FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   >>  
hat the induction of cancers would range from 75 to 300 cases per megaton for each billion people in the post-test generation. If we apply these very rough yardsticks to a large-scale nuclear war in which 10,000 megatons of nuclear force are detonated, the effects on a world population of 5 billion appear enormous. Allowing for uncertainties about the dynamics of a possible nuclear war, radiation-induced cancers and genetic damage together over 30 years are estimated to range from 1.5 to 30 million for the world population as a whole. This would mean one additional case for every 100 to 3,000 people or about 1/2 percent to 15 percent of the estimated peacetime cancer death rate in developed countries. As will be seen, moreover, there could be other, less well understood effects which would drastically increase suffering and death. ALTERATIONS OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT A nuclear war would involve such prodigious and concentrated short term release of high temperature energy that it is necessary to consider a variety of potential environmental effects. It is true that the energy of nuclear weapons is dwarfed by many natural phenomena. A large hurricane may have the power of a million hydrogen bombs. But the energy release of even the most severe weather is diffuse; it occurs over wide areas, and the difference in temperature between the storm system and the surrounding atmosphere is relatively small. Nuclear detonations are just the opposite--highly concentrated with reaction temperatures up to tens of millions of degrees Fahrenheit. Because they are so different from natural processes, it is necessary to examine their potential for altering the environment in several contexts. A. High Altitude Dust It has been estimated that a 10,000-megaton war with half the weapons exploding at ground level would tear up some 25 billion cubic meters of rock and soil, injecting a substantial amount of fine dust and particles into the stratosphere. This is roughly twice the volume of material blasted loose by the Indonesian volcano, Krakatoa, whose explosion in 1883 was the most powerful terrestrial event ever recorded. Sunsets around the world were noticeably reddened for several years after the Krakatoa eruption, indicating that large amounts of volcanic dust had entered the stratosphere. Subsequent studies of large volcanic explosions, such as Mt. Agung on Bali in 1963, have raised the possibility that l
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   >>  



Top keywords:

nuclear

 
energy
 

effects

 
estimated
 

billion

 

Krakatoa

 
potential
 

weapons

 

million

 

release


stratosphere

 
concentrated
 

percent

 

temperature

 

cancers

 

natural

 

megaton

 
people
 

population

 

volcanic


Nuclear

 

environment

 

contexts

 

exploding

 

Altitude

 
detonations
 
surrounding
 

atmosphere

 
opposite
 

processes


degrees
 

Fahrenheit

 

millions

 

examine

 
Because
 

highly

 

temperatures

 

reaction

 
altering
 

volume


reddened

 
noticeably
 

eruption

 

indicating

 

terrestrial

 
recorded
 

Sunsets

 
amounts
 

raised

 

possibility