Editing Nuclear fallout (section)

===Effects on the environment===
{{Further|Nuclear fallout effects on an ecosystem}}

In the event of a large-scale nuclear exchange, the effects would be drastic on the environment as well as directly to the human population. Within direct blast zones everything would be vaporized and destroyed. Cities damaged but not completely destroyed would lose their water system due to the loss of power and supply lines rupturing.<ref name=Implications>{{Cite book|date=1986-01-01|title=The Medical Implications of Nuclear War|doi=10.17226/940|pmid=25032468|isbn=978-0-309-07866-5|last1=Solomon|first1=Fred|last2=Marston|first2=Robert Q.|last3=Thomas|first3=Lewis}}</ref> Within the local nuclear fallout pattern suburban areas' water supplies would become extremely contaminated. At this point stored water would be the only safe water to use. All surface water within the fallout would be contaminated by falling fission products.<ref name=Implications/>

Within the first few months of the nuclear exchange the nuclear fallout will continue to develop and detriment the environment. Dust, smoke, and [[Radioactive decay|radioactive particles]] will fall hundreds of kilometers downwind of the explosion point and pollute surface water supplies.<ref name=Implications/> [[Iodine-131]] would be the dominant fission product within the first few weeks, and in the months following the dominant fission product would be [[strontium-90]].<ref name=Implications/> These fission products would remain in the fallout dust, resulting in rivers, lakes, sediments, and soils being contaminated with the fallout.<ref name=Implications/>

Rural areas' water supplies would be slightly less polluted by fission particles in intermediate and long-term fallout than cities and suburban areas. Without additional contamination, the lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and runoff would be gradually less contaminated as water continued to flow through its system.<ref name=Implications/>

Groundwater supplies such as aquifers would however remain unpolluted initially in the event of a nuclear fallout. Over time the groundwater could become contaminated with fallout particles, and would remain contaminated for over 10 years after a nuclear engagement.<ref name=Implications/> It would take hundreds or thousands of years for an aquifer to become completely pure.<ref>{{Citation|last=van der Heijde|first=P. K. M.|chapter=Models in Regulation: A Report on Panel Discussions|date=1989|pages=653–656|publisher=Springer Netherlands|isbn=9789401075336|doi=10.1007/978-94-009-2301-0_60|title=Groundwater Contamination: Use of Models in Decision-Making}}</ref> Groundwater would still be safer than surface water supplies and would need to be consumed in smaller doses. Long term, [[Caesium-137|cesium-137]] and strontium-90 would be the major radionuclides affecting the fresh water supplies.<ref name=Implications/>

The dangers of nuclear fallout do not stop at increased risks of cancer and radiation sickness, but also include the presence of radionuclides in human organs from food. A fallout event would leave fission particles in the soil for animals to consume, followed by humans. Radioactively contaminated milk, meat, fish, vegetables, grains and other food would all be dangerous because of fallout.<ref name=Implications/>

From 1945 to 1967 the U.S. conducted hundreds of nuclear weapon tests.<ref name="Shadow 244–274">{{Cite journal|last=Meyers|first=Keith|date=March 14, 2019|title=In the Shadow of the Mushroom Cloud: Nuclear Testing, Radioactive Fallout, and Damage to U.S. Agriculture, 1945 to 1970|journal=The Journal of Economic History|volume=79|issue=1|pages=244–274|doi=10.1017/S002205071800075X|s2cid=134969796|issn=0022-0507|url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/258121/files/Abstracts_17_05_18_16_06_27_33__128_196_90_232_0.pdf}}</ref> [[Nuclear weapons testing|Atmospheric testing]] took place over the US mainland during this time and as a consequence scientists have been able to study the effect of nuclear fallout on the environment. Detonations conducted near the surface of the earth irradiated thousands of tons of soil.<ref name="Shadow 244–274"/> Of the material drawn into the atmosphere, portions of radioactive material will be carried by low altitude winds and deposited in surrounding areas as radioactive dust. The material intercepted by high altitude winds will continue to travel. When a radiation cloud at high altitude is exposed to rainfall, the radioactive fallout will contaminate the downwind area below.<ref name="Shadow 244–274"/>

Agricultural fields and plants will absorb the contaminated material and animals will consume the radioactive material. As a result, the nuclear fallout may cause livestock to become ill or die, and if consumed the radioactive material will be passed on to humans.<ref name="Shadow 244–274"/>

The damage to other living organism as a result to nuclear fallout depends on the species.<ref name="Koppe 247–268">{{Citation|last=Koppe|first=Erik V.|chapter=Use of nuclear weapons and protection of the environment during international armed conflict|pages=247–268|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107337435|doi=10.1017/cbo9781107337435.018|title=Nuclear Weapons under International Law|year=2014|hdl=1887/35608|chapter-url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/35608/E.V.%20Koppe%20-%20Use%20of%20nuclear%20weapons%20and%20protection%20of%20the%20environment%20during%20IAC.pdf?sequence=1|editor1-last=Nystuen|editor1-first=Gro|editor2-last=Casey-Maslen|editor2-first=Stuart|editor3-last=Bersagel|editor3-first=Annie Golden|hdl-access=free|access-date=2019-09-24|archive-date=2019-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214035802/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/35608/E.V.%20Koppe%20-%20Use%20of%20nuclear%20weapons%20and%20protection%20of%20the%20environment%20during%20IAC.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}</ref> Mammals particularly are extremely sensitive to nuclear radiation, followed by birds, plants, fish, reptiles, crustaceans, insects, moss, lichen, algae, bacteria, mollusks, and viruses.<ref name="Koppe 247–268"/>

Climatologist [[Alan Robock]] and atmospheric and oceanic sciences professor Brian Toon created a model of a hypothetical small-scale nuclear war that would have approximately 100 weapons used. In this scenario, the fires would create enough soot into the atmosphere to block sunlight, lowering global temperatures by more than one degree Celsius.<ref name="Humanitarian 22–26">{{Cite journal|last=Helfand|first=Ira|date=2013|title=The Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear War|journal=Arms Control Today|volume=43|issue=9|pages=22–26|issn=0196-125X|jstor=23629551}}</ref> The result would have the potential of creating widespread food insecurity (nuclear famine).<ref name="Humanitarian 22–26"/> Precipitation across the globe would be disrupted as a result. If enough soot was introduced in the upper atmosphere the planet's ozone layer could potentially be depleted, affecting plant growth and human health.<ref name="Humanitarian 22–26"/>

Radiation from the fallout would linger in soil, plants, and food chains for years. Marine food chains are more vulnerable to the nuclear fallout and the effects of soot in the atmosphere.<ref name="Humanitarian 22–26"/>

Fallout radionuclides' detriment in the human food chain is apparent in the lichen-caribou-eskimo studies in Alaska.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hanson|first=Wayne C.|date=October 1968|title=Fallout Radionuclides in Northern Alaskan Ecosystems|journal=Archives of Environmental Health|volume=17|issue=4|pages=639–648|doi=10.1080/00039896.1968.10665295|pmid=5693144|issn=0003-9896}}</ref> The primary effect on humans observed was thyroid dysfunction.<ref name="Biosphere 576–583">{{Cite journal|last1=Grover|first1=Herbert D.|last2=Harwell|first2=Mark A.|date=1985|title=Biological Effects of Nuclear War II: Impact on the Biosphere|journal=BioScience|volume=35|issue=9|pages=576–583|doi=10.2307/1309966|issn=0006-3568|jstor=1309966}}</ref> The result of a nuclear fallout is incredibly detrimental to human survival and the biosphere. Fallout alters the quality of our atmosphere, soil, and water and causes species to go extinct.<ref name="Biosphere 576–583"/>