The Humanitarian Effects of Nuclear Weapons

  • The sudden release of energy from the explosion generates an overpressure shock wave. This pressure is hundreds of times greater than that of a pressure cooker. This immense excess pressure crushes any object in its path
  • At a pressure difference of roughly 30 psi, human lungs are crushed. High-velocity winds produced by the explosion can turn people or items into missiles, throwing a person several hundred kilometers per hour at 15 to 20 psi
  • The initial explosion is so powerful that it will obliterate infrastructure, buildings, and homes within the severe damage zone (10 KT), leaving hardly any structures intact

  • Within a 1.18-mile radius, individuals may suffer third-degree burns, severe scarring, or permanent disability. The extreme heat from a large thermonuclear explosion can ignite fires and cause severe burns on exposed skin up to 20 miles away
  • The intense heat from the detonation’s light is strong enough to ignite flammable materials miles away, cause sand to explode, blind people at great distances, and burn shadows into concrete
  • A nuclear explosion releases an enormous amount of energy in the form of light (ultraviolet, visible, and infrared), visible from hundreds of kilometers away

  • The primary threat from radiation after a nuclear explosion is external exposure to the penetrating radiation from decaying radioactive particles, rather than from inhaling or ingesting the material
  •  This external exposure from fallout is the most significant preventable injury following a nuclear blast. Deadly direct radiation can extend nearly a mile from a 10-kiloton explosion

  • Medical professionals may be killed in a nuclear attack, leaving no medical or emergency personnel for patient transport or care
  • Hospitals are also likely to be destroyed, resulting in no access to medicine, equipment, or sterilization tools
  • Communication and transportation systems, fire-fighting equipment, and hospitals would be reduced to rubble throughout a zone of complete destruction extending for kilometers
  • Burn Beds: Many of the injured will suffer severe or extensive burns and will require specialized care 
    • These injuries are the hardest to treat, needing a specialized environment and more medical supplies and personnel than any other injury category
    • The supply of burn beds would be vastly outnumbered by burn victims of a nuclear explosion, assuming any burn beds in hospital infrastructure survive the blast

  • Contamination and Lethal Effects: While fallout contamination can last for years or even decades, the most lethal effects occur within days to weeks. Current civil defense guidelines advise survivors to stay indoors for at least 48 hours to allow radiation levels to decrease
  • Types of Fallout: Fallout varies depending on the type of bomb and explosion. Modern weapons can cause global fallout due to the large amount of radioactive material and the high altitude of the radioactive cloud, which can take months or years to settle back to Earth
Short term effects of nuclear weapon use
Long term effects of nuclear weapon use

  • Higher rates of cancer and genetic mutations among survivors
  • Nuclear weapons emit ionizing radiation, which can be lethal at high doses and cause severe illness
  • Experts estimate that around 2.4 million people worldwide will ultimately die from cancers caused by atmospheric nuclear tests conducted between 1945 and 1980

  • Contaminated water and soil, harming agriculture and ecosystems
  • The contamination can persist for hundreds to thousands of years, disrupting the functions of the biosphere
  • Global climate patterns can be altered, leading to the death, disease, and extinction of local plants and animals
  • Hundreds of chemicals released into the upper atmosphere can destroy the ozone layer, increasing UV radiation on Earth, which can kill marine life, cause severe sunburns, and increase the risk of fatal skin cancers
  • Fires from the blast release chemicals into the atmosphere, creating airborne soot that blocks sunlight, potentially leading to a nuclear winter and the extinction of humanity
  • These changes would have devastating effects on the world’s food supply

  • Deeply connected with environmental impacts
  • Even a “limited” nuclear war between India and Pakistan, with each side using 50 Hiroshima-sized nuclear weapons on each other’s cities, could trigger massive firestorms
  • These firestorms would create a thick layer of black smoke in the stratosphere, blocking sunlight
  • This smoke would be heated by the sun, lifted like a hot air balloon, and remain in the stratosphere for years, significantly reducing sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface
  • The resulting decrease in warming sunlight would shorten growing seasons and could lead to the starvation of up to 2 billion people

  • Air vs. Ground Bursts:
    • Air Burst: Typically results in less immediate fallout but can spread radioactive particles over a wider area
    • Ground Burst: Creates a large crater and pulls tons of soil, rock, and other materials into the radioactive cloud. These heavier particles fall back to the ground relatively quickly, and rain can wash them down, creating highly radioactive hotspots
    • Fallout Direction: The direction and spread of fallout are significantly influenced by wind patterns

  • The immediate, single-use, and short-term effects of a nuclear explosion would be multiplied hundreds or even thousands of times over. It would result in unimaginable and unprecedented devastation. 
  • Unlike the single use of a nuclear weapon, which might be limited to specific areas, a nuclear war would leave no part of the world unaffected. There would be no help available from unaffected regions, as there simply wouldn’t be any.

  • Wide regions would be contaminated with high levels of radiation, lasting for hundreds to thousands of years, rendering the environment uninhabitable for the foreseeable future
  • In the aftermath, the environmental impacts would be devastating. Nuclear famine and nuclear winter would become harsh realities. The massive release of soot and ash into the atmosphere would block sunlight, causing drastic drops in temperature, crop failures, and widespread food shortages

  • The effects of a nuclear war would also result in societal collapse. It has been predicted that personal and commercial communication systems would be shut down and the loss of medical professionals and the destruction of medical facilities would mean no immediate help for the injured and sick, leading to countless preventable deaths
  • Examples and predictions indicate that a nuclear war would render our existing systems completely vulnerable. Critical infrastructures such as financial systems, governance, law and order, and all communication networks would be severely impacted

Albert Einstein: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Effects of a nuclear war