Consequences of nuclear war for humanity. How to survive after nuclear explosions if World War III does break out

Mass famine will be the main consequence of any local nuclear conflict on Earth. This conclusion was reached by researchers from the international organization Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and its American branch Physicians for Social Responsibility. According to their model, a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would lead to a significant reduction in crop production, leaving at least two billion people without food. The famine will be accompanied by large-scale epidemics that will threaten the death of several hundred million more people.

Scientific approach

The researchers took the nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan as an example, since it is considered the most likely - both states are developing nuclear weapons and have long been engaged in territorial disputes. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), as of 2013, India has 90-110 nuclear warheads. In turn, Pakistan is armed with 100-120 warheads of this type.

Atomic bomb test on Christmas Island in 1957

Back in 2008, American scientists Brian Toon, Alan Robock and Richard Turco published a study in which they suggested that the combined power of Indian and Pakistani warheads was equal to the power of one hundred bombs similar to the one dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The power of the explosion of the “Baby” bomb, which destroyed part of Hiroshima, was 13-18 kilotons. Thus, the combined yield of Indo-Pakistani nuclear weapons could be up to 1.8 megatons, or 0.5% of the yield of all nuclear warheads (17,265 units) worldwide.

According to a study by Thun, Robock and Turco, the detonation of all Indian and Pakistani warheads would simultaneously release 6.6 million tons of soot into the atmosphere. This will lead to a decrease in the average temperature on Earth by 1.25 degrees Celsius. Moreover, even ten years after the nuclear conflict, the temperature on the planet will be 0.5 degrees lower than today.

Scientists note that Humanity experienced a kind of “nuclear autumn” in 1816, which is also called the “Year without Summer”. In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The ash released into the atmosphere as a result of the eruption led to a decrease in temperatures by an average of 0.7 degrees in the northern hemisphere. Because of this (seemingly insignificant) cooling, the planting period was shortened, and four waves of abnormal summer frosts (June 6-11, July 9-11, August 21 and 30, 1816) led to significant crop losses in the USA, Canada and North America. Europe. The consequences of the eruption were felt for another ten years.

A new study from Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War - "Nuclear Hunger: Two Billion People at Risk?" (Nuclear Famine: Two Billion People At Risk?) - based on scientific works about the consequences of nuclear conflicts in previous years and the theory of “nuclear autumn”, as well as adjusted estimates of soot emissions in the event of an Indo-Pakistan nuclear war (scientists suggested that only five million tons of soot would enter the atmosphere). At the same time, the doctors honestly admitted that their study was based on a conservative scenario that does not take into account interruptions in the supply of fuel and fertilizers, increasing exposure to ultraviolet radiation and temperature extremes.

The study is the first to provide rough estimates of the reduction in global crop yields in the event of a local nuclear conflict. The article also takes into account data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, according to which Now about 870 million people are hungry on Earth. The Decision Support System Agricultural Technology Transfer 4.02 (DSSAT 4.02) model was used to calculate yield reductions, allowing predictions to be made on a hectare-by-hectare basis taking into account climate, ecology, agricultural practices and cultivar genotype.

In addition, scientists took into account that a decrease in the volume of crop cultivation and food production will certainly lead to higher prices on the world market. Price increases were predicted based on the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) economic model. Although this model allows an approximate estimate of the impact of food shortages on prices, accurate prediction becomes impossible - due to human factor: panic, the desire of successful companies for super-profits, difficult-to-predict cases of migration from disaster zones and the actions of regional authorities after a nuclear conflict.

Doctors cited the Bengal famine of 1943 as an example of a difficult-to-predict price rise. That year, because of the world war, food production in the region fell by five percent compared to the average of the previous five years, but was still 13 percent higher than in 1941, when there was no famine. However, the Japanese occupation of Burma, a traditional grain exporter to Bengal, coupled with minor food shortages, caused panic. As a result, food prices increased significantly: rice rose in price five times, turning into a delicacy. Three million people died of hunger in Bengal.

Nuclear famine

So let's imagine the following scenario. Nuclear war between India and Pakistan broke out in mid-May. Multiple nuclear explosions in Hindustan in this month led to the greatest damage to environment and climate. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation - NAPF, an advisory body of the UN Economic and Social Council - takes mid-May to model the consequences of nuclear conflicts.

As a result of the exchange of blows, multiple fires arose on the territory of India and Pakistan, five million tons of soot were released into the atmosphere, which, due to its low mass and developed surface (that is, the relief area of ​​particles excessive for a small mass), rose above the level with rising hot air currents clouds

According to the NAPF, about a billion people died from nuclear weapons (poisoning by decay products, lack of qualified medical care, radiation contamination). Due to soot, up to 10% of sunlight stopped reaching the Earth, which led to a decrease in average temperatures. At the same time, annual precipitation worldwide began to decrease, with the largest decrease, up to 40%, occurring in the Asian region. The climate effect quickly spread to the rest of the world, most severely affecting the Eastern and South Asia, USA and Eurasia.

Illustration of the spread of soot in the Earth's upper atmosphere after the Indo-Pakistan nuclear conflict that began on May 15.

According to the calculations of the World Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the most acute consequences of a nuclear conflict were felt over the next ten years. During this time, the cultivation of grains, which account for up to 80% of total food consumption among the poor, fell by an average of 10% in the United States compared to pre-war levels. The largest decline, 20%, occurred in the fifth year after the nuclear war. By the fifth year, U.S. soybean production was down 20%. In China, rice production fell by 21% in the first four years and by an average of 10% in the next six years.

In the first year after a local nuclear war in Hindustan, wheat cultivation in China decreased by 50 percent and by an average of 31 percent over ten years. Corn production in the same country has declined by an average of 15 percent over ten years. In an effort to meet its grain needs, China first used up government reserves and then began actively importing agricultural products. Due to China's purchases of products abroad, food prices, which had already increased by 98.7 percent over ten years, began to rise even more. In South Asia, shortages and panic sent prices rising 140.6 percent by the end of the decade.

To the 870 million people starving before the war worldwide, another 1.52 billion people were added, 1.3 billion of whom were in China. Famine mortality statistics are unknown, but it is known that the world's grain reserves (509 million tons) were consumed by humanity within 77 days after yields dropped significantly. Malnutrition is the cause of epidemics of cholera, typhus, malaria and dysentery (humanity has already encountered a similar effect, for example, in 1943 in the same Bengal, where epidemics of cholera, malaria, smallpox and dysentery were recorded). Epidemics, which developed into pandemics in some regions, killed several hundred million people.

Nuclear Twilight

The “Nuclear Hunger” study is far from the first, but it is the most complete in terms of approximate calculations of the impact of nuclear conflicts on agriculture. However, other studies that try to paint a picture of a post-apocalyptic world that has survived a global nuclear war or at least a massive exchange of nuclear strikes between the United States and Russia are also interesting.

Doctors limited themselves to a local nuclear conflict in Hindustan, but most theorists of nuclear war argue that such conflicts with a high degree of probability and in the shortest possible time can develop into global ones.

Illustration of the spread of soot in the Earth's upper atmosphere after a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. The conflict involving the use of nuclear weapons occurred on May 15.

According to calculations by the Nuclear Darkness portal (maintained by NAPF), Russia and the United States in the event of a nuclear conflict can use 4.4 thousand warheads with a total capacity of more than 440 megatons. As a result of such a war, 770 million people will die almost simultaneously. 180 million tons of soot will be released into the atmosphere at a time, which will rise to the upper layers of the atmosphere and block up to 70% of sunlight over the surface of the entire northern hemisphere and up to 35% of the southern hemisphere. This effect is called “nuclear twilight.” In North America, temperatures will quickly drop by 20 degrees Celsius, and in Eurasia by 30 degrees.

Along with the decrease in illumination of the planet, there will also be a 45% decrease in precipitation.. The world will enter a new ice age (similar to the one that took place 18 thousand years ago). Up to 70 percent of the world's crops will be lost. At the same time, a significant reduction in the sowing period will lead to mass famine on Earth. A sharp drop in agricultural production will be affected not only by cooling and a significant decrease in illumination, but also by an increase in ultraviolet radiation due to significant destruction of the Earth's ozone layer. A nuclear war between the United States and Russia would result in the extinction of many animals at the top of the food chain, including almost all of humanity.

According to calculations by various researchers, due to a large-scale Russian-American nuclear conflict, between one and four billion people could die worldwide. After a sharp decline in population due to war, the decline in the number of people on the planet will continue due to pandemics, reduction in habitable areas, radioactive fallout and food shortages. Most countries in the world will plunge into the Stone Age.

The “nuclear twilight” will dissipate within ten years. But this is not the end - due to small remnants of soot in the atmosphere, reminiscent of haze, they will become “nuclear fog”, which will hang over the planet for many more years.

CONSEQUENCES OF A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION.

Introduction
In the history of human development there are many events, discoveries, and accomplishments that we can be proud of, bringing goodness and beauty to this world. But in contrast to them, the entire history of human civilization is darkened by a huge number of cruel, large-scale wars, destroying many good undertakings of the person himself.
Since ancient times, man has been fascinated by the creation and improvement of weapons. And as a result, the most deadly and destructive weapon was born - nuclear weapons. It has also undergone changes since its creation. Ammunition has been created whose design makes it possible to direct the energy of a nuclear explosion to enhance the selected damaging factor.
The rapid development of nuclear weapons, the large-scale creation and accumulation of them in huge quantities, as the main “trump card” in possible future wars, has pushed humanity to the need to assess the likely consequences of their use.
In the seventies of the twentieth century, studies of the consequences of possible and real nuclear strikes showed that a war using such weapons will inevitably lead to the destruction of most people, the destruction of the achievements of civilization, the contamination of water, air, soil, and the death of all living things. Research was carried out not only in the field of studying the direct factors of damage from explosions of various directions, but also took into account possible environmental consequences, such as the destruction of the ozone layer, sudden climate changes, etc.
Russian scientists took a significant part in further studies of the environmental consequences of the massive use of nuclear weapons.
The conference of scientists in Moscow in 1983 and the conference “The World after Nuclear War” in Washington in the same 1983 made it clear to humanity that the damage from a nuclear war would be irreparable for our planet, for all life on Earth.

Currently, our planet contains nuclear weapons millions of times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The international political and economic climate today dictates the need for a cautious attitude towards nuclear weapons, but the number of “nuclear powers” ​​is increasing and although the number of bombs they have is small, their charge is sufficient to destroy life on planet Earth.

Climate effects
For a long time, when planning military operations using nuclear weapons, humanity consoled itself with the illusion that a nuclear war could ultimately end in victory for one of the warring parties. Studies of the consequences of nuclear strikes have established that the most terrible consequence will not be the most predictable radioactive damage, but the climate consequences that were least thought about before. Climate change will be so severe that humanity will not be able to survive it.
In most studies, a nuclear explosion was associated with a volcanic eruption, which was presented as a natural model of a nuclear explosion. During an eruption, as well as during an explosion, a huge amount of fine particles, which do not transmit sunlight, and, therefore, lower the temperature of the atmosphere.

The consequences of the explosion of the atomic bomb were equivalent to the explosion of the Tambor volcano in 1814, which had greater explosive force than the charge dropped on Nagasaki. Following this eruption, the coldest summer temperatures were recorded in the northern hemisphere.

Since the target of bombing will be mainly cities, where, along with such consequences as radiation, destruction of buildings, means of communication, etc., one of the main catastrophic consequences will be fires. Because of which not only clouds of dust will rise into the air, but also a mass of soot.
Massive fires in cities give rise to so-called fire tornadoes. Almost any material burns in the flames of fire tornadoes. And one of their terrible features is the release of large amounts of soot into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Rising into the atmosphere, soot practically does not allow sunlight to pass through.
Scientists in the USA have modeled several hypotheses, based on the assumption that a nuclear bomb can serve as a “match” that sets a city on fire. Current stockpiles of nuclear weapons should be enough to cause firestorms in more than a thousand cities in the northern hemisphere of our planet.

The explosion of bombs with a total equivalent of about 7 thousand megatons of TNT will create soot and dust clouds over the northern hemisphere, transmitting no more than one millionth of the sunlight that usually reaches the ground. Constant night will come on the earth, as a result of which its surface, devoid of light and heat, will begin to quickly cool. The publication of these scientists' findings gave rise to new terms "nuclear night" and "nuclear winter."As a result of the formation of soot clouds, deprived of heating sun rays The surface of the earth will begin to cool quickly. Already within the first month, the average temperature at the land surface will drop by about 15-20 degrees, and in areas far from the oceans by 30-35 degrees. In the future, although the clouds will begin to dissipate, for several more months, temperatures will decrease and light levels will continue to remain low. “Nuclear night” and “nuclear winter” will come. Precipitation will stop falling in the form of rain, and the surface of the earth will freeze several meters deep, depriving surviving living creatures of fresh drinking water. Almost all higher forms of life will die at the same time. Only the lowest will have a chance of survival.

However, you should not expect the soot cloud to settle quickly. And restoration of heat exchange.
Due to the dark cloud of soot and dust, the planet's reflectivity will be significantly reduced. Therefore, the Earth will begin to reflect less solar energy than usual. The thermal balance will be disrupted and the absorption of solar energy will increase. This heat will concentrate in the upper layers of the atmosphere, causing soot to rise upward instead of settling.

The constant influx of additional heat will greatly warm up the upper layers of the atmosphere. The lower layers will remain cold and will cool even more. A significant vertical temperature difference is formed, which does not cause movement of air masses, but, on the contrary, additionally stabilizes the state of the atmosphere. Consequently, soot loss will slow down by another order of magnitude. And with this, the “nuclear winter” will drag on.
Of course, everything will depend on the power of the blows. But explosions of average power (about 10 thousand megatons) are capable of depriving the planet of the sunlight necessary for all life on earth for almost a year.

Ozone layer depletion
The settling of soot and dust and the restoration of illumination, which will happen sooner or later, most likely will not be such a blessing.

Currently, our planet is surrounded by the ozone layer - part of the stratosphere at an altitude of 12 to 50 km, in which, under the influence of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, molecular oxygen dissociates into atoms, which then combine with other O molecules 2, forming ozone O3.
In high concentrations, ozone is able to absorb hard ultraviolet radiation and protect all life on earth from harmful radiation. There is a theory that the presence of the ozone layer made it possible for the emergence of multicellular life on land.
The ozone layer is easily destroyed by various substances.

Nuclear explosions in large numbers, even in a limited area, will lead to the rapid and complete destruction of the ozone layer. The explosions and fires themselves that occur after them will create the temperatures at which transformations occur chemical substances, impossible under normal conditions or proceeding sluggishly.

For example, radiation from an explosion produces nitrogen oxide, a powerful ozone destroyer, much of which will reach the upper atmosphere. Ozone is also destroyed by reacting with hydrogen and hydroxyls, a large number of which will rise into the air along with soot and dust, and will also be delivered into the atmosphere by powerful hurricanes.

As a result, after the air is cleared of aerosol pollution, the surface of the planet and all life on it will be exposed to harsh ultraviolet radiation.

Large doses of ultraviolet radiation in humans, as well as in animals, cause burns and skin cancer, damage to the retina, blindness, affect hormonal levels, and destroy the immune system. As a result, survivors will get sick much more. Ultraviolet light blocks normal DNA replication. What causes cell death or the appearance of mutated cells that are unable to properly perform their functions.

The consequences of ultraviolet radiation for plants are no less severe. In them, ultraviolet radiation changes the activity of enzymes and hormones, affects the synthesis of pigments, the intensity of photosynthesis and the photoperiodic reaction. As a result, photosynthesis may practically cease in plants, and representatives of the flora such as blue-green algae may completely disappear.

Ultraviolet radiation has a destructive and mutagenic effect on microorganisms. Under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, cell membranes and cell membranes are destroyed. And this entails the death of the microcosm under the influence of sunlight.
The worst consequence of the destruction of the ozone layer will be that its restoration may become almost impossible. This may take several hundred years, during which the earth's surface will be exposed to constant ultraviolet radiation.

Radioactive contamination of the planet
One of the main environmental impacts that have serious consequences for life after a nuclear war is contamination with radioactive products.
The products of nuclear explosions will form a stable radioactive contamination of the biosphere over areas of hundreds and thousands of kilometers.

The scientists' assessment states that a nuclear strike with a power of 5 thousand megatons or more can create a contaminated zone with a dose of gamma radiation exceeding 500-1000 rem (with a dose of 10 rem in a person's blood, changes caused by radiation begin, radiation sickness begins; normal is 0.05-1 rem), an area larger than the entire territory of Europe and part of North America.
At such doses, a danger is created for humans, animals, insects, and especially for soil inhabitants.
According to a machine analysis of the consequences of a nuclear war with any scenario, all life on earth that has survived explosions with a power of 10 thousand megatons and fires will be exposed to radioactive radiation. Even areas far from the explosion sites will be contaminated.

As a result, the biotic component of ecosystems will be subject to massive radiation damage. The consequence of such radiation impact will be a progressively changing species composition of ecosystems and general degradation of ecosystems.

With the large-scale use of nuclear weapons, there will be, first of all, large losses among the animal world in zones of continuous nuclear destruction.
For people in areas with high levels radiation will cause a severe form of radiation sickness. Even relatively mild forms of radiation sickness will cause early aging, autoimmune diseases, diseases of the hematopoietic organs, etc.
The surviving population will be at risk of cancer. After nuclear strikes, for every 1 million survivors, about 150-200 thousand people will develop cancer.

The destruction of genetic structures under the influence of radiation will spread beyond just one generation. Genetic changes will have a detrimental effect on the offspring for a long time and will manifest itself in unfavorable pregnancy outcomes and the birth of children with congenital defects or hereditary diseases

Mass death of living beings
The severe cold that will set in in the first months after the explosions will cause enormous damage flora. Photosynthesis and plant growth will practically stop. This will be especially noticeable in tropical latitudes, where most of the world's population lives.

Cold, lack of drinking water, poor lighting will lead to mass death of animals.
Powerful storms, frosts that will lead to the freezing of shallow reservoirs and coastal waters, and the cessation of plankton reproduction will destroy the food supply for many species of fish and aquatic animals. The remaining food sources will be so heavily contaminated with radiation and food chemical reactions that their use will be destructive no less than other factors.
Cold and plant death will make it impossible to maintain Agriculture. As a result, human food supplies will be depleted. And those that still remain will also be subject to severe radiation contamination. This will have a particularly strong impact on areas importing food products.

Nuclear explosions will kill 2-3 billion people. “Nuclear night” and “nuclear winter”, depletion of edible food and water, destruction of communications, energy supplies, transport communications, and lack of medical care will take away even more human lives. Against the backdrop of a general weakening of people's health, pandemics previously unknown and with unpredictable consequences will begin.

Conclusion:

A nuclear war would be the suicide of all humanity, and at the same time the destruction of our habitat.

When the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, the world found itself on the brink global catastrophe- a large-scale nuclear war between two superpowers, the USSR and America. What would the remnants of human civilization be like after a massive exchange of blows? The military, of course, predicted the outcome using computers. They like to calculate everything, this is their strong point.

Walter Mondale once said that “there will be no World War III veterans.” Contrary to this seemingly absolutely correct remark, in just a few decades since the creation of the atomic bomb, the world has turned into a huge powder keg. Although, if it were gunpowder. By the end of the Cold War, the number of strategic nuclear warheads and related intermediate-range munitions alone in the arsenals of NATO and the Warsaw Pact exceeded 24,000 units.

Their total power was 12,000 Megatons, more than enough to repeat the tragedy in Hiroshima approximately a million times. And this does not take into account tactical nuclear weapons, various mines filled with atomic warheads, torpedoes and artillery shells. Without an arsenal of chemical warfare agents. Not counting bacteriological and climate weapons. Would this be enough to bring about Armageddon? Calculations showed that - behind the eyes.

Of course, it was difficult for analysts to take into account all the factors, but they tried, in various institutions. The forecasts turned out to be frankly depressing. It has been calculated that during a large-scale nuclear war, the parties will be able to rain down on each other about 12,000 bombs and missiles of various bases with a total capacity of about 6,000 Mt. What could this number mean?

And this means massive attacks, first of all, on headquarters and communications centers, locations of intercontinental ballistic missile silos, air defense positions, large military and naval formations. Then, as the conflict grows, it will be the turn of industrial centers, or, in other words, cities, that is, areas with a high degree of urbanization and, of course, population density. Some nuclear warheads would be detonated above the surface to cause maximum damage, and some would be detonated at high altitudes to destroy satellites, communications systems and the power grid.

Once upon a time, at the height of the Cold War, implying all this madness military strategy was called the second strike doctrine. American Defense Secretary Robert McNamara defined it as “mutually assured destruction.” American generals calculated that the US Army and Navy would have to destroy about a quarter of the USSR's population and more than half of its industrial capacity before they themselves were destroyed.

We should probably not forget that in terms of the invention of new weapons, humanity has advanced much further than in the production of anti-cancer drugs, so the American “Little Boy” bomb, which destroyed Hiroshima in August 1945, is nothing compared to modern exhibits. So, for example, the power of the SS-18 Satan strategic missile is about 20 Mt (that is, millions of tons in TNT equivalent). This is approximately one and a half thousand “Kids”.

“The thicker the grass, the easier it is to mow.”

This phrase was said by Alaric, the legendary Gothic leader, who made proud Rome tremble. In a hypothetical nuclear war, residents of all large cities without exception would become this very grass. About 70% of the population Western Europe, North America and former USSR consisted of city dwellers and suburban residents. If they exchanged massive nuclear strikes, they would be doomed to immediate death. Calculations show that the explosion of even a bomb as obsolete by today’s standards as “Baby” over a city the size of New York, Tokyo or Moscow would result in the immediate death of millions of people. Just imagine what losses could be caused by the use of thousands of atomic, hydrogen and neutron bombs.

This, at one time, was more or less accurately predicted. As a result of a large-scale nuclear war, most of the cities of the warring parties were prepared for the fate of radioactive ruins. The shock waves and heat pulse would destroy buildings and highways, bridges, dams and levees over areas of millions of square kilometers in a matter of seconds. This is not so much in relation to the entire land surface of the Northern Hemisphere. But it is quite enough for the beginning of the end.

The number of people who evaporated, burned, died in the rubble or received a lethal dose of radiation should have been seven figures. Electromagnetic pulses, which spread over tens of thousands of kilometers during high-altitude nuclear explosions, caused paralysis of all power supply and communication systems, destroyed all electronics and would lead to an accident at those thermal and nuclear power plants that miraculously managed to survive the bombing.

Most likely, they would disrupt the Earth's electromagnetic field. As a result, this would provoke devastating natural disasters: hurricanes, floods, earthquakes.

There is an assumption according to which, with the massive use of weapons of mass destruction, the position of the Earth relative to the Sun would change. But we will not deal with this hypothesis, we will limit ourselves to such “trifles” as the destruction of storage facilities for spent nuclear power plant assemblies, and the depressurization of military laboratories producing bacteriological weapons. Some next superflu, hundreds of times deadlier than the notorious “Spanish flu,” once released, would finish the job that was started by the cholera and plague pandemics raging over radioactive rubble, overflowing with decaying corpses.

Humanity has accumulated millions of tons of toxic chemical waste, primarily dioxin-containing. From time to time, accidents that occur, in which a small part of them end up in river basins, lead to environmental disasters on a local scale. It’s better not to imagine what could happen in a disaster on a one-to-one scale. Serious scientific sources assure that this complex issue have not been explored in depth. As you can see, it is unnecessary. And it is clear that this would be the end.

Bah, we forgot about penetrating radiation - the fourth factor behind thermal radiation, shock wave and electromagnetic pulse, which distinguishes nuclear weapons from other products that are designed to destroy their own kind. Radioactive contamination would have poisoned colossal territories, the regeneration of which would have taken centuries. In rural areas, crops would be damaged by radiation, leading to starvation among the survivors.

Increased doses of radiation are a source of cancer, pathologies in newborns and genetic mutations due to disruption of DNA chains. In a post-apocalyptic world, after the health care systems are destroyed, these issues from the field of modern medicine would move under the jurisdiction of sorcerers, because the survival of individual doctors does not at all mean the preservation of medicine as a whole. The millions burned and maimed at the first stage of a nuclear conflict, immediately after the exchange of blows, do not count. They would have died in the first hours, days and months after the nuclear Apocalypse. Long before the advent of healers.

"And those of you who survive will envy the dead"

And these ominous words were said by John Silver, one of the most famous heroes of the English writer R. L. Stevenson. They are said on a completely different occasion, but surprisingly fit into the context of describing the world after a nuclear war. Scientists agreed that nitrogen oxides generated in the fireballs of nuclear explosions would be thrown into the stratosphere, where they would destroy the ozone layer. Restoring it could take decades, and this is at best - with our level of scientific knowledge, it is impossible to predict the timing more accurately. Once upon a time (about 600 million years ago), the ozone layer of the stratosphere played the role of a kind of cradle of life, protecting the Earth's surface from the deadly ultraviolet radiation of the Sun.

According to a report by the American National Academy of Sciences, the explosion of 12,000 megatons of nuclear weapons could destroy 70% of the ozone layer over the Northern Hemisphere - presumably the theater of war - and 40% over the Southern Hemisphere, which would lead to the most disastrous consequences for all forms of life. Humans and animals would go blind, burns and skin cancers would become commonplace. Many plants and microorganisms would disappear forever, completely and irrevocably.

“Our arrows will block the Sun from you”

This famous phrase: “Our arrows will block the sun from you,” said the envoy of the Persian king Xerxes to the Spartan king Leonidas, who fortified himself in the Thermopylae pass. Leonidas’ answer is known from history books: “Well, that means we will fight in the shadows.” Fortunately, the brave Spartans did not know the consequences of using nuclear weapons. In the “shadow cast by atomic arrows,” there would simply be no one to fight.

In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, due to water pipelines destroyed by the shock wave, it was impossible to contain the fires. A “firestorm” developed. This is the name of a powerful fire that causes intense vortex movement of air. The city was covered with a huge thundercloud, it began to rain - black, greasy and oily. Attempts to fight the fire, which was caused by an atomic flash and many short circuits in electrical networks, ended in complete fiasco.

We can say with absolute certainty that in the event of a large-scale nuclear war, there could be no talk of any such attempts, because there would simply be no one to put out the fires. In general, the fire would have spread in earnest, compared to the sea of ​​flames that engulfed Dresden after the ritual raids of allied aircraft. Nowadays, industrial centers contain colossal reserves of paper, wood, petroleum, lubricants, gasoline, kerosene, plastics, rubber and other flammable materials that are capable of blazing and darkening the sky to blackness. Ejecting millions of tons of smoke particles, ash, highly toxic substances and highly dispersed radioactive dust into the atmosphere over the Northern Hemisphere.

Calculations prove that in a few days impenetrable clouds comparable in size to continents would cover the Sun over Europe and North America, and impenetrable darkness would fall on the Earth. The air temperature would drop by 30 - 40°C. The earth's surface was struck by bitter frosts, which in a short period of time would have turned it into permafrost. The cooling would continue for centuries, aggravated by a gradual decrease in ocean temperatures. That is, the end result of a large-scale nuclear war is a climate catastrophe.

At first, due to significant temperature differences between the continents and the ocean, severe storms would arise. Then, as the temperatures dropped, they would have calmed down a little, the surfaces of the seas and oceans would have been covered first with ice chips, and then with hummocks. Even at the equator it would become more than cool, about -50 degrees Celsius! Animals and plants that would survive a nuclear cataclysm would certainly die from such cold weather. There would be total extinction. The jungle would turn into a forest bound by severe frosts, a taiga of dead vines and palm trees. Well, people who could miraculously survive would probably know that there is real hunger.

Radiation would permeate almost everything - air, water, and soil. Surviving viruses and insects, having undergone powerful mutations, would spread new deadly diseases. A few years after a nuclear war, a population of seven billion would remain, at best, an insignificant shadow - about 20 million people scattered across the Earth immersed in nuclear twilight. Maybe it would have been Twilight of the Gods. Humanity would return to a primitive state under incomparably worse environmental conditions. I don’t want to think about looting, ritual murders and cannibalism, but probably the most terrible pictures of the apocalypse drawn by science fiction writers would become commonplace.

Degenerate descendants of the Normans

There is no doubt that humanity would be very lucky if it were able to survive the cataclysm at all. And what kind of knowledge would he have preserved, and the memories of cars, airplanes or televisions passed down from generation to generation would not become akin to the legends that Plato brought to us. Albert Einstein once said: “I don’t know what weapons it will be with, but I know for sure that the Fourth World War will be with stones and sticks.” Do you think this is not a particularly optimistic forecast? Imagine yourself as just Robinson on a desert island and honestly admit: will you be able to recreate a hot water supply system, design a radio or just a telephone?

Alexander Gorbovsky in his book “Fourteen Thousand Years Ago” cited as an example the fate of the Norman settlements that were founded in the 14th century on the coast of North America. Their sad fate is very indicative. In a nutshell it looks like this. The colonists brought with them from Scandinavia knowledge of pottery, the ability to smelt and process metal. But when communication with the metropolis was interrupted, they found themselves assimilated by local Iroquoian tribes, who were at a much lower stage of development, and knowledge was lost forever. The descendants of the settlers were thrown back into the Stone Age.

When European conquerors arrived in these places 200 years later, they found only tribes that were light-skinned and used a number of Scandinavian words. And, that was all! The great-grandchildren of the Vikings had no idea of ​​the crumbling, moss-covered structures that had once been iron smelters and mining shafts. But they didn’t have a nuclear winter...

I had a dream... not everything in it was a dream.

The bright sun went out - and the stars

Wandered without a goal, without rays

In eternal space; icy land

She rushed blindly in the moonless air.

The hour of morning came and went,

But he did not bring the day with him...

Darkness, George Byron

According to the theory of the demographer of the romantic era, T. Malthus, the birth rate of any kind increases in geometric progression, while the food supply grows only in arithmetic progression, that is, much slower. War is one of the natural and most likely means of controlling the birth rate and the size of humanity.

Today the planet is already overpopulated - 6.8 billion people live on it, and almost a billion of them are constantly hungry. Wars happen regularly, they are still going on, and even in states close to Europe, such as, for example, in neighboring, heavily overpopulated and poor Ukraine.

But there are no global wars affecting all of humanity, especially with the use of weapons of mass destruction. This is too dangerous and governments are refraining as best they can from such conflicts. But Murphy’s law, known for almost half a century, is somewhat humorous, and in many ways correct, says - if something can happen, it will definitely happen. Moreover, events will follow the worst-case scenario for us. It turns out that nuclear war may happen one day.

Humanity has already avoided a nuclear apocalypse several times in a row. Today, when there are already a lot of countries with the technology to create atomic (hydrogen, neutron) bombs and the means of delivering them and humanity, it would seem, should be a thousand times more careful, an acute international political crisis is developing again, associated with the already mentioned war in Ukraine, which may ultimately lead, if not to an apocalypse, then to a local nuclear conflict.

I personally have no doubt that if Ukrainian strategists had a “nuclear button” at hand, they would not be slow to use it. Remember Yulia Tymoshenko’s phrase that Russians “must be shot with nuclear weapons” or the words of the former Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Valeriy Geletey, who, in one of his interviews, suggested that during the storming of Luhansk airport “Russian troops” (which, of course, he , did not see) fired nuclear mines from a 2S4 “Tulpan” self-propelled mortar.

But the former prime minister, like the former minister of defense, is the elite of Ukrainian society. If others were in their place, they wouldn’t even argue. At the same time, the words “thrown into the world” about nuclear weapons look like an attempt to seek protection and... help from the West with an “adequate response”?

In this regard, it is worth recalling previous situations that almost ended in fatal consequences for humanity.

Operation Trojan

The first nuclear attack on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was planned and carried out by the United States of America. At the same time, in 1945, a secret directive from the Joint Military Planning Committee appeared on the preparation atomic bombing large cities on the territory of the USSR. They were supposed to drop 196! atomic bombs.

When the USSR nevertheless managed to steal and create its own technology for the production of nuclear weapons, the United States developed the “Trojan” plan, which envisaged an attack on the USSR on New Year, January 1, 1950. Nuclear arsenal Soviet Union was then much more modest than the American one and Washington hawks were almost sure of victory. So, it is likely that the USSR could have already become a testing ground for full-scale testing American bombs. But the Americans calculated in time that they would lose half of their bombers, and the plan would not be fully implemented. This is what held them back then. By the way, there is an opinion that the world was saved by one of the first supercomputers in the world, ENIAK, which was used by the Pentagon in calculating the results of the operation.

And later, in 1961, after testing the Tsar Bomba AN 602 in the USSR, the United States abandoned the idea of ​​a preventive nuclear strike.

Khrushchev, Kennedy and the art of diplomacy

The world came to the brink of destruction for the second time as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in October 1962. Then, in response to the deployment of medium-range missiles in Turkey, the USSR installed R-12 tactical nuclear missiles in Cuba. The United States, in response, organized a naval blockade of Cuba and began preparations for an invasion of the island.

Only thanks to the magnificent art of diplomacy shown by both sides of the conflict, war was avoided. But the USSR then had practically no chance against the US military machine. If we talk only about missiles, then the country had 75 ballistic missiles ready for launch - not reliable enough, requiring lengthy pre-launch preparation. Moreover, only 25 missiles could take off at the same time. The United States already had 700 ballistic missiles. In terms of other weapons, the forces were also unequal, including missile defense.

Are the forces equal?

Now Russia has a serious nuclear potential, which is sufficient to deter any aggression. According to a military expert and former head of Israeli intelligence services, even in the event of a local exchange of nuclear strikes, the damage to the United States would be unbearable. That is why a direct war between the two largest owners of nuclear weapons - Russia and the United States - has been postponed for now.

Local conflicts are a completely different matter. Today, many countries with developing economies, such as Pakistan and India, have already joined the “nuclear” club. North Korea has received its “bomb” and is preparing to join the “nuclear club” and Orthodox Iran.

That is why there is a danger that a local conflict will break out somewhere, which will draw the largest nuclear powers into its orbit. And now - expect trouble.

And, of course, you can use conventional weapons. The United States, for example, is ready to fight today with non-nuclear weapons, but only with high-precision weapons. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the United States has been working on the concept of a lightning-fast “global strike” for more than ten years. It provides for “a strike with non-nuclear weapons on any point on the planet within one hour.” “According to the results of a war game held at the Pentagon at the end of last year, with the help of 3.5-4 thousand units of precision weapons, the United States can destroy the enemy’s main infrastructure facilities in 6 hours and deprive him of the ability to resist.”

If such a strike is struck against Russia, the main targets will be the strategic nuclear deterrent forces. “According to existing in the USA expert assessments“As a result of such a strike, 80 to 90 percent of our nuclear potential could be destroyed,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

However, Russia, of course, will respond with a nuclear strike...

If war happens...

Thousands of fiction and research books have been written and hundreds of films have been made on the topic of the post-nuclear apocalypse. Directors and writers see the apocalypse differently, but they are unanimous in one thing - people, in their opinion, will be able to survive on earth. But the plot requires such an interpretation. What will it really be like?

There are several theories today about what a post-nuclear world will be like. According to a study by American scientists Owen, Robock and Turco, who tried to simulate a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, 6.6 million tons of soot would be released into the atmosphere. This will lead to a decrease in the average temperature on Earth by 1.25 degrees Celsius. Radioactive fallout will fall all over the world for some time, causing people to die and become seriously ill even in prosperous countries far from the conflict.

About a billion people will die from radioactive contamination and lack of medical care, and as a result of a decrease in global crop yields (due to early post-nuclear frosts, lower temperatures and reduced precipitation), the number of hungry people on the planet will increase by another one and a half billion (today there are 850 million hungry on the planet of people). Food prices around the world will rise significantly. Scientists call this scenario a “nuclear autumn.” But these, as they say, are still “flowers”.

Option one

A number of scientists believe that if Russia and the United States “clash” in a nuclear conflict, a nuclear winter will begin, humanity may perish, and the existence of higher forms of life on our planet will be impossible. Such conclusions, at one time, were independently reached by scientists V.V. Alexandrov and G.S. Stenchikov in 1983, in the USSR and the team of Carl Sagan from Cornwell University in the USA.

Thousands of nuclear explosions will raise hundreds of millions of tons of earth, dust and soot from the fires into the air. Cities will die from fire tornadoes that will start fires. They say that the height of such a tornado can reach five kilometers, it pulls into itself everything it comes across and does not end until everything around it burns to the ground.

Fine dust from tornadoes will fall into the troposphere, and since there is no convection there, the dust will “hang” for years, blocking out sunlight. Sun. Dusk will fall on the earth. In the middle of summer, even in the tropics there will be frosts. The ground will freeze several meters deep and the rains will stop. Due to the temperature difference between the slowly cooling water in the ocean and the heated land, unprecedented storms will begin.

But, according to the authors of the hypothesis, there will be, in general, no one to feel and see all this. No one will see a nuclear spring. Plants, animals and insects that did not die from the explosions will be burned by radiation, the rest will die out from lack of food and water. The surface of unfrozen rivers, seas, and after some time, slowly cooling oceans will be littered with terribly stinking fish and dead marine animals, even plankton will die.

All food chains will be broken. Perhaps some lower forms of life will remain on the planet - protozoa, moss, lichens. But the higher ones - including, by the way, rats and cockroaches - will die.

Theory two - alternative

It is presented in detail in the article by I. Ibduragimov “On the inconsistency of the concept of “nuclear night” and “nuclear winter” due to fires after a nuclear defeat.”

The main postulate that attracts attention is that hundreds have already been produced nuclear tests, which did not give a cumulative effect, did not create fire tornadoes and did not throw thousands of tons of dust into the atmosphere. Moreover, explosions of the largest volcanoes on the planet, the power of which was many times greater than the power of any nuclear devices created by man. And the dust did not cover the atmosphere, although its emissions were monstrous. The earth's atmosphere is too large to be completely polluted even by a nuclear war.

A situation similar to the one that, according to the authors of the hypothesis, causes fire tornadoes in cities, also arises as a result of large-scale forest fires, when millions of square kilometers of forest burn simultaneously. But there are no tornadoes observed there, and the emission of soot as a result of such fires is tens of times less than calculated by the creators of the “nuclear winter” theory. Why? The combustible mass is distributed over a large area, rather than concentrated in one place. It will be approximately the same in cities, where flammable substances are sorted on shelves in different places throughout apartments and buildings. In this case, up to 20% of all combustible materials are burned - and no more. There is not enough energy for more, even the biggest fire. This means there may not be fire tornadoes that will fill the troposphere with dust.

Even if a firestorm does form, there will be a powerful flow of air into the turbulence zone, combustion efficiency will increase and... there will be much less soot. Not to mention the fact that at the epicenters of a nuclear explosion and at a certain distance from them, almost everything will burn out, without any soot.

Now - about radiation. Of course, radioactive contamination is extremely dangerous and fatal for humans. And this terrible threat will not go away. But still, people even now manage to survive in conditions of increased background radiation, for example, in the Chernobyl zone, where I myself have been. In the summer, if, of course, you do not know about the infection, any traveler will be shocked by the beauty of the untouched nature of these places. In the zone there is raging vegetation, many animals, and reservoirs teeming with fish. So, at least, the flora and fauna there definitely haven’t disappeared anywhere - they have adapted.

It turns out that, in principle, there may not be a nuclear winter at all? Quite. There is a hypothesis that the “nuclear winter” studies conducted and popularized in the eighties of the last century were inspired by US and USSR intelligence services in order to delay a nuclear war and (or) stimulate disarmament and keep the conflicting parties from increasing the production of nuclear weapons. The technology for such manipulations is called “Overton Windows” and is a Western development, which also leads to certain thoughts.

And a real “nuclear war” may be a difficult and inevitable episode in the development of mankind, but by no means fatal. It, like the consequences of the “nuclear winter,” can be survived in places unaffected by the attacks or, for example, in the appropriate bunkers.

Survive in a bunker

Modern research (more precisely, field tests) indicates that as a result of nuclear explosions, only those underground shelters that are less than a hundred meters from the epicenters will be immediately crushed by a seismic wave.

Therefore, a fairly large number of people - maybe even thousands - can survive for a long time in well-equipped underground concrete bunkers. Even if at first they have nowhere to go, if it is impossible to stay outside due to dust and radioactive contamination, they can hold out in such a shelter for up to a decade (and the nuclear winter is unlikely to last longer).

According to writer Dmitry Glukhovsky, people will be able to survive even somewhere in the metro and underground communications. Although this is a very controversial statement. The tunnels exist thanks to the developed infrastructure for their repair and maintenance. Even if a terrorist attack or disaster occurs, for the metro it is a tragedy with casualties and destruction. And without supervision, after a while, the subway tunnels will begin to deteriorate and collapse on their own... Fuel reserves in non-specialized underground structures will not last long. If there is ventilation with anti-radiation filters, this is, of course, good, but without repairs it will not last long either. In short, this scenario needs careful testing by “mythbusters” Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage.

The only problem that can arise in the confined space of a bunker or subway tunnel is social relationships. There will be nowhere to escape from the bunker, therefore, the strongest person there may well become the leader there - for example, the head of security or the senior duty officer. And he will force everyone else to obey him by force and threats. And he will create a nightmare worse than what will happen above. For example, he will create a harem of the wives and daughters of elderly politicians trying to wait out the nuclear nightmare. Someone living underground may not be able to stand it, go crazy, or break loose and kill someone or everyone who is in the bunker. This is especially likely if there is social inequality between different groups of people.

Perhaps this assumption may seem like mocking satire to the reader, but unfortunately, it is quite real.

It is not obvious how reliable the connection between such a bunker and the survivors outside will be. The well-known Alexander Zinoviev hinted at this social paradox in his book “Parabellum”.

Better - peace...

Of course, it is best if we avoid the horrors of nuclear war. Even without this nightmare, the life of humanity is difficult and full of dangers. Still, it’s better to remember what might happen one day...

After the bombs start falling, the appearance of the planet will change beyond recognition. For 50 years, this threat awaits us at every moment of our lives. The world lives with the knowledge that all it takes is one person to press a button and a nuclear holocaust will ensue.

We stopped thinking about it. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the idea of ​​a massive nuclear attack has become the subject of science fiction films and video games. But in reality this threat has not disappeared. The bombs are still in place and waiting in the wings. And there are always new enemies to destroy.

Scientists conducted tests and calculations to understand what life would be like after the atomic bombing. Some people will survive. But life on the smoldering remains of a destroyed world will be completely different.

10. Black rains will begin


Almost immediately after a nuclear strike, heavy black rain will begin. It will not be that little rain that will extinguish the flames and remove the dust. These will be thick black jets of water with a texture similar to oil, and they can kill you.

In Hiroshima, black rain began 20 minutes after the bomb exploded. It covered an area with a radius of about 20 kilometers from the point of the explosion and flooded the countryside with a thick liquid, from which one could receive 100 times more radiation than at the epicenter of the explosion.

The people who survived the explosion found themselves in a burning city, fires burned out oxygen, and people died of thirst. Making their way through the fire, they were so thirsty that many opened their mouths and tried to drink the strange liquid that fell from the sky. There was enough radiation in this liquid to make changes in a person's blood. The radiation was so strong that the effects of the rain are still felt in the places where it fell. We have every reason to believe that if the bomb falls again, it will happen again.

9. An electromagnetic pulse will turn off all electricity.


A nuclear explosion produces an electromagnetic pulse that can damage electrical appliances and even shut down the entire electrical grid of a country.

During one of the nuclear tests, the impulse after the explosion of an atomic bomb was so powerful that it disabled Street lights, televisions and telephones in houses at a distance of 1600 kilometers from the center of the explosion. It happened by accident at the time, but since then there have been bombs designed specifically for this purpose.

If a bomb designed to send an electromagnetic pulse were to explode at an altitude of 400-480 kilometers above a country the size of the United States, the entire electrical grid throughout the entire territory would be shut down. Therefore, after the bombs fall, the lights will go out everywhere. All food storage refrigerators will shut down and all computer data will be lost. The worst thing is that the wastewater treatment plants will shut down and we will lose clean drinking water.

It is expected that six months of hard work will be required to return the country to normal operating conditions. But this is provided that people have the opportunity to work. For a long time after the bombs fall, we will face life without electricity or clean water.

8. Smoke will block sunlight


The areas around the epicenters of the explosions will receive incredible amounts of energy and fires will break out. Everything that can burn will burn. Not only buildings, forests and fences will burn, but even asphalt on the roads. Oil refineries, which have been among the main targets since the Cold War, will be engulfed in explosions and flames.

The fires that ignite around the epicenter of each explosion will release thousands of tons of toxic smoke that will rise into the atmosphere and then higher into the stratosphere. At an altitude of about 15 kilometers above the Earth's surface, a dark cloud will appear, which will begin to grow and spread under the influence of the wind until it covers the entire planet and blocks access to sunlight.

This will take years. For many years after the explosion we will not see the sun, we will only be able to see black clouds overhead that will block the light. It is difficult to say exactly how long this will last and when blue skies will appear above us again. It is believed that in the event of a global nuclear war we will not see clear skies for approximately 30 years.

7. It will get too cold to grow food.

When the clouds cover the sunlight, it will start to get colder. How much depends on the number of bombs exploded. In extreme cases, global temperatures are expected to drop by as much as 20 degrees Celsius.

There will be no summer in the first year after a nuclear disaster. Spring and autumn will become like winter. Plants will not be able to grow. Animals all over the planet will begin to die of hunger.

This won't be a new start ice age. During the first five years, plant growing seasons will become a month shorter, but then the situation will gradually begin to improve, and after 25 years the temperature will return to normal. Life will go on - if we can live up to this period.

6. The ozone layer will be destroyed


However, this life can no longer be called normal. A year after the nuclear bombing, holes in the ozone layer will begin to appear due to atmospheric pollution. It will be devastating. Even a small nuclear war, using only 0.03 percent of the world's arsenal, could destroy up to 50 percent of the ozone layer.

The world will begin to die out from ultraviolet rays. Plants will begin to die all over the world, and those living beings that manage to survive will have to go through painful DNA mutations. Even the most resilient crops will become weaker, smaller, and reproduce much less frequently. So when the skies clear and the world warms up again, growing food will become incredibly difficult. When people try to grow food, entire fields will die, and farmers who stay in the sun long enough will die of skin cancer.

5. Billions of people will starve


After a full-scale nuclear war, it would be about five years before anyone could grow a reasonable amount of food. With low temperatures, killing frosts and damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sky, not many crops will survive long enough to be harvested. Millions of people will die of hunger.

Those who survive will have to find ways to get food, but it won't be easy. People living near the ocean may have a slightly better chance because the seas will cool more slowly. But life in the oceans will still be scarce.

The darkness from a blocked sky will kill plankton, the main food source that keeps the ocean alive. Radioactive contamination will also accumulate in the water, reducing the number of living organisms and making any caught living creature dangerous to eat.

Most of the people who survived the explosions will die within the first five years. The food will be too scarce and the competition too fierce.

4. Canned food will remain safe


One of the main ways people will survive for the first five years will be by drinking bottled water and canned foods - similar to what is described in fiction, tightly sealed food packages will remain safe.

Scientists conducted an experiment in which they left bottled beer and soda water near the site of a nuclear explosion. The outside of the bottles was coated with a thick layer of radioactive dust, but their contents remained safe. Only those drinks that were located almost at the epicenter became radioactive, but even their radiation level was not lethal. However, the testing team rated the drinks as "not edible."

It is believed that canned foods will be as safe as these bottled drinks. It is also believed that water from deep underground wells may be safe to drink. Thus, the struggle for survival will be a struggle for access to village wells and food.

3. Radiation will damage your bones.


Regardless of access to food, survivors will have to contend with widespread cancer. Immediately after the explosion, a huge amount of radioactive dust will rise into the air, which will then begin to fall throughout the world. The dust will be too fine to see, but the radiation levels in it will be high enough to kill.

One of the substances used in nuclear weapons is strontium-90, which the body mistakes for calcium and sends directly to the bone marrow and teeth. This leads to bone cancer.

It is unknown what the radiation level will be. It is not entirely clear how long it will take for the radioactive dust to begin to settle. But if it takes long enough, we can survive. If the dust begins to settle only after two weeks, its radioactivity will decrease by a factor of 1000, and this will be enough for survival. The number of cancers will increase, life expectancy will shorten, birth defects will become commonplace, but humanity will not be destroyed.

2. Widespread hurricanes and storms will begin


During the first two to three years of cold and darkness, unprecedented storms can be expected. Dust in the stratosphere will not only block sunlight, but will also affect the weather.

The clouds will become different, they will contain much more moisture. Until things return to normal, we can expect rain to fall almost constantly.

IN coastal areas it will be even worse. Although the cold snap will trigger a nuclear winter across the planet, the oceans will cool much more slowly. They will be relatively warm, which will cause widespread storms along all coasts. Hurricanes and typhoons will cover all the coasts of the world, and this will last for years.

1. Humanity will survive


Billions will die as a result of a nuclear war. We can expect that about 500 million people will die immediately, and several billion more will die from hunger and cold.

However, there is every reason to believe that the toughest handful of people will cope with this. There won't be many, but it's a much more positive vision of a post-apocalyptic future than what came before. In the 1980s, all scientists agreed that the entire planet would be destroyed. But today we have a little more faith that some people will survive.

In 25-30 years, the clouds will clear, the temperature will return to normal, and life will begin again. Plants will appear. They may not be as lush as before. But in a few decades, the world may look like modern Chernobyl, where dense forests rise above the remains of a dead city.

Life will go on and humanity will be reborn. But the world will never be the same again.