As a result of its detonation in recent decades, a total energy of more than 540 megatons has been released on Earth. The bombs released into the atmosphere alone accounted for 428 megatons, the equivalent of more than 29,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs, causing 166,000 deaths by the end of 1945.

Due to the need to measure different safety, efficacy and potency parameters, these tests were carried out in various types of environments, in remote parts of the world and far from civilization; because due to its scope, people could suffer from skin lesions or poisoning, to various types of long-term cancers, due to the harmful effects of radiation.

In addition to the direct effects on the environment expressed in radioactive fallout -deposition of a mixture of particles from the atmosphere from an explosion-, anthropogenic contamination, and other phenomena.

For example, the 1954 detonation of the Castle Bravo bomb on Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean reached the highest power recorded in the US of about 15 megatons; and the cloud of smoke, a derived atomic mushroom, reached 14 kilometers in altitude and seven kilometers in diameter in one minute. Within 10 minutes, the cloud exceeded 40 km in altitude and 100 km in diameter, expanding at more than 100 meters per second.

Its reach caused a radioactive rain with pulverized coral that spread to the rest of the islands of the archipelago and fell, more heavily in the form of white ash, on residents and soldiers.

Meanwhile, a more particulate and gaseous one reached the rest of the world as far as Australia, India and Japan, including the US and part of Europe, totaling direct damages in an area of ​​some 18,000 square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean.

As a consequence and according to an investigation carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even today radioactive fallout is present in small quantities throughout the world.

To which they add that any person born after 1951 in US territory has received some type of exposure to radiation associated with the phenomenon of nuclear weapons tests.

Researchers have delved into how the electrical charge – released by the ionization of the air due to radioactivity – affects the rain; and causing effects in the clouds thousands of kilometers from the detonation of a nuclear device.

A group of British physicists from the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, in the United Kingdom, compared the days with low and high radioactive load between 1962 and 1964 in Scotland, after which they found that the clouds were visibly denser and thicker, and there was 24 percent more rain on average on the days with the most radioactivity.

Every August 29, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests is celebrated, after the growing threat caused by this type of weapon, on December 2, 2009, the General Assembly unanimously approved its resolution 64/35 declaring that date as such.

The proposal made by the Republic of Kazakhstan, and supported by other countries, then sought to celebrate the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, which occurred on that same day in August 1991.

But challenges still persist, since the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Tpcen) of 1996, an international instrument designed to prevent them, unfortunately has not yet entered into force.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for defending health, human survival and the planet in his message on the occasion of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests today.

Nuclear tests have long poisoned the natural environment of our planet and the species and people who call it home, Guterres said in a statement released by the office of his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.

He said the celebration represents a worldwide acknowledgment of the catastrophic and persistent damage caused in the name of the nuclear arms race.

The UN chief called for the world to finally establish a legally binding ban on all nuclear tests.

Given the current risks, “the time has come for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty to enter fully into force, backed by an effective verification system,” he stressed.

Those weapons have no place nor do they guarantee any victory or security, by design, their only result is destruction, added the secretary general.

He lamented that the world was “held hostage to these death devices for a long time.”

Let’s ensure the end of testing now and forever, and make nuclear weapons a thing of the past, once and for all, he concluded.

On August 26, after three weeks of discussions, the Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ended. Guterres warned at the opening session of the meeting that there are times when geopolitical tensions reach new heights and that humanity “is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”

Cuba reaffirms position against all nuclear weapons and tests

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez today reiterated his country’s position in favor of the prohibition and cessation of all nuclear tests and the total elimination of these weapons.

On August 3, Cuba stated at the United Nations (UN) its defense of a world free of the danger that these weapons represent and warned that political manipulation, selectivity and double standards in non-proliferation must cease.

The only sustainable solution to the existential problem that nuclear weapons represent is their total elimination, said Yuri Gala, deputy permanent representative of the Caribbean nation, speaking at the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). .

The diplomat lamented the lack of concrete progress in nuclear disarmament, in particular regarding the fulfillment of the obligations and commitments acquired by the nuclear powers 52 years after the entry into force of the treaty.

He pointed out that it is neither fair nor acceptable that a group of States Parties strictly comply with all the obligations of the NPT and others do not.

Nor is it that certain countries are condemned and demonized for alleged violations of the non-proliferation regime by the same States that continue perfecting their nuclear arsenals, supplying and transferring technologies, said the Cuban ambassador.

The NPT entered into force in 1970 and has the adherence of 191 States, including five possessors of nuclear weapons, which makes it the multilateral disarmament agreement with a binding commitment and with the largest number of consents.

Cuba is a signatory to it and has reiterated on numerous occasions its firm position in favor of the total elimination of this weaponry in a transparent, verifiable and irreversible manner.

According to Rodríguez, there are “more than 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world, 3,825 of which are ready for immediate use.”

(With information from Telesur and Prensa Latina)

Matanzas is recognized for its natural values. Precisely, the sinister described as the first of this magnitude in the history of Cuba occurred very close to the bay, in an area close to different towns that were seen under the smoke coming from the place of the disaster.

The newspaper Girón spoke with Oscar García Martínez, delegate of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma) in Matanzas, about the environmental impact of this event in the territory and the work that has been carried out to monitor and reduce damage to the environment .

—What were the main damages detected at first from the environmental point of view?

The main damages are to the atmosphere, that is, to the quality of the air, as in any fire. During the days that the fire lasted, we established a work system that allowed us to monitor the main polluting gases. Strong convective activity in the fire caused that plume of smoke to rise. The levels of contaminants measured were low, they do not compromise human health.

“A monitoring network made up of a total of 16 observers and specialists distributed throughout the most vulnerable areas was established, and they informed us every three hours about the state of the environment, if they felt irritation in the eyes, mouth and nose. In addition, the fact that visits to the Primary Health Care system have not increased means that there was no affectation associated with this event. The team, coupled with this, established measurements at five points. The indicators demonstrated compliance with Cuban standards in the environment.

“Another important element is the quality of the water in the bay. From the first moment, barriers were established to prevent a possible spill into the sea. From the second tank, there was a spill that was contained thanks to this measure. In any case, sampling is also carried out in the bay that corroborates from the visual and the contamination that there is no damage right now”.

—Matanzas has experiences regarding the containment of hydrocarbon spills. Did the studies carried out on this subject allow us to react more quickly?

As it is one of the most important provinces in terms of oil extraction and marketing, experience has been acquired from the Civil Defense and it is already known how to act in the face of a phenomenon of this type, according to research by science centers. Although it reached a large scale and we had never experienced a spill associated with a fire, the key is to be able to immediately design the observation points, the ways to control and mitigate this type of event.

—The studies carried out respond to a more immediate stage. Do you intend to develop other research on the long-term effects?

The measures mentioned correspond to the first stage. In this second phase, of recovery, we are going to follow up with another monitoring system that covers aspects related to the soil, agricultural production, traces in the milk of cattle; that is, a series of elements that allow knowing the real magnitude of the impact of the incident. The investigation can last two months.

“Then we are going to do a long-term analysis, we plan to extend it up to two more years with other parameters, to re-evaluate soil, vegetation and food chains. We will use well-designed indicators and a sampling system for the area of ​​the cone of influence of the pollutant cloud”.

—In one of the reports from Citma, they explained that the cloud contained sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, among other substances. Did these concentrations dissipate with his disappearance?

These gases come from combustion, once extinguished the flames go down considerably. Some columns of smoke may still be produced in the area due to the emissions, but now that the danger has passed, the focus that caused the increase of these pollutants into the atmosphere has disappeared, therefore the emissions are in the range in which we are used to living. the Matanzas.

—How do you deal with the population reports? Were people’s testimonials helpful?

Many townspeople joined the network of observers, alerting us if there was any anomaly. There is also a commission by the Citma subgroup of the Defense Council that deals with the situations described. We attend the place, evaluate and recommend how to act. All the cases have been related to the rains. We always warn about the need not to be exposed to it because the waters were loaded with particles that gave a black color. For example, in rural areas such as the Yumurí Valley and Corral Nuevo, the rain left a kind of soot, but it did not cause health consequences or compromise crops or livestock.

—Have acid rains been reported in Matanzas? What is the difference between this phenomenon and that blackish substance detected?

The combination of very high concentrations of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere, together with the occurrence of precipitation, causes acid rain to occur. In that period there were no downpours, rather some drizzles. It is not ruled out that in a specific place it has rained more intensely with a level of acidity higher than normal, but so far we have no reports where the pH of the water is acid. In the case of water with that dark color, it is about suspended particles.

—What is expected for the next few days according to science?

Everything indicates that what happened in the fire stage does not seem to have compromised any aspect for the future. In any case, we continue with the scientific investigations and if we discover something new, we inform it. Next month we will have an environmental impact assessment in which we will explain the most recent results. If any indicator is altered, we will analyze it and follow up on it.

(Taken from Girón Newspaper)

PFAS molecules possess carbon-fluorine bonds so strong that they were considered virtually impossible to break. However, in their study published on August 18 in the journal Science, the researchers claim to have developed a low-energy process that degrades these chemicals at mild temperatures, using cheap reagents and leaving only harmless molecules containing carbon and fluoride ions.

“The fundamental understanding of how these materials degrade is probably the most important thing to come out of this study,” said William Dichtel, co-author of the research and professor of chemistry at Northwestern University (Illinois, United States).

He and his colleagues tested their low-energy method on PFCA molecules of different chain lengths and managed to break down 10 of them. The trick was to target a group of charged oxygen atoms at the very end of the PFCA molecules.

“The action triggered all of these reactions and started knocking fluorine atoms out of the compounds to form fluoride, which is the safest form of fluorine,” Dichtel explained. “Although carbon-fluorine bonds are extremely strong, that charged headgroup is the Achilles’ heel.”

The team then used computer simulations to test the onslaught of complex chemical reactions and confirm that the byproducts were relatively harmless.

According to Shira Joudan, a researcher in environmental chemistry at the University of York, and her colleague Rylan Lundgren, from the University of Alberta, the study “provides insight into how these apparently robust compounds can undergo near-complete decomposition under unexpectedly mild conditions.” ”. These findings could be “combined with the efficient capture of PFAS from contaminated environmental sites to provide a potential solution to the eternal chemical problem,” they conclude.

However, there are more than 12,000 different PFAS chemicals recognized to date, so more research is still needed to fully understand the reactivity of these molecules and determine whether they can all be degraded using similar approaches.

(Taken from RT in Spanish)