Benefits of a Nuclear War

[AiA in Atlanta]

Seems a silly proposition but serious people don't think so: "Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years"
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... te-change/
Extreme, not?

[Outlaw Yogi]

So we need a nuclear winter? ... that's just great .. we had some numbat Tim Flannery proposing we terraform the planet with photochemical smog a few years back.
If they let it, the planet will fix itself, eventually.

[AiA in Atlanta]

A nuclear winter would also be a boon for the lucrative cancer industry.

[Sappho]

I dunno... even a little nuclear war seems somewhat inhuman. Wouldn't it be better to blow up a few nuclear reactors instead... you know chernobyl v2.0? We could have a nuclear fallout cap and trade policy to give it a bit of an environmental flair.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Wouldn't it be better to blow up a few nuclear reactors instead...

Sadly, doing so is much easier than most people realise. Any reactor with water coolant towers is an easy target for terrorist/enemy induced melt-down.

[Super Nova]

No a reactor melt down is not going to be a nuke explosion like a bonb. It is more like a dirty bombs that will spread radio-activity in the local area and beyond.

The nuclear war option is just about getting particles high in the atmosphere to reduce light penitration and thereby reduce global energy absorbed by the Earth from sun light. There as to be a less destructive way to achieve this. However it is good to see there is a positive outcome from the absolute stupidity of humankind.

I think a good old fashion plague to kill most of us off will do just fine.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Reactor melt-down releases radioactive particles into the air via the fire.
Targeting reactors eliminates the need to access nuke weapons or radiological materials for dirty bombs, and alleviates transport dramas like Customs ect.

Trying to cool the planet via nuclear winter is insane. Inducing a nuclear winter via nuke weapons would be no more controllable than dropping conventional bombs into volcanoes.

Nuclear fuel processing (for reactors) employs halogenated compounds that both erode the ozone and simultaneously produce more global warming impact per volume than carbon dioxide. So reactors need to be phased out just like Coal fired power plants.

[Sappho]

The nuclear war option is just about getting particles high in the atmosphere to reduce light penitration and thereby reduce global energy absorbed by the Earth from sun light. There as to be a less destructive way to achieve this.

Sulfide?

[boxy]

Do tactical nuclear weapons release much radioactivity into the environment? If a super power is ever seriously challenged, I would expect them to use them, if militarily appropriate.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Tactical nukes being low yield would probably contaminate a smaller area, but its plutonium, which is deadly for at least 25,000 years. How do you choose who to nuke to create this savior dust shield?