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Foreseeable Effects of Nuclear Detonations on a Local Environment: Boulder County, Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Jeffrey O. Bennett ,
Patricia S.C. Johnson ,
Jeffrey R. Key ,
Douglas C. Pattie  and
Alan H. Taylor
Jeffrey O. Bennett
Affiliation:
Department of Astra-Geophysics
Patricia S.C. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
Jeffrey R. Key
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
Douglas C. Pattie
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
Alan H. Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
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Extract

The effects on Boulder County, Colorado, of a major nuclear war are predicted. Although many of the effects of such a horrific event would be global in nature, the direct ones on Boulder County were considered in terms of being primarily due to three one-megaton blasts in Denver, situated 40 km to the south-east. Under assumed wind conditions, agricultural crops would be contaminated with radionuclides for prolonged periods, rendering them dangerous for human consumption. Loss of animal life, flooding, increased sedimentation, and extensive soil-erosion, should also be expected. Recovery times for environmental systems are difficult to predict. Indeed, unknown synergistic effects and global changes in atmospheric conditons might preclude eventual recovery.

Although numerous assumptions were made in these predictions, and the impacts described are scenario-dependent, the implications are clear: even if Boulder County received no direct hit, a nuclear war would have a devastating impact on the environmental systems that were considered.

The prognosis from this study and others for human societies and involved ecosystems in the event of nuclear war is grim. We hope that continued research and dignified publicity of results on the effects of nuclear war will increase the urgency with which solutions to the nuclear dilemma are sought.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , Summer 1984 , pp. 155 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1984

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