What Are The Long-Term Effects Of Nuclear Warfare

Nuclear weapons are one of the many common fears of the modern world. Because at any minute, the world could suffer a nuclear filled catastrophe, killing millions. Not only are they potentially life threatening, the biggest nations in the world have stockpiles of these weapons of mass destruction. That is not the scariest part however. The effects of nuclear warfare are just as deadly, if not, worse. Nevertheless, the rapid extermination of the radioactive explosives ought to occur globally because not only is the explosion from one highly destructive to humans, animals, and the environment, it also brings deadly long-term side effects to the table by polluting the environment nearly hundreds of miles away from where the explosion occurs, making
it a potentially fatal health hazard, and could possibly create a nuclear winter due to explosive warfare, which can result in strenuous conditions globally.

Subsequently, the effects of a nuclear device being detonated would cause immediate annihilation of the surrounding location, where the yield depends on how powerful the explosive is. According to the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, such an atomic apprehension has been a global concern as of recently, as they state: “Climate change may be the global policy issue that has captured most attention in the last decade, but the problem of nuclear weapons is at least its equal in terms of gravity – and much more immediate in its potential impact.” - International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, 2009 (ICAN). They claim that it would only take less than a hundred Hiroshima bombs to cause dramatic drops in temperature globally, and only take 0.1% the yield of the current global nuclear stockpile to cause harsh conditions to the environment, and calamitous starvation sweeping through the crop fields and soil (ICAN). Providentially however, many countries have supported ceasing the usage of their arsenal and ceasing production of the weapons, with South Africa becoming the first nation to willingly disarm their nuclear arsenal (Guardian, 8). Clearly, nations across the globe have started to come to their sense in terms of understanding the true unnerving consequences of detonating such devices.

The short-term effects created by these weapons are not the only threat, but the long-term effects as well.
The radioactive elements used in the devices would be blown around the globe due to air currents and cause a nuclear fallout. Depending on the strength of the atomic weapon, there would either be early fallout, where radioactive weather conditions are experienced within approximately 24 hours, or delayed fallout, which the conditions arrive months or years later (Atomic Archive, 17). Despite most of the nuclear material decaying almost instantaneously, radioactive elements such as cesium and strontium, which possess longer half-lives, will continue to contaminate the environment, rendering it unsuitable for life. To make matters worse, plutonium is commonly used in nuclear weapons, and since not all of the plutonium has been splitted up, it can become a tremendous threat. Not only has a long half-life of 27,000 years, but just a microgram of can consequently cause inexorable, devastating tumors to the bones and lungs (Atomic Archive,
18).

So here we can discern the apprehensions regarding the detonation of the powerful radioactive devices.
We can clearly see that the weapons can create up to millions of casualties, while in the long run, carrying effects that aggravate the death toll due to radiation poisoning and other harmful effects created by pollution. The symptoms carry a toll on not only human and animal life affected by the nuclear threat, but the whole ecosystem as well. The threat of such an occurrence should be taken with extreme caution and awareness. While such a catastrophe may not destroy the world completely, it can consequently disrupt the way of life, and potentially wipe out an entire species from its hazardous effects in the long run. Ultimately, it is our responsibility to whether or not we as a species can acknowledge the fact that the short term, and long term consequences of detonating these catastrophe-causing
creations.