Nuclear Winter: Impact of a Nuclear War

Nuclear weapons have been used twice by the United States on the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands died as a result. Modern nuclear weapons are many times more destructive than these bombs. Today, a nuclear war would be catastrophic for the whole planet.

The human and environmental costs of nuclear war must be understood.

After the immediate deaths caused by a nuclear attack, any survivors would be poisoned within a matter of days by radioactive fall-out.

If not destroyed by the nuclear blast, the sheer scale of the casualties would overwhelm any country’s medical resources. The International Red Cross has concluded that the use of a single nuclear weapon in or near a populated area is likely to result in a humanitarian disaster. There is currently no international plan in place to deliver humanitarian assistance to survivors in the case of a nuclear attack.

Nuclear weapons cause severe, long-term damage to the climate and environment on a scale incomparable to any other weapon. Research by the International Red Cross shows the effect of a ‘limited’ nuclear war involving 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs – less than half a per cent of the world’s stockpile). The five million tonnes of soot produced by the ensuing fires would cause global temperature to fall by an average of 1.3C. The disrupted global climate would have an overwhelming impact on food production. It is estimated that a billion people around the world could face starvation as a result of nuclear war.

As the risk of nuclear war comes ever closer, the need for diplomacy is more urgent than ever. Political leaders must understand what the use of just a single nuclear weapon would mean. The catastrophic human and environmental destruction, the incineration of cities and populations, and the appalling deaths from radiation poisoning, should be remembered at all times.

Join CND in this critical global movement to rid the world of nuclear weapons.