Ecological consequences of fires during the storage of weapons. The consequences of nuclear weapons testing for the environment. The consequences of nuclear explosions for people

In 1945, the atomic bomb was created, testifying to the new unprecedented possibilities of man. In 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant was built in Obninsk, and many hopes were pinned on the "peaceful atom". And in 1986, the largest man-made disaster in the history of the Earth occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a result of an attempt to "tame" the atom and make it work for itself. As a result of this accident, more radioactive materials were released than during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The "peaceful atom" turned out to be more terrible than the military one.

Physicists spoke about the fundamental possibility of creating weapons using the energy of a nuclear explosion even before the outbreak of World War II. Many characteristics of such an explosion had already been calculated by that time. After the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear war became a terrible reality. Public consciousness was most struck not even by the number of victims, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and the complete destruction of two large cities in a few moments, but by the consequences that penetrating radiation carried. Not a single person who survived a nuclear bombardment could be sure of his future: even after many years, the consequences of irradiation could affect him or his descendants.

At the end of 1989, a report was published in the USSR by a commission that dealt with the "obvious today" consequences of the atomic bomb tests carried out at the time in Chukotka (50s - 60s). Since the Chukchi live off deer, which feed on lichens that accumulate radioactivity, their poor health is explained by the then radioactive contamination: almost 100% are sick with tuberculosis, 90% with chronic lung diseases, the incidence of cancer is significantly increased (for example, mortality from cancer of the esophagus is the highest in the world , the incidence of liver cancer is 10 times higher than the national average). The average life expectancy is only 45 years (since the mortality rate among newborns is 7-10%).

It was in radiation, in various manifestations of radiation sickness, that scientists and the public saw the main danger of the new weapon, but humanity was able to truly appreciate it much later. For many years, people saw the atomic bomb, although very dangerous, but only a weapon capable of ensuring victory in the war. Therefore, the leading states, intensively improving nuclear weapons, were preparing both for their use and for protection against them. Only in recent decades has the world community begun to realize that a nuclear war would be the suicide of all mankind.

Radiation is not the only, and perhaps not the main, consequence of a large-scale nuclear war. Fires in the event of a nuclear war will cover everything that can burn. It is estimated that an average bomb charge of 1 Mt TNT burns 250 km2 of forest. This means that in order to burn 1 million km2 of forest, only about 13% of the total nuclear potential of the planet that existed by that time (1970) would be required. At the same time, more than a hundred million tons of biomass (and atomic carbon) will be emitted into the atmosphere in the form of soot. However, the largest amount of soot will be released into the atmosphere during fires in cities. For the first time, such calculations were carried out by English biochemists back in the 60s. They calculated that with a sufficiently high thermal impulse (more than 20 cal / cm2), the ignition of everything that can burn will occur in any buildings. They proved, in particular, that an average charge of 0.5 Mt TNT can completely burn out more than 200 km2 (which is 100-200 times the area directly covered by a nuclear explosion ball).

In the early 80s. American scientists began to analyze various scenarios for a possible nuclear war. In the basic scenario, taken as a basis by a group of scientists led by C. Sagan, it was assumed that in a nuclear war there would be an exchange of nuclear strikes with a charge capacity of about 5000 Mt TNT, i.e. less than 30% of the total nuclear potential of the USSR and the USA, which is hundreds thousand times more powerful than the explosive device used in the bombing of Hiroshima. In addition to the destruction of about 1,000 largest cities in the northern hemisphere, a huge fire that has arisen will raise such an amount of soot into the atmosphere that the atmosphere will not let light and heat through. Along with forest burning, a large volume of optically active aerosols, capable of absorbing sunlight to the maximum, is released during urban fires (when factories filled with plastic materials, fuel reserves, etc., burn). In this case, the effect of large-scale thrust also arises, i.e. in cities, almost everything that can burn is completely burned out, and combustion products are ejected into the upper part of the atmosphere and the lower part of the stratosphere. If large particles settle fairly quickly under the action of gravity, then the washing out of small aerosol particles (including soot) from the atmosphere is a complex and little-studied process. Small particles (especially atomic carbon) that find themselves in the stratosphere can remain there for quite a long time. They block out sunlight. The efficiency of sunlight reaching the earth's surface depends not only on the amount of aerosols in the stratosphere, but also on the time of their washing out. If the washout process takes place over several months, then within a month the earth's surface will receive less than 3% of the usual amount of solar radiation, as a result, a "nuclear night" will be established on Earth and, as a result, "nuclear winter". However, a complete picture of the entire process could only be obtained on the basis of an analysis of a large-scale mathematical model of the joint dynamics of the atmosphere and the World Ocean. The first models were built at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences back in the 1970s, and calculations using them for the main scenarios of a nuclear war were carried out in June 1983 under the guidance of Academician N. N. Moiseev V. V. Aleksandrov and G. L. Stenchikov and etc. Later, similar results were obtained at the US National Center for Climate Research. Such calculations were repeatedly carried out in subsequent years by scientific institutions in other countries. The magnitude of the temperature drop does not greatly depend on the power of the used nuclear weapon, but this power greatly affects the duration of the "nuclear night". The results obtained by scientists from different countries differed in details, but the qualitative effect of "nuclear night" and "nuclear winter" was very clearly marked in all calculations. Thus, the following can be considered established:

1. As a result of a large-scale nuclear war, a "nuclear night" will be established over the entire planet, and the amount of solar heat entering the earth's surface will be reduced by several tens of times. As a result, a "nuclear winter" will come, that is, there will be a general drop in temperature, especially strong - over the continents.

2. The process of purification of the atmosphere will go on for many months and even years. But the atmosphere will not return to its original state - its thermohydrodynamic characteristics will become completely different.

A decrease in the temperature of the Earth's surface a month after the formation of soot clouds will, on average, be significant: 15-200C, and at points remote from the oceans - up to 350C. This temperature will last for several months, during which the earth's surface will freeze several meters, depriving everyone of fresh water, especially since the rains will stop. A "nuclear winter" will also come in the Southern Hemisphere, as soot clouds will envelop the entire planet, all circulation cycles in the atmosphere will change, although in Australia and South America the cooling will be less significant (by 10-120C).

The ocean will cool down by 1.5-20C, which will cause a huge temperature difference near the coast and constant severe storms. The atmosphere will begin to heat up not from below, as it is now, but from above. The circulation will stop, as lighter and warmer layers will be at the top, the source of convection instability of the atmosphere will disappear, and soot will fall to the surface much more slowly than according to the Sagan scenario, which did not take into account the movement of the atmosphere, the connection between the atmosphere and the ocean, precipitation, temperature changes in different parts of the earth.

Until the early 1970s. the problem of the environmental consequences of underground nuclear explosions was reduced only to protective measures against their seismic and radiation effects at the time of their conduct (ie, the safety of blasting operations was ensured). A detailed study of the dynamics of processes occurring in the explosion zone was carried out exclusively from the point of view of technical aspects. The small size of nuclear charges (compared to chemical ones) and the easily achievable high power of nuclear explosions attracted military and civilian specialists. A false idea arose about the high economic efficiency of underground nuclear explosions (a concept that replaced a less narrow one - the technological efficiency of explosions as a really powerful way to destroy rock masses). And only in the 1970s. it became clear that the negative environmental impact of underground nuclear explosions on the environment and human health negates the economic benefits derived from them. In 1972, the Plusher program for the use of underground explosions for peaceful purposes, adopted in 1963, was terminated in the United States. In the USSR, since 1974, underground nuclear explosions of external action have been abandoned. Underground nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes in the Astrakhan and Perm regions and in Yakutia.

Of these, four explosions in the territory of Yakutia were carried out for the purpose of deep seismic sounding of the earth's crust, six explosions were carried out with the aim of intensifying oil production and gas inflow, one - to create an underground reservoir - oil storage.

The explosion of "Kraton-3" (August 24, 1978) was accompanied by an emergency radioactive release. As a result of the analysis carried out by the Radium Institute. VG Khlopina (St. Petersburg), found a large amount of plutonium-239 and plutonium-240 in the soil. The accidental release of radionuclides to the surface amounted to about 2% of the sum of fission products at an explosion power of about 20 kt of TNT. Directly above the epicenter, an exposure dose rate of 80 μR/h was recorded. The concentration of cesium-137 was 10 times higher than the level of natural radioactive background.

Features of the combined impact of nuclear explosive technologies were manifested in emergency situations that occurred at the Astrakhan gas condensate, as well as the Osinsky and Gezhsky oil fields.

At some facilities where underground nuclear explosions were carried out, radioactive contamination was recorded at a considerable distance from the epicenters, both in the bowels and on the surface. Dangerous geological phenomena begin in the vicinity - movements of rock masses in the near zone, as well as significant changes in the regime of groundwater and gases and the appearance of induced (provoked by explosions) seismicity in certain areas. Exploited cavities of explosions turn out to be very unreliable elements of technological schemes of production processes. This violates the reliability of the robots of industrial complexes of strategic importance, reduces the resource potential of the subsoil and other natural complexes. A long stay in the explosion zones causes damage to the immune and hematopoietic systems of a person.

For near-surface underground nuclear explosions with ejection of soil, the radiation hazard persists to this day. In the north of the Perm region (in connection with the project planned in the 1970s to transfer the flow of the northern rivers to the south), on the watershed of the Pechora and Kama rivers, it was planned to create a canal section using 250 such explosions. The first (triple) explosion "Taiga" was carried out on March 23, 1971. The charges were laid in loose watered soils at a depth of 127.2, 127.3 and 127.6 m at a distance of 163-167 m from each other. During the explosion, a gas and dust cloud arose 1800 m high, 1700 m in diameter. After it descended, a trench excavation 700 m long, 340 m wide and about 15 m deep was exposed in the terrain. about 50 m with a zone of scattered boulders up to 170 m wide. Gradually, this recess was filled with groundwater and turned into a lake. For many years, radioactivity in the area of ​​the "Taiga" object has reached 1100 microR/h (more than 100 times higher than the level of natural radioactive background).

The main environmental problem in Russia from Murmansk to Vladivostok is massive radiation pollution and contamination of drinking water.

There is a proposal to use thermonuclear explosions "as low as possible ... in a large underground chamber" to produce plutonium, which would then be burned in nuclear reactors.

The subsequent development of peaceful applications of nuclear charges (the so-called "clean" charges) created the conditions for using a more environmentally friendly and economical energy production scheme, which is as follows. An energy charge consisting of a small amount of fissile material (DM) - plutonium-239 or uranium-233 - which serves as a fuse, and deuterium, which provides the bulk of the energy, explodes in a strong cavity, called an explosive combustion boiler (FAC). At the moment of explosion, the boiler body is protected by a thick layer of liquid sodium (protective wall) from high temperature, impulse pressure and penetrating radiation. Sodium also serves as a coolant. The resulting thermal energy is then transferred to steam turbines to generate electricity in the usual way. During the explosion, 43.2 MeV of energy is released into 6 deuterium atoms with the formation of two neutrons. These neutrons are used to obtain plutonium-239 or uranium-233 (from uranium-238 or thorium-232) in quantities exceeding the consumption of DM during the operation of the power charge fuse. The accumulated fissile material is used to ignite the next power charges and as fuel for secondary nuclear power reactors. The developers hope that explosive deuterium energy will be able to provide cheap electricity and heat, and will also eliminate the fuel impasse of traditional nuclear power plants.

Nuclear weapons are explosive weapons of mass destruction based on the use of nuclear energy inside. Nuclear weapons are the most powerful means of mass destruction. Its damaging factors are a shock wave, light radiation, penetrating radiation, radioactive contamination of the area and an electromagnetic pulse.

The most powerful damaging factor in a nuclear explosion is the shock wave. 50% of the total energy of the explosion is spent on its formation. It is a zone of highly compressed air propagating at supersonic speed in all directions from the center of the explosion.

The main parameters that determine the action of a shock wave are the overpressure in its front, the velocity head of the air, and the duration of the overpressure. Their value mainly depends on the power, type of nuclear explosion and distance from the center.

Overpressure is the difference between atmospheric pressure and the maximum pressure at the shock wave front. It is measured in pascals. The duration of overpressure is measured in seconds.

Velocity air pressure is the dynamic load created by the air flow. It is measured in the same units as the excess pressure, its effect is noticeable at excess pressures above 50 kPa.

Impact of the shock wave on people and farm animals: The shock wave in unprotected people and animals causes traumatic injuries and contusions.

Depending on the magnitude of the excess pressure in the front of the shock wave, the following are distinguished according to the severity of the lesion:

at excessive pressure over 100 kPa in humans and animals, contusions and injuries of an extremely severe degree occur, which are characterized by fractures of large bearing bones (spine, limbs), ruptures of internal organs containing large amounts of blood (liver, spleen, aorta), fluid (ventricles brain, urinary and gall bladders) or gases (lungs, intestines). Such injuries lead to instant death;

at an overpressure of 100-60 kPa in humans and 100-50 kPa in animals, concussions and severe injuries (fractures of individual bones, concussion, severe bruising of the whole body) are observed, which lead to death within a week. Animals that have received such injuries are not treated, but, if possible, their forced slaughter is organized;

excess pressure of 60-40 kPa in humans and 50-40 kPa in animals causes contusions and moderate injuries, the signs of which are dislocations of limbs from a sharp and unexpected blow when falling to the ground, broken ribs, hematomas, hearing loss, bleeding from the nose and ears;

excess pressure of 40-20 kPa causes mild lesions, expressed in transient disorders of body functions (bruises, dislocations) and hearing loss (rupture of eardrums).

In addition to being directly affected by a shock wave, people and animals can receive indirect injuries (various injuries, up to fatal ones) when they are in collapsing residential buildings, livestock buildings or from the impact of "secondary projectiles" - pieces of brick, wood, fragments of walls flying at high speed, broken glass and other items.

The impact of the shock wave on buildings and structures:

Complete destruction is characterized by the collapse of all walls and ceilings. Rubble is formed from the debris. Building restoration is not possible.

Severe destruction is characterized by the collapse of part of the walls and ceilings. In multi-storey buildings, the lower floors are preserved. The use and restoration of such buildings is not possible or impractical.

Medium destruction is characterized by the destruction of mainly built-in elements (internal partitions, doors, windows, roofs, chimneys and ventilation pipes), the appearance of cracks in the walls, the collapse of attic floors and individual sections of the upper floors. The basements and lower floors are suitable for temporary use after the rubble over the entrances has been cleared. There are no blockages around the buildings. Restoration of buildings (overhaul) is possible.

Weak destruction is characterized by the breakage of window and door fillings, light partitions, the appearance of cracks in the walls of the upper floors. Recovery is possible.

The impact of the shock wave on the process equipment and production activities of the facility. The degree of damage from the impact of the shock wave will depend on the condition of those buildings and structures in which this equipment is located and where this activity is provided. To no lesser extent, the activity of the facility will depend on the state of power and water supply, shelters with a labor force, the pace of elimination of the consequences of destruction and the influence of other factors of a nuclear explosion. At livestock facilities, in addition, this will depend on the condition of the animals, the possibilities of feeding and keeping them, and the quality of livestock products.

Impact of a shock wave on plants. Complete destruction of forests, orchards, vineyards is observed when exposed to excess pressure over 50 kPa. At the same time, trees are uprooted, broken, forming continuous blockages.

At an excess pressure of 50 to 30 kPa, about 50% of the trees break out or break, and at a pressure of 30–10 kPa, up to 30% of the trees. Young trees, shrubs, tea plantations are more resistant to shock waves than old and ripe ones.

Under the influence of the velocity pressure, cereal crops are partially uprooted, partially covered by a dust storm, and mostly subjected to lodging. In root-tuber crops, the ground part of plants is damaged.

Impact of a shock wave on reservoirs and water sources. On large natural reservoirs there is a strong excitement, on artificial ones - dams, dams and other hydraulic structures are destroyed. A seismic wave formed during a ground explosion causes the destruction of artesian wells, water towers, irrigation systems, and the collapse of well log cabins.

Light emission. It is a stream of visible, infrared and ultraviolet rays emanating from a luminous area consisting of explosion products and air heated to millions of degrees. 30-35% of the total energy of the explosion is spent on its formation. The striking ability of light radiation is determined by the magnitude of the light pulse. A light pulse is the amount of light energy falling during the existence of a luminous region of a nuclear explosion per unit surface, perpendicular to the direction of radiation propagation. It is measured in J/m2 (cal/cm2).

The effect of light radiation on people and animals. Under the influence of the initial bright flash, blinding of man and animals occurs, lasting from 2-5 minutes during the day to 30 minutes at night. If an animal or person fixes their vision on the resulting fireball, then a burn of the fundus occurs - a more serious disease. Especially severe burns occur at night, when the pupil is dilated and a large amount of light energy enters the bottom of the eye.

First degree burns in humans and animals are expressed in soreness, redness and swelling.

Second-degree burns in humans form blisters filled with a clear protein liquid. In animals, serous exudate often sweats out on the skin surface in the form of sticky yellowish-pink drops of “dew”, which, when dried, form loose crusts. By the 15-20th day, the dead epithelium is torn off and, in the absence of infection, the skin is completely restored.

Third-degree burns are characterized by necrosis of the skin and subcutaneous tissues and subsequent ulceration. They do not heal for a long time (up to 1.5-2 months), causing prolonged intoxication of the body.

IV degree burns are formed during prolonged exposure to very high temperatures and are accompanied by charring of tissues.

The impact of light radiation on buildings, structures, plants. Light radiation, depending on the properties of materials, causes them to melt, char and ignite. As a result, individual, massive, continuous fires or fire storms can occur.

A mass fire is a collection of individual fires that have engulfed more than 25% of the buildings in a given locality.

A massive fire is considered to be a massive fire that has engulfed more than 90% of buildings.

A fire storm is a special type of continuous fire that engulfed the entire territory of the city with a strong hurricane wind blowing towards the center of the explosion due to powerful ascending air currents. Fighting a firestorm is impossible. A firestorm was observed in the city of Hiroshima after the explosion of the atomic bomb (August 6, 1945) and raged for 6 hours, destroying 600,000 houses.

Small reservoirs (lakes, ponds, streams) under the influence of high temperature light radiation can evaporate.

penetrating radiation. It is a stream of gamma rays and neutrons emitted within 10-15 s from the luminous area of ​​the explosion as a result of a nuclear reaction and radioactive decay of its products. Penetrating radiation consumes 4-5% of the total energy of the explosion. Penetrating radiation is characterized by a dose of radiation, i.e., the amount of energy of radioactive radiation absorbed by a unit volume of the irradiated medium. Roentgen (P) is taken as the dose unit.

The essence of the damaging effect of penetrating radiation is that gamma rays and neutrons ionize the molecules of living cells. Ionization disrupts the normal functioning of cells and, at high doses, leads to their death. The complex of pathological changes observed in humans and animals under the influence of ionizing radiation is called radiation sickness.

The radius of damage by penetrating radiation is insignificant (up to 4-5 km) and varies little depending on the power of the explosion. Therefore, during explosions of ammunition of medium and greater power, the shock wave and light radiation block the radius of action of penetrating radiation, as a result of which there will be no severe radiation injuries in unprotected people and animals, since they will die from exposure to a shock wave or light radiation. In explosions of low and ultra-low power, on the contrary, the danger of damage by penetrating radiation increases significantly, since in this case the radius of action of the shock wave and light radiation is significantly reduced and does not overlap the action of penetrating radiation.

The neutron flux causes induced radioactivity in the external environment, when the chemical elements that make up all environmental objects turn from stable to radioactive. However, due to natural decay, most of them become stable again within a day.

Under the influence of penetrating radiation (gamma rays), the glasses of optical instruments darken, and photographic materials in opaque packaging are illuminated. Electronic equipment is disabled, the resistance of resistors, the capacitance of capacitors change. Devices will give "failures", false positives.

Radioactive contamination of the area. It accounts for 10-15% of the total energy of the explosion. Radioactive contamination of terrain, water, water sources, airspace occurs as a result of the fallout of radioactive substances (RS) from the cloud of a nuclear explosion.

During underground and ground explosions, the soil from the explosion funnel, drawn into the fireball, melts and mixes with radioactive substances, and then gradually settles to the ground, both in the explosion area and outside it in the direction of the wind, forming local (local) fallout. Depending on the power of the explosion, from 60 to 80% of radioactive substances fall out locally. 20-40% of radioactive substances rises into the troposphere, spreads around the globe in it and gradually (within 1-2 months) settles on the ground, forming global fallout.

During air explosions, radioactive substances do not mix with the soil, rise into the stratosphere and slowly (over several years) fall to the ground in the form of a finely dispersed aerosol.

Sources of contamination of the area are fission products of a nuclear explosion (radionuclides), emitting beta particles and gamma rays; radioactive substances of the unreacted part of the nuclear charge (urapa-235, plutonium-239), emitting alpha, beta particles and gamma rays; radioactive substances formed in the soil under the influence of neutrons (induced radioactivity). In particular, silicon, sodium, and magnesium atoms in the soil become radioactive and emit beta particles and gamma rays.

Radioactive contamination, like penetrating radiation, does not cause damage to buildings, structures, equipment, but affects living organisms, which, absorbing the energy of radioactive radiation, receive a radiation dose (D), measured, as mentioned above, in roentgens (R).

The contamination of the area with radioactive substances is characterized by the dose rate, measured in roentgens per hour (R / h). The dose rate measured at a height of 1 m from the surface of the earth (large contaminated object) is called the radiation level.

The level of radiation shows the dose of radiation that a living organism can receive per unit time in an infected area. In wartime conditions, the area is considered contaminated at a radiation level of 0.5 R/h and above.

The degree of radioactive contamination of the surface of individual objects in the field is measured in units of radiation levels for gamma radiation in milliroentgens per hour (mR/h) or microroentgens per hour (μR/h).

Impact of radioactive contamination on production activities. Radioactive contamination of the area, unlike the shock wave and light radiation of a nuclear explosion, does not cause any destruction or damage to the objects of the agro-industrial complex (AIC), as well as the instant death of animals or plants. However, it is the radioactive contamination of the area that will be the factor determining the main share of the damage caused by nuclear weapons to agriculture and facilities located in rural areas, since the territory of dangerous radioactive contamination will be 10 times or more larger than the territory where the effect of the shock wave or light radiation will manifest itself. ground nuclear explosion.

After the decline in radiation levels, the main danger for people and animals will be the consumption of food, feed and water contaminated with RS. This danger will last for years and decades. It will require the population to comply with certain protection measures, and the agro-industrial complex specialists to take additional measures to reduce the pollution of agricultural products during production, transportation and storage.

Under the influence of radioactive contamination, huge areas of agricultural land will be taken out of normal crop rotation, the farming system will change for many years, animal husbandry will find itself in difficult conditions, it will be necessary to restructure the work of other objects of the agro-industrial complex and its partners due to undermining the raw material base.

The experience of eliminating the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has shown that radioactive contamination due to an accident of a nuclear reactor or its deliberate destruction during a war by conventional means of attack without the use of nuclear weapons can cause enormous damage to the state.

The initial stage in the development of nuclear energy (40–50s of the 20th century) both in the USA and in the USSR is associated with the technical capacities and scientific potential of the military-industrial complex. During that period, the first research nuclear reactors for military purposes were developed and launched: in 1942 - in Chicago, USA (uranium-graphite reactor CP-1, designed by a group of physicists at the University of Chicago under the leadership of E. Fermi); in 1946 - in Moscow, USSR (the F-1 uranium-graphite reactor, created by a group of physicists and engineers led by I.V. Kurchatov).

The United States of America, as part of the so-called Manhattan Project, created the first atomic bombs. It should be noted that the world's first application for an invention for the manufacture of an atomic bomb was dated October 17, 1940. It belonged to employees of the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR V.O. Maslov and V.S. Spinel "On the use of uranium as an explosive and poisonous substance".

The first atomic bomb, called the Device, was detonated as part of a test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. In the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan) on August 6 and 9, 1945, the second and third atomic bombs were detonated, which were named respectively "Kid" (Fig. 3.9) and "Fat Man" (Fig. 3.10). Military experts believed that uranium-235 bombs would have low effectiveness, since only 1.38% of the material was fissioned in them. To date, this is the only example of the combat use of atomic weapons.

At the time of the attack, the population of Hiroshima was approximately 255,000. From the moment the bomb was dropped to the explosion, 45 seconds passed (Fig. 3.11). It exploded 600 meters above the earth's surface with a blinding flash in the form of a giant fireball with a temperature of more than 4000 ° C. Radiation spread instantly in all directions with a blast wave of super-compressed air, bringing death and destruction. During the explosion of the “Kid”, approximately 70-80 thousand people died on the spot. The radius of the zone of complete destruction was approximately 1.6 kilometers, and fires broke out over an area of ​​11.4 km 2. Over 90% of Hiroshima's buildings were either damaged or completely destroyed (Fig. 3.12, 3.13). From an unknown disease, later called "radiation", tens of thousands of Hiroshima residents and residents of the surrounding area began to die. Due to the radiation "epidemic", the death toll in the coming weeks rose to 110,000, and after a lapse of months - up to 140,000.

The plutonium bomb "Fat Man" exploded near the surface of the earth over one of the churches in the central part of the city of Nagasaki. As a result of the explosion, the city and its inhabitants were almost completely destroyed (Fig. 3.14, 3.15).

The total death toll in Nagasaki was 75 thousand people. In both cities, the vast majority of victims were civilians.

This was the period of the arms race, which was marked by the rivalry between the two main world supersystems that formed after the end of the Second World War - the Warsaw Pact countries led by the USSR and the countries of the NATO bloc led by the United States. Later, China, England, and France joined in the testing of nuclear weapons.

As a result of these tests, radioactive substances of technogenic origin, which were previously not characteristic of our planet, entered the atmosphere for the first time. An artificial radiation background arose - global, all over the globe, environmental pollution with radionuclides formed during nuclear explosions. Particularly harmful were explosions in the atmosphere, when radioactive decay products infected large areas inhabited by people. During nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, a certain part of the radionuclides (up to 50% in ground explosions) falls out near the test area. However, a significant proportion of radioactive substances is retained in the air and, under the influence of the wind, moves over long distances, remaining approximately at the same latitude. Being in the air for about a month, radioactive substances during this movement gradually fall to the ground. Most of the radionuclides are released into the stratosphere (to a height of 10–15 km), and then the radionuclides fall out over the entire surface of the Earth. Radioactive fallout contains a large number of different radionuclides, but of these, 95 Cr, tritium, 17 Cs, 90 Sr and 14 C play the largest role, the half-lives of which are respectively 64 days, 12.4 years, 30 years (cesium and strontium) and 5730 years.

Especially intensive tests of nuclear weapons were carried out in the periods 1954-1958 and 1961-1962.

According to official data, at the existing five nuclear test sites - Nevada (USA, UK), Novaya Zemlya (USSR, now Russia); Semipalatinsk (USSR, now Kazakhstan), Mururoa Atoll (France), Lop Nor (China) - most of the 2059 experimental nuclear explosions of various types were carried out, including 501 tests were carried out directly in the atmosphere. For the entire period of testing, the activities of the main radionuclides that came to the earth's surface from global fallout amounted to: 949PBq 137 Cs, 578PBq 90 Sr and 5550PBq 131 J. However, many experts believe that the data on radioactive releases into the environment are underestimated, and therefore real indicators should be increased by 20-30%.

The concept of "radioactive contamination" did not yet exist in those years, and therefore this issue was not even raised at that time. People continued to live and rebuild the destroyed buildings in the same place where they were before. Even the extremely high mortality of the population in subsequent years, as well as diseases and genetic abnormalities in children born after the bombings, were not initially associated with exposure to radiation. The evacuation of the population from the contaminated areas was not carried out, since no one knew about the very presence of radioactive contamination. The degree of this pollution is now rather difficult to assess due to lack of information. However, given that the dropped bombs were the second and third instances of atomic weapons, they were technically imperfect, “dirty” in the language of specialists, that is, they left strong radioactive contamination of the area after the explosion.

From a military point of view, the atomic bombing was a senseless cruelty, since the outcome of the Second World War was already a foregone conclusion by this time and the actions of the US government were a show of force.

This led to a significant acceleration in the pace of the Soviet nuclear program. On October 25, 1946, an experimental graphite reactor was launched in Moscow. It consisted of 450 tons of graphite blocks, inside of which blocks of natural uranium were placed. The experimental work carried out at this reactor made it possible to evaluate the fundamental features and prospects of the new nuclear technology, and also provided the initial data for the design of more complex reactor designs. In particular, in June 1948, the first industrial reactor began to operate in the USSR, which was used mainly for military research purposes.

The test of the first Soviet nuclear device, called RDS-1, was carried out on August 29, 1949 at the Semipalatinsk test site. The power of the explosion produced corresponded to the calculated power of the device and amounted to 22 kW.

In the course of tests in 1951, a more advanced nuclear explosive device was detonated, and the delivery of a nuclear weapon using a bomber was also carried out for the first time. To practice the actions of troops in the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons, in September 1954, military exercises were held at the Taromskoye (Novaya Zemlya) training ground, during which a nuclear warhead was detonated.

In parallel with the improvement of atomic bombs based on the uncontrolled fission chain reaction of 235 U and 239 Pu, work was actively carried out in the USA and the USSR on the creation of thermonuclear explosive devices based on the fusion reaction of heavy hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium). The first Soviet thermonuclear device was the RDS-6 charge, which exploded on August 12, 1953. After this test, work began on the creation of a delivered ammunition on its basis, as well as work on the creation of two-stage thermonuclear devices that made it possible to create charges of greater power. The delivered version of the RDS-6 charge and a two-stage thermonuclear device, designated RDS-37, were tested in October-November 1955. The power of the explosion produced on November 22, 1955 during the test of the RDS-37 thermonuclear device was 1.6 MW.

By the end of the 50s of the twentieth century. in the USSR and the USA, the formation of the infrastructure necessary for the mass production of fissile materials and nuclear warheads was basically completed.

Naturally, almost no one seriously thought about the problems of preserving and protecting the natural environment at that time. Tests of nuclear weapons have led to severe environmental consequences on a global scale: for the first time in the history of the planet Earth, as a result of radioactive fallout, the radiation background has noticeably increased on almost its entire surface.

During this period, along with military nuclear programs, scientific and technical programs for the use of nuclear energy for energy purposes and, first of all, for solving the problems of generating electrical energy, became more active.

In 1951, in the USA, in the state of Idaho, at the experimental reactor EVR-1, electric energy was first obtained due to the heat from the fission reaction of uranium nuclei.

The Soviet Union was the first in world history to open the era of the industrial use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. This happened on June 27, 1954, when the world's first Obninsk nuclear power plant was put into operation.

Entering the XX I century, the world is increasingly faced with a number of global problems. These problems affect the life of not only a particular state or group of states, but also the interests of all mankind. The significance of these problems for the fate of our civilization is so great that their unresolved poses a threat to future generations of people. But they cannot be solved in isolation: this requires the combined efforts of all mankind.
One of these problems is the protection of the human environment. The great harmful effect on it lies in the existence and stockpiling of conventional weapons; An even greater danger is posed by weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons. Wars, primarily with the use of these weapons, carry the threat of an ecological catastrophe.
The destructive impact of military activity on the human environment is many-sided. The development, production, manufacture, testing and storage of weapons pose a serious danger to the nature of the Earth. Maneuvers, movements of military equipment disfigure the landscape, destroy the soil, poison the atmosphere, withdraw vast territories from the sphere of activity useful to man.

Wars cause severe damage to nature, leaving wounds that do not heal for a long time.
The arms race, accompanied by the maintenance of distrust between states and tension, creates a negative psychological climate and thus hinders international cooperation in environmental protection, the establishment of which, perhaps more than in other areas, depends on the joint efforts of states.
However, if the political, economic, psychological consequences of the arms race have been studied quite well, then we know little about the impact (especially direct) on the environment of both this race itself and war and military activity, which is explained by a number of objective circumstances. Disarmament has long been considered a specifically political international problem, the main content of which was the assessment of the armed forces of states and the search for the most acceptable forms of their reduction; the environmental consequences of the arms race were practically ignored, as were the similar consequences of wars. In addition, the environmental problem itself did not emerge on a sufficiently tangible scale until the end of the 1960s. Nature conservation for a long time was reduced to the contemplation of natural processes in the biosphere. Only recently has humanity come into direct contact with anthropogenic factors, that is, with those that human activity itself introduces into nature, which leads to changes that affect the organic world. Among the latter, factors that are directly or indirectly related to military activity are gaining ever-increasing weight.

Impact of the armed forces on the environment

Modern armed forces have a significant and dangerous impact on the environment: pollution of territories by military vehicles, forest fires during firing, destruction of the ozone layer during rocket launches and flights of military aircraft, radioactive contamination of the environment by nuclear submarines (they pose a danger as components of spent nuclear fuel , and radiation-contaminated hulls of decommissioned nuclear submarines, the disposal of which is carried out at great expense).
In addition, there has been a recent increase in accidents at depots of aging ammunition, as a result of which fires have destroyed a significant area of ​​​​forests in the territories adjacent to the depots.
Warehouses where components of nuclear weapons (warheads, rocket fuel, and so on) are stored are a constant threat. Potential sources of radioactive contamination of the environment are sunken submarines with nuclear installations.
However, the main environmental problems that are generated by the armed forces are the consequences of nuclear weapons testing, military ecocide in Indochina and the Persian Gulf, the problems of storage and destruction of chemical weapons, and solid and especially liquid fuels of combat missiles.
At present, there is a tendency to reduce military spending and convert military-industrial complex facilities into peaceful enterprises, close a number of military training grounds, eliminate military equipment, etc. Military enterprises master the production of environmentally friendly products. Conversion has a beneficial effect on the state of the ecological environment. Many "military reserves" around rocket launchers and ranges have well-preserved biota, which makes them promising for the organization of specially protected natural areas. Enriched flora and fauna are noted at the site of the former border between the FRG and the GDR, where only border guards had access.

Nuclear weapons testing (environmental consequences)

As a result of nuclear weapons testing, there is an increase in the radiation load on ecosystems affected by radioactive fallout and ionizing radiation, and on humans (including long-term genetic consequences). Until 1981, nuclear weapons were tested in the atmosphere, later - underground and under water. Location of the main nuclear test sites in the world: Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya (former USSR), Murua Atoll (France) and Lob Nor (China). The largest nuclear charges in the atmosphere were detonated on Novaya Zemlya, including the largest of the bombs detonated in the atmosphere (50 Mt, 1961). In the United States, the largest bomb exploded had a yield of 14.5 kt. The total power of explosions at Novaya Zemlya exceeds that for the Semipalatinsk test site by 15 times, although the number of explosions at the Semipalatinsk test site was higher (467 and 131, respectively).
In total, the power of atomic bombs detonated in the atmosphere is 629 Mt. HELL. Sakharov believed that 10,000 people die from an explosion in the atmosphere with a nuclear charge of 1 Mt.
The average stay of the explosion products in the atmosphere is 1-2 years, after which they settle to the ground. After the termination of tests in the atmosphere, the radioactive background of the territories that fell into the area of ​​emission of explosion products approaches safe in 5-7 years, although on Novaya Zemlya, as a result of the bioconcentration of radioactive isotopes by mosses and especially lichens, a dangerous level of radioactivity remains in reindeer meat.
Underground tests of nuclear weapons are not so dangerous, since the walls in the resulting underground cavity melt, and only radioactive gases can come to the surface, the physical half-life of which is several days. Nevertheless, in this case, the consequences of radioactive contamination were noted - the frequency of oncological diseases (leukemia, lung cancer) increased.
Tests of nuclear weapons have led to the spread of nuclear fission products around the globe. These products with precipitation fell into the soil and groundwater, and then into human food.
Explosions in the atmosphere and on the Earth's surface caused the most damage. Ground explosions introduced up to 5 tons of radioactive plutonium into the biosphere, and, according to the calculations of academician A. D. Sakharov, they are responsible for the death from cancer from 4 to 5 million inhabitants of the planet. Their consequences will manifest themselves for several thousand more years and will affect the health of many generations.

Additional threat - depleted uranium
According to some experts, weapons containing depleted uranium pose an additional threat to soldiers and the local population, as well as to the environment. Uranium is stuffed, in particular, with bombs capable of hitting deep underground bunkers, the so-called bunker buster bombs, which were used in particular in Afghanistan.
Berlin-based biochemist Professor Albrecht Schott explains that due to the extremely high density of uranium, weapons filled with it are capable of penetrating several meters of stone or tank armor.
Professor Schott examined 19 British veteran soldiers of the first war in the Persian Gulf region for defects in genetic materials. This kind of analysis is extremely complex, laborious and expensive. And despite this, according to Albrecht Schott, he considered it his duty to investigate the so-called "Balkan syndrome". This name was given to the increasing incidence of cancer and, in particular, leukemia among veterans of the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as the first war in Iraq, in which ammunition containing depleted uranium was used.
"I found significant defects in their chromosomal structure, all nineteen. 67% of the children of veterans of the first war in the Gulf region, born after the war, have significant birth defects. The number of victims is measured in the thousands, including here the population of Iraq, especially the South Iraq, as well as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, because the radioactive aerosol that forms after the explosion spreads over many kilometers."
The UK and US Departments of Defense, having conducted extensive research on this topic, reject the link between depleted uranium and this syndrome. The Americans and their allies intend to continue to use munitions containing depleted uranium, since their danger to the health of soldiers has not been conclusively proven.

Environmental aspects of World War II

War usually does not have environmental damage as its immediate aim. It is only a consequence, although inevitable and often very tangible, of military operations. This side of wars usually escaped the attention of researchers, and only in recent years has the environmental damage from these wars become the subject of serious analysis.
During the Second World War, the goal of causing environmental damage was of a peripheral nature, although some of the methods used on it can be viewed from the perspective of a special undermining of ecosystems and the use of natural forces (for example, the destruction of dams by the Nazis in Holland in 1944, which caused significant damage to the population of the coastal lowlands, was 200 thousand hectares were flooded, as well as their deforestation in Poland). The destruction of the natural environment for defensive purposes during the retreat of troops was also used during the Second World War. During the Allied bombardment of Hamburg and Dresden, there were attempts to cause firestorms. Such storms sometimes occur during forest fires, and they are much more dangerous than the latter. The burning is so intense that in the process of sucking in the oxygen of the atmosphere, winds of enormous strength are created, directed to the center of the fire and blowing at a speed of more than 45 meters per second. It is no coincidence that 20 years later, the American army tried to recreate firestorms in Vietnam, given their potential as one of the types of environmental weapons.
The Second World War demonstrated with particular force that not only people and the values ​​they created perish as a result of hostilities: the environment is also destroyed.

Environmental damage from World War II:
Destruction of agricultural land, crops and forests on a large scale in the USSR, Poland, Norway and other European countries; flooding of lowlands (in Holland, 17% of arable land is flooded with sea water); radioactive contamination of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the destruction of the ecosystems of many islands in the Pacific Ocean; increased consumption of natural resources.

World War II legacy

December 27, 1947 ended one of the most secret operations in history. The naval forces of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition (USA, Great Britain and the USSR) sent chemical weapons stockpiles of defeated Germany to the bottom of the Baltic Sea. This was done as part of the tripartite treaty of 1945, which has not yet been removed from the secrecy stamp.
302,875 tons of ammunition containing 14 types of poisonous substances were flooded - from mustard gas, widely known since the First World War, to the latest at that time, developed by Nazi Germany. On average, toxic substances make up about 20% of the mass of ammunition. So over 60 thousand tons of toxic substances in their pure form fell to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits. (For comparison: according to international treaties, Russia is obliged to destroy "only" 40 thousand tons of its poisonous substances, that is, one and a half times less than lies at the bottom of one of the world's shallowest seas and the straits connecting this closed water area with the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean).
Taking a decision 56 years ago to destroy chemical weapons (to sink them together with ships at great depths), the Allies sincerely believed that in this way the problem would be solved once and for all. From the point of view of science of those years, it was a simple and reliable way to get rid of the terrible legacy of the war. It was believed that even with the simultaneous depressurization of all ammunition and the ingress of toxic substances into the water due to erosion, mixing, drifting by currents, their concentration would fall below the maximum permissible level in a few hours (in extreme cases, days). Only many years later, the English geneticist Charlotte Auerbach discovered the strongest mutagenic properties of mustard gas and other toxic substances. Alas, MPCs for them have not been established to this day: even in negligible quantities (several molecules per liter of water), mustard gas retains all its insidious qualities. Having passed through the food chains and entering the human body, at first it does not manifest itself in any way, and only after months, or even years, it is realized in the form of malignant neoplasms, ulcers, or (after two, three, four generations) leads to the birth of physically and mentally handicapped children.
The leadership of the USSR, in the conditions of the most severe devastation after the Second World War, decided not to sacrifice even the oldest ships and flood our share of Nazi Germany's chemical weapons (35 thousand tons - 12% of the total amount of ammunition) in bulk. With the consent of the allies, the leadership of the USSR put these plans into practice: 5 thousand tons of ammunition were flooded 130 km southwest of the port of Liepaja, the remaining 30 thousand tons - near the island of Bornholm (Denmark). Everywhere the depths were 101-105 meters.
According to the latest data, there were 422,875 tons of chemical or 101-105 m weapons on the seabed (not counting 35,000 tons of “placer” burials); 85 thousand tons of "clean" poisonous substances.
In 1991, Russia took the unprecedented step of declassifying 27 documents relating to the flooded chemical weapons. On the contrary, the United Kingdom and the United States, when the 50-year period of secrecy of these documents expired, were extended for another 20 years, until 2017. However, it seems that by then the details will no longer matter: poisonous substances will be in the sea much earlier.
The rate of corrosion of shells of ammunition in the Baltic water is about 0.1-0.15 mm/year. The thickness of the shells is on average 5-6 mm. More than 50 years have passed... Simultaneous release of large amounts of OM can occur at any moment when the upper layers of shells in the holds of ships push through the rusted shells lying under them with their weight. This may happen in an hour, a week or a year, but it may be that the OM has already penetrated into the sea water after the last expedition of 2001 left the ill-fated area ...
The expedition of 2001 confirmed the information about the presence of toxic substances in the water, which had previously been found in 1997. And in 2000, two ships with ammunition were discovered. Holes in the sides and decks, torn hatch covers - all this has been found more than once. But inside the hulls, shells and aerial bombs, lying in bulk, shone dimly. In the light of searchlights, holes in the shells of ammunition were also visible ... Express analyzes registered a wide range of toxic substances.
About 1 million tons of fish and seafood per year are caught in the Baltic Sea, another 1.5 million tons are caught in the North Sea. The average European consumes about 10 kg of fish per year. Thus, more than 250 million people a year are at risk of getting toxic substances as a seasoning for seafood.

The world community, perhaps, has not yet encountered a more acute problem that requires the most urgent and decisive measures for its solution ...
Today, during the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, it is necessary to solve the environmental problems of the Barents Sea. Thus, the economic and political interest of many countries in this gas pipeline benefited the ecological situation in the region.
“Nord Stream is a transnational project, and its construction is regulated by international conventions and the national law of each state through which the gas pipeline will pass. Of great importance for such projects is the strict observance of the "Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context" (Espoo Convention). This document establishes the obligations of all parties regarding environmental impact assessment in the early stages of project planning.
Thousands of square kilometers of the Baltic Sea have already been explored today. The studies that have already been and will be carried out during the design process are a valuable contribution to the study of the marine environment. Over a thousand water and soil samples will be taken. Bottom studies are carried out using the most modern equipment: a multibeam echo sounder, a sonar for scanning bottom irregularities, profilers for studying soil layers and a magnetometer for scanning metal objects. The bottom of the Baltic Sea along the pipeline route will be scrutinized for fragments of World War II munitions.
In the autumn of 2009, work began on clearing the bottom of the Baltic Sea along the route of the gas pipeline. The study carried out a particularly thorough inspection of sections of the gas pipeline route in the areas of two known chemical munitions dump sites: east of Bornholm Island and southeast of Gotland Island,

The danger of nuclear war and its global environmental consequences.

Of all the types of human impact on the environment, military operations are undoubtedly the most powerful destructive factor. War causes unprecedented damage to human populations and ecosystems. Thus, only during the Second World War, an area of ​​about 3.3 million square kilometers was covered by military operations, and 55 million people died. In turn, the most destructive war for the biosphere is nuclear I with the use of weapons of mass destruction. The danger of nuclear war remains despite the end of the Cold War. Its possibility was shown by the recent conflict between India and Pakistan: both countries have nuclear weapons, their means of delivery and were ready to deliver nuclear strikes.
The action of nuclear weapons is based on the colossal energy released during the fission of uranium or plutonium nuclei (atomic weapons) or during the thermonuclear fusion of helium from hydrogen nuclei (hydrogen or thermonuclear weapons). The damaging factors of nuclear weapons are: shock wave, light radiation, penetrating radiation and radioactive contamination.
shock wave is similar in nature to a sound wave of gigantic power. It arises as a result of the instantaneous expansion of air at the epicenter of the explosion when it is heated to a temperature of several million degrees and has tremendous destructive power, destroying everything in its path: people, animals, forests, buildings, etc.
At the moment of a nuclear explosion, a powerful light emission, capable of causing severe burns to open areas of the body, including the retinas of the eyes (a person will simply lose his sight if he looks at a nuclear flash) and entailing massive fires of forests, houses, etc.
Under influence penetrating radiation(a-, b-, g- and neutron radiation) radiation sickness occurs in humans and animals, which in severe cases ends in death.
In addition to the direct death of people and organisms from the action of the damaging factors of nuclear weapons, the death of all life on Earth as a result of the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons is possible. Thus, the destruction of the dams of hydraulic structures can lead to floods. If nuclear power plants are damaged, there will be an additional increase in radiation levels. In rural areas, radioactive contamination of crops will occur, which will lead to mass starvation of the population. In the event of a nuclear strike in winter, the survivors of the explosions will be left homeless and may die from hypothermia.

The pernicious consequence of a long-term nuclear war will be the destruction of the ozone layer. According to a report by the US National Academy of Sciences, up to 10,000 Mt of nuclear warheads could be detonated in a world nuclear war, causing 70% of the ozone layer to be destroyed over the Northern Hemisphere and 40% over the Southern. This will have a detrimental effect on all living things.

As a result, a large-scale nuclear war, as calculations show (N. N. Moiseev, M. I. Budyko, G. S. Golitsyn, etc.), will inevitably lead to a climatic catastrophe, called “nuclear winter” - a sharp cooling after a massive use of nuclear weapons, due to the release of large amounts of smoke and dust into the atmosphere. The fact is that the consequence of nuclear explosions will be massive fires, accompanied by the release of a colossal amount of dust into the atmosphere. Smoke from fires and clouds of radioactive dust will envelop the Earth with an impenetrable veil, a “nuclear night” will come for many weeks and even months. The temperature at the Earth's surface will drop significantly (down to minus 310C). Increased doses of radiation will lead to an increase in cancers, miscarriages, pathologies in newborns. All these factors are the death of mankind (scientists say that after a nuclear war, only cockroaches and rats will survive on Earth, not counting microorganisms).

Russian-American Treaty on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms

Today, the United States and Russia contain more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons. The START Reduction and Limitation Treaty should become the basis for the global non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. This treaty will provide further arms reductions and serve as a basis for discussions between the United States and Russia to reduce not only strategic but also tactical weapons, including non-deployed weapons. It took experts from both sides a whole year to write this document.
On April 8, 2010 in Prague, Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama signed a new Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on measures to further reduce and limit strategic offensive arms.
Recently, the world has faced a weakening of the nuclear non-proliferation regime established during the Cold War. At that time, these weapons served as a deterrent, a guarantee against a “hot” war. Today, this understanding of nuclear weapons is a relic of the past. The nonproliferation treaty needed to be modified. Because the members of the nuclear club within its borders did not bear any obligations to the world community. And they were engaged in building up and improving their nuclear arsenals.
The signing of the START treaty by Russia and the United States is a long-awaited positive example for nuclear leaders. Moscow and Washington expect the same participation in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament from other nuclear powers. “We are absolutely not indifferent to what happens with nuclear weapons in other countries,” Medvedev stressed. “I would like the signing of this treaty not to be considered by other countries as their elimination from this topic.”
President Obama also believes that other powers must consider what decisions they will make regarding their nuclear arsenals. He very much hopes that in the 21st century the number of countries will grow that will begin to understand that the main factors of world security lie in the plane of economic growth, and that nuclear weapons as the cornerstone of security will gradually become a thing of the past. “This is a long-term plan that may not be achieved in my lifetime,” Obama recalled the idea of ​​nuclear zero. Namely, he believes this is what will help the world finally forget about the times of the Cold War.

Literature:
Borisov, T. N. Apocalypse on a European scale / T. N. Borisov // Ecology and Life. - 2002. - No. 1. - S. 48.
Vavilov, A. M. Ecological consequences of the arms race / A. M. Vavilov. - M., 1984. - 176 p.
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Tools of world domination // http://iwolga.narod.ru/docs/imper_zl/5h_4.htm
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Compiled by: Makovskaya E. A. - subscription library

Nuclear energy is fraught with danger as a result of random circumstances of radioactive contamination of the natural environment, which can occur not only as a result of the use of atomic weapons, but also due to accidents at nuclear power plants. The fact that the current environmental crisis is the reverse side of the scientific and technological revolution is confirmed by the fact that it is precisely those achievements of scientific and technological progress that served as the starting point ...

Environmental consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction (abstract, term paper, diploma, control)

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Environmental consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction

I chose this topic because it is relevant. After all, the problem of ecology is one of the global problems of our time. Exactly global environmental problems in the future will have a tremendous impact on our planet. The peculiarity of the problem of ecology lies in the fact that it has a global character. The development of society has always been accompanied by the destruction of ecology. The constant development of military activities entails a change in ecosystems.

It is clear that these changes will bring colossal problems related to destruction of wildlife ecosystems, changes in the ecology of the oceans, an increase in ozone holes, the emergence of new cataclysms in the ecology of the Earth. The significance of these problems for the fate of our civilization is so great that their unresolved threatens to destroy the environment once and for all.

A great harmful effect on it lies in the problem of the existence and stockpiling of conventional weapons; An even greater danger to the environment is posed by weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons.

The destructive impact of military activity on the human environment is many-sided. Wars cause heavy damage to the environment, leaving wounds that do not heal for a long time. The very problem for the environment did not emerge on a sufficiently tangible scale until the end of the 60s of the 20th century. Nature conservation for a long time was reduced to the contemplation of natural processes in the biosphere. Interest in the problem of "war - ecology" among scientists and the public became tangible in the mid-80s years and continues to expand. Explaining the scale of the negative impact on the environment of military activities mobilizes public opinion in favor of disarmament. Finally, drawing attention to the dangerous environmental consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction makes it possible to further emphasize the special need for their prohibition. This problem is ripe, because a nuclear war, if it is unleashed, will become a catastrophe on a global scale, a complete imbalance of ecology, and, as far as scientific research can judge its consequences, the end of human civilization in our understanding.

The war usually did not have as an immediate goal the infliction of environmental economic problems adversary. It is only a consequence of military operations. This side of wars usually escaped the attention of researchers, and only in recent years environmental damage from these wars has been the subject of serious scrutiny.

Although the goal of causing damage to the environment was peripheral, some of the methods used on it can be viewed from the perspective of a special undermining of ecosystems and the use of natural forces. The Second World War demonstrated with particular force that not only people and the values ​​created by them perish as a result of hostilities: the environment is also destroyed, which have arisen problems during hostilities lead to environmental problems for future generations.

ecology consequence weapons mass destruction

1. What such weapon mass defeat.

Weapons of mass destruction (weapons of mass destruction) - a weapon designed to cause mass casualties or destruction over a large area. The damaging factors of weapons of mass destruction, as a rule, continue to cause damage for a long time. WMD also demoralizes both the troops and the civilian population.

You can also give another definition of this concept: Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) - means designed for mass extermination or destruction of people and animals, complete destruction or withdrawal from the normal functional state of all types of military and civilian objects, destruction and contamination of material values, s.-x. crops and natural vegetation. WMD includes nuclear, chemical and biological (bacteriological) weapons, each of which has a specific damaging effect due to its properties. At the same time, all types of WMD have a traumatic effect, resulting in neurosis and mental illness. Comparable consequences can also occur in the case of the use of conventional weapons or the commission of terrorist acts at environmentally hazardous facilities, such as nuclear power plants, dams and hydroelectric facilities, chemical plants, etc.

The following types of weapons of mass destruction are in service with modern states:

· chemical weapon;

· biological weapons;

· nuclear weapon;

2. Feature weapons mass defeat

Weapons of mass destruction are characterized by high lethality and a large area of ​​action. The objects of influence can be both the people themselves, structures, and the natural habitat: fertile soils, terrain (in order to fetter the enemy), plants, animals.

The damaging factors of WMD always have both an instantaneous effect and a more or less extended one in time.

· Damaging factors of a nuclear explosion- this is an air shock wave, a seismic wave, light radiation of nuclear weapons, penetrating radiation, an electromagnetic pulse (instantaneous), radioactive contamination(extended).

· For chemical weapons, the damaging factor is, in fact, the toxic substance in various forms (gaseous, aerosol, on the surface of objects). The duration of action varies depending on the type of poisonous substance and meteorological conditions.

For biological weapons, the damaging factor is the causative agent of the disease (aerosol, on the surface of objects). The duration can vary depending on the pathogen and external conditions from several hours or days to tens of years (natural anthrax foci exist for at least decades).

3. Environmental effects applications nuclear weapons and his effects

Nuclear energy is fraught with danger as a result of random circumstances of radioactive contamination of the natural environment, which can occur not only as a result of the use of atomic weapons, but also due to accidents at nuclear power plants.

The fact that the current environmental crisis is the reverse side of the scientific and technological revolution is confirmed by the fact that it was precisely those achievements of scientific and technological progress that served as the starting point for the announcement of the onset of the scientific and technological revolution that led to the most powerful environmental disasters on our planet. In 1945, the atomic bomb was created, testifying to the new unprecedented possibilities of man. In 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant was built in Obninsk, and many hopes were pinned on the "peaceful atom". And in 1986, the largest man-made disaster in the history of the Earth occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a result of an attempt to “tame” the atom and make it work for itself.

As a result of this accident, more radioactive materials were released than during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The "peaceful atom" turned out to be more terrible than the military one. Mankind has faced such man-made disasters that may well claim the status of super-regional, if not global.

The peculiarity of a radioactive lesion is that it can kill painlessly. Pain, as you know, is an evolutionarily developed defense mechanism, but the "trick" of the atom is that in this case this warning mechanism is not activated. For example, the waters discharged from the nuclear power plant in Hanford (USA) were initially considered completely safe.

However, later it turned out that in neighboring water bodies the radioactivity of plankton increased 2000 times, the radioactivity of ducks that fed on plankton increased 40,000 times, and the fish became 150,000 times more radioactive than the waters discharged by the station.

Swallows that caught insects whose larvae developed in the water found radioactivity 500,000 times higher than in the waters of the station itself. In the yolk of waterfowl eggs, the radioactivity increased a million times.

The Chernobyl accident affected more than 7 million people and will affect many more, including the unborn, since radiation contamination affects not only the health of those living today, but also those who are to be born. The funds for the liquidation of the consequences of the catastrophe may exceed the economic profit from the operation of all nuclear power plants in the territory of the former USSR.

The magnitude of the temperature drop does not depend too much on the power of the nuclear weapon used, but this power greatly affects the duration of the "nuclear night". The results obtained by scientists from different countries differed in details, but the qualitative effect of "nuclear night" and "nuclear winter" was very clearly marked in all calculations. Thus, the following can be considered established:

1. As a result of a large-scale nuclear war, a "nuclear night" will be established over the entire planet, and the amount of solar heat entering the earth's surface will be reduced by several tens of times. As a result, a "nuclear winter" will come, i.e., there will be a general decrease in temperature, especially strong - over the continents.

2. The process of purification of the atmosphere will go on for many months and even years. But the atmosphere will not return to its original state - its thermohydrodynamic characteristics will become completely different.

A decrease in the temperature of the Earth's surface a month after the formation of soot clouds will be significant on average: 15–20 C, and at points remote from the oceans - up to 35 C. This temperature will last for several months, during which the earth's surface will freeze several meters, depriving everyone of fresh water especially as the rain stops. A “nuclear winter” will also come in the Southern Hemisphere, as soot clouds will envelop the entire planet, all circulation cycles in the atmosphere will change, although in Australia and South America the cooling will be less significant (by 10-12 C).

Until the early 1970s. the problem of the environmental consequences of underground nuclear explosions was reduced only to protective measures against their seismic and radiation effects at the time of their conduct (ie, the safety of blasting operations was ensured). A detailed study of the dynamics of processes occurring in the explosion zone was carried out exclusively from the point of view of technical aspects. The small size of nuclear charges (compared to chemical ones) and the easily achievable high power of nuclear explosions attracted military and civilian specialists. A false idea arose about the high economic efficiency of underground nuclear explosions (a concept that replaced a less narrow one - the technological efficiency of explosions as a really powerful way to destroy rock masses). And only in the 1970s. it became clear that the negative environmental impact of underground nuclear explosions on the environment and human health negates the economic benefits derived from them. In 1972, the Plowshare program for the use of underground explosions for peaceful purposes, adopted in 1963, was terminated in the United States. In the USSR, since 1974, underground nuclear explosions of external action have been abandoned. Underground nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes in the Astrakhan and Perm regions and in Yakutia.

At some facilities where underground nuclear explosions were carried out, radioactive contamination was recorded at a considerable distance from the epicenters both in the bowels and on the surface ["https: // site", 15].

Dangerous geological phenomena begin in the vicinity - movements of rock masses in the near zone, as well as significant changes in the regime of groundwater and gases and the appearance of induced (provoked by explosions) seismicity in certain areas. Exploited cavities of explosions turn out to be very unreliable elements of technological schemes of production processes. This violates the reliability of the robots of industrial complexes of strategic importance, reduces the resource potential of the subsoil and other natural complexes. A long stay in the explosion zones causes damage to the immune and hematopoietic systems of a person.

The main environmental problem in Russia from Murmansk to Vladivostok is massive radiation pollution and contamination of drinking water.

4. Environmental consequences of application weapons mass defeat

Pollution of huge areas of the earth's surface will exclude the possibility of using them for animal husbandry and crop production, etc. Products contaminated with radioactive substances, when consumed, can cause damage to various organs and systems in humans and have a prolonged teratogenic and mutagenic effect, as a result of which the frequency of malignant diseases and deformities in offspring will increase. As a result of fires that capture large regions, the amount of oxygen in the air will decrease, the content of nitrogen and carbon oxides in it will sharply increase, which will cause the formation of so-called "ozone holes" in the protective layer of the earth's atmosphere. In such conditions, fauna and flora will be adversely affected by the ultraviolet radiation of the sun. Powerful mushroom clouds and smoke from giant fires formed during ground-based nuclear explosions can completely shield solar radiation and thereby cause a cooling of the earth's surface, which will lead to the onset of the so-called "nuclear winter". Thus, the use of nuclear energy for military purposes will turn the prosperous and fertile regions of the planet into lifeless deserts. Therefore, the most important component among the measures aimed at preserving the natural ecosystem of the Earth is the struggle for the prohibition of the use and complete destruction of nuclear weapons. The first practical step in this direction has been taken. Thanks to the efforts, first of all, the USSR concluded and put into effect an agreement on the elimination of intermediate and shorter-range missiles.

If nuclear charges with a total capacity of 10,000 megatons are detonated during a war on a territory equal to the United States, practically the entire animal world will be destroyed, because the average level of radiation throughout the country will exceed 10,000 rads. The fate of fish is not entirely clear, since, on the one hand, water provides some protection from radiation, but, on the other hand, radioactive fallout will be washed off into water bodies, which will lead to even greater environmental problems.

The relatively high resistance of insects, bacteria and fungi is fraught with many troubles, both for humans and for nature. These organisms, at least for a short time, will escape death and perhaps even breed in fantastic numbers. The lethal dose for insects varies for different individuals from 2,000 to 10,000 rads. The most voracious insects, phytophages (herbivores), will survive, and the death of birds will contribute to their rapid reproduction.

Large plants will suffer more from radiation than small ones. The trees will die first, the grass last. The most sensitive to radiation are pine, spruce and other evergreen trees, the lethal dose of radiation for which is equal to the dose for mammals. The lethal dose for 80% of deciduous trees is from 8 thousand rads.

The herb will die when receiving a dose of 6,000 to 33,000 rads.

Cultural plantings will be destroyed already in the first seconds of a nuclear war - a dose of 5 thousand rads is enough for this. and less.

Ecology is interdependent, when vegetation dies, soil degrades. Rain speeds up the process. washing out and nourishing minerals. An excess of these substances in rivers and lakes will lead to the accelerated reproduction of algae and microorganisms, which in turn will reduce the oxygen content in the water.

The soil, which has lost its nutritional properties, will not be able to maintain the same level of flora. As a result, resistant plant species (grass, moss, lichens) will gradually replace vulnerable species (trees). Vegetation will be restored mainly due to grasses, which can lead to a decrease in biomass and, accordingly, the productivity of the ecosystem by 80%.

The problem will disappear quickly, the normal process of restoring the ecological balance will slow down or be disturbed. In the history of the Earth, there have been natural disasters (for example, the ice age), leading to the mass disappearance of large ecosystems. It is difficult to predict which way the evolution of the remaining living matter will go. There have been no global catastrophes on Earth for several million years. Nuclear war may be the last such catastrophe.

An idea about the state of deserts after nuclear explosions is given by the results of nuclear weapons tests in the Mohave Desert (Nevada). Over the course of 8 years, 89 small atmospheric explosions were made in this place. Already the first of them destroyed the entire biosphere with an area of ​​up to 204 hectares. The area of ​​partial destruction was 5255 ha. 3-4 years after the end of testing in this area, the first signs of the return of vegetation appeared. A complete restoration of the ecology of the area should be expected no earlier than in a few decades.

And when biological (bacteriological) and chemical weapons are used, environmental pollution, water, air, as well as poisoning of animals, including humans, occurs.

Conclusion

In conclusion of my report, I would like to draw a few conclusions.

Firstly, the use of weapons of mass destruction has a great impact on the environment, the vital activity of all living organisms, from the simplest bacteria to higher living organisms, including humans.

Secondly, weapons of mass destruction have a destructive effect on the most important elements of the biosphere - flora and fauna, the atmosphere, rivers and lakes.

Thirdly, using this weapon, we do not think about the consequences that can affect the ecosystem and the life of all living organisms in general.

In my opinion, this topic is the most urgent problem of our time.

1. A. I. Shapimov “Ecology: anxiety is growing”, Lenizdat, 1989

2. E. K. Fedorov “Ecological crisis and social progress”, Gidrometeoizdat, 1977

3. N. P. Dubinin et al. "Environmental alternative", Moscow Progress, 1990

4. A. L. Yanshin, A. I. Melua "Lessons of ecological miscalculations", Moscow "Thought", 1991