Nuclear explosions and environmental risk management

With the first nuclear explosion in the atmosphere in 1945 and underground nuclear explosion in 1957 in Nevada, USA, treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963. Testing of nuclear weapons cause environmental hazards including radioactive contamination in the land and sea. As a result, they cause different diseases in humans that are exposed to such pollution. In fact, radioactive particles are released from the location of nuclear explosion after a while and are emitted by such factors as wind, water, and so on. They endanger the life and health of people and cause irrecoverable injuries in them. The last nuclear explosion (fifth nuclear explosion in North Korea) occurred on September 9, 2016 in Punggye-ri in North Korea, which yielded about 10-30 kt (different reports), that is evaluated equivalent to an earthquake with a magnitude 5.3 (mb, USGS). 1000 ton TNT is equivalent to a kilo ton and is equal to 1012 calories. In this study, by using the data from IRIS global network, recorded signals were processed and examined at the stations. Consequently, the yield of the North Korea nuclear test estimated 14 kt. Generally, the purpose of this research is to study one of the main man-made crises that is nuclear explosions and to analyze its environmental impact, as well as the study of various atmospheric and social environment injuries by means of radioactive contaminations. Environmental hazards of the nuclear explosions persist in the occurring area for years after the explosions as it is in major events like the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986 and Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011. Millions of people from countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, parts of Europe and Russia, USA, Canada and Japan are exposed to the risks of environmental pollution resulted from radiation of the Chernobyl explosion. One of the most important environmental hazards of nuclear explosions is the risk of cancers, especially blood and thyroid cancers, which are more common among people who are exposed to radioactive materials than normal people. Therefore, more efforts are needed to limit nuclear explosions; otherwise, the radiation enters the humans’ body through water, wind, food, etc. As a result, nuclear waste should be disposed of by proper facilities, because they mostly need billions of years to be fully decayed.

Keywords:

Nuclear explosion , Environmental risks , Man-made crisis , Radioactive