran, atomic weaponry has again become a dominant issue in global geo-politics.

But even without the hostile rhetoric activities in Teheran and Pyongyang, there are literally thousands of nuclear bombs in existence all over the planet.

According to various sources, including the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) and the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), there are estimated to be almost 20,000 nuclear warheads in the world, with about half of them in Russia.

However, IPFM warned that there is enough stockpiled weapons-grade nuclear material left over from decommissioned bombs and atomic-fuel plants to manufacture at least another 100,000 new nuclear bombs.

Of the existing nuclear arsenal in the world, FAS noted, about 4,800 warheads are considered operational, of which nearly 2,000 U.S. and Russian warheads combined are on high alert, ready for use on short notice.