The Environmental Impact of a Nuclear Explosion

Jonty:

Hi! pls post your comments/article here.

rgds
t

Dear Saleem H Ali (;),

That was a well written article about the immediate impact of a nuclear explosion.

About the actual short, middle and long term effects of exposure to such high levels of radiation, many books are available.

Apart from the acute effects, which are basically death with extreme levels of skin burns as an added bonus, for those exposed to the radiation directly, most of the survivors for a large radius outside the epicentre would also suffer massive radiation poisoning leading to blindness, impotency as well as cancer.

The saddest aspect is that exposure to radiation causes genetic mutations to occur so that the suffering is inflicted upon generation after generation.

(Actually, if a nuclear bomb did explode I`d like to be in the exact epicentre, as that would be a painless death--instant vapourisation as temperatures reached those at the Sun`s core for a split second!)

I disagree with the last comment: if your enemy has a nuclear bomb, you should have one too. (Especially if it is Israel.)

:)

Wasiq has raised some important questions about long-term

environmental impact. I purposely focused on

the immediate impact and the direct human effect

because of the popular nature of the piece.

surveys conducted by environmental groups reveal that surprisingly

not many people in the sub-continent are familiar

with the immediate impact effects (hence my focus).

I do not have all the answers to your questions because

the ecosystem response varies greatly from location to location.

Some of your questions are tangentially addressed in the article

eg. climatic change and the release of pyrotoxins,

carcinogenesis etc.

The late astronomer/ public intellectual Carl Sagan

coauthored a good book on the phenomenon of ``nuclear winter``

and other long-term climatic impacts of nuclear

explosions.

Regarding your implict assertion about the resilience of

the Earth against a cataclysmic events -- Yes, the Earth can

probably withstand a nuclear war (asteroid impacts have beeen

documented through crater scars that may be much more powerful

than a nuclear bomb) in the long-term (probably a period of a

few centuries would be enough for a sufficient ``recovery``)

However, is that really a tolerable scenario?

Regards

Saleem

Interesting article. All of what you say is all too well known and oft-repeated, and therefore people tend to get accustomed to it.

The article however did not address its declared purpose (which is what I wanted to learn) in enough detail i.e the effect on the environment. What I am interested in is not just what happens at the instant of detonation, but after a month, a year and longer. I have list of questions which I hoped the article would answer:

How does the environment react to a nuclear explosion over a long time period, what course does it follow to revert to a state of ecological and climactic equilibrium?

How do the mechanisms of wind dispersal aggravate the situation?

How much resiliency does nature have before a permanent change?

How do the local ecosystems get disrupted and how does that effect the larger ecosystems?

Is there a possibility of a long term climactic change?

What about underground water?

In addition:

What are the predominant isotopes produced and their lifetimes?

How would they impact mutation/deformation rates in a population over long time periods?

What other diseases can be caused that are not overtly cancerous?

Are there people who survive this enhanced rate of background radiation? What are the effects on them?

Earth has seen far bigger disasters before Homo Sapiens discovered nuclear reactions. Collisions with extraterrestrial bodies release energies in thousands of megatons or more, and despite severe effects, nature bounces back. I am not advocating nuclear weapons by saying this but I would like to understand what are the environmental effects of a nuclear explosion of different magnitudes.

regards

In response to the previous comment, I did provide a short biographical sketch, but somehow it didn`t get posted: Anyhow here it is again:

Saleem Ali is a doctoral candidate in environmental planning and a Martin Sustainabiity Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He obtained a Bachelor`s degree in Chemistry and Environmental Studies from Tufts University and Masters degree in Environmental Studies from Yale University. Before starting his doctoral work at MIT, Saleem worked at General Electric as an environmental ``engineer`` and has also held research assistantships at the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard Business School, the British House of Commons and Center for Rainforest Studies (Australia).

To the Editor:

I thought that first-time submitters to Chowk ``HAD`` to put in a little blurb about themselves? As a scientist, it would be nice to know just a teensy-weensy bit of Saleem Ali`s background that qualifies him as someone to discuss his topic in the article. I don`t think Tourniquet`s poem really requires background, but some here would be nice.

By the way, I found it a sobering read. A litte dry, but pertinent considering the newfound public nuclear status of India & Pakistan.