Environmental Consequences of Nuclear Weapons Use

Nuclear weapons have a long-lasting and devastating effect on the world for many years after an initial explosion. Fallout from United States atmospheric testing from 1945 to 1963 killed an estimated 70,000 to 800,000 people worldwide. People who have worked in the early nuclear weapons programs have been exposed to significant amounts of radiation (Schwartz 395).

When a nuclear weapon goes off, there are four basic types of explosions: air bursts, surface blast, subsurface burst, and high altitude burst.

An air burst occurs when a weapon is detonated at a height so the fireball does not reach the surface of the earth (Effects Nuclear Explosions). When the shock wave hits the ground, the first wave will "bounce" off to create a second wave. When the blast is higher off the ground, the initial shock wave will be weaker, but will effect a larger area (5.0 Effects Nuclear Weapons). By varying the altitude of the explosion, one can change the blast effects, thermal effects, and radiation effects. Although initially radiation will be a hazard, but the fallout hazard will be almost zero.

A surface burst occurs when a bomb is detonated on or slightly above the earth. Under these conditions, the fireball will encounter the earth. As opposed to air bursts, fallout can be a hazard (Effects Nuclear Explosions). In a surface blast, the shock wave will travel better through the ground (5.0 Effects Nuclear Weapons).

A subsurface burst occurs when the bomb goes off underneath the land or under the water (Effects Nuclear Explosions).In a subsurface water explosion, water would be what a person would see. In addition, the shock wave a person would see will be carrying up to 5% of the total energy. Waves formed from the blast would be upwards of ten meters high and travel for hundreds of miles. If were to crash into a harbor or estuaries, it would cause massive destruction (Pittock 13). Usually a crater will be the result. A result of a subsurface blast will be very heavy local fallout radiation (Effects Nuclear Explosions). A subsurface bomb will also cut thermal radiation to zero (5.0 Effects Nuclear Weapons).

A high altitude burst occurs when the blast is over 30 kilometers high. The fireball from a high al...

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