The breach in the earth’s radiation shield

The Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field constitute radiation shields which absorb and deflect high-energy radiation from the solar wind and cosmic rays, protecting the critical DNA and RNA biomolecules which form the basis of life from “genetic damage (Lomax 2013). The mining of Uranium, enrichment of Uranium-235 and the production of the artificial Plutonium-238 and 240 isotopes have opened a source of radioactive radiation released to the Earth’s atmosphere, water and soil, as recorded as a distinct anthropogenic radioactive layer in the deep oceans. Nuclear tests in remote parts of the Earth have already commenced a nuclear war against indigenous people, including in Japan, Marshall Islands, Novaya Zemlya, Kazakhstan, Polynesia and the Sahara and Gobi Deserts. Despite the above, proponents of nuclear energy, assuming responsible human handling of fissile materials in the future, propose nuclear energy replaces carbon-based combustion systems. However, the fallibility of the nuclear industry has already been demonstrated by major nuclear accidents, such as in Chernobyl and Fukushima, as well as radioactive spills. Nuclear energy facilities have facilitated lateral proliferation of nuclear weapons. Extrapolating from ~500 megaton tests and release of plutonium from satellite accident, radiation levels from a 1000 and a 10,000 megaton war would reach a scale of 4.2 × 10¹¹ Curies and 4.2 × 10¹² Curies, respectively. Consequent proliferation of radiation hot spots around the world and triggered nuclear winter conditions arising from global smoke and soot released from burnt cities would result in a loss of life on the scale of more than one billion. The longer term consequences of a nuclear conflict are difficult to evaluate. Given the history of the atomic age, H. sapiens can hardly be trusted to limit the destructive potential of the splitting of the atom.