Nuclear Weapons and Anthropocene
What you need to know
The environmental harms associated with economic activity are often
the focus of research on the Anthropocene. However, since 1945, the environmental impact of nuclear weapons
production has presented a threat to human wellbeing, ecosystem health, and biodiversity.
The ongoing environmental sacrifices
made in the name of nuclear arms races and national security doctrines warrant far greater attention
in a discussion about the role of humans in transforming the planet.
The environmental harms associated with economic activity are often the focus of research on the Anthropocene. However, since 1945, the environmental impact of nuclear weapons production has presented a threat to human wellbeing, ecosystem health, and biodiversity. The ongoing environmental sacrifices made in the name of nuclear arms races and national security doctrines warrant far greater attention in a discussion about the role of humans in transforming the planet.
What is this research about?
An arms race always generates negative environmental impacts, but the Cold War nuclear arms race introduced
unprecedented types and amounts of radioactive wastes into the environment. The production strategies used
in this arms race were remarkably different from arms races in other eras of human warfare. The military
guided a nexus of industrial, scientific, and technological production with one goal: build the most deadly
weapons in human history.
Plutonium is the most deadly and carcinogenic substance known to humans. Hanford reprocessed Plutonium-239 (P-239)
from irradiated fuel rods for use in advanced nuclear weapons. The process of manufacturing P-239 requires enormous amounts of water,
the use of many caustic and deadly chemicals, and results in the generation of huge volumes and numerous types
of radioactive waste. There were many processes that could be used to accomplish plutonium reprocessing.
PUREX was a process chosen for its high efficiency, but it was a double-edged sword; it produced even greater
volumes of waste. Some of the resulting 32 billion gallons of liquid waste (64% from PUREX) seeped into the groundwater
and created mounds that altered the local hydrology and sped the flow of water towards the Columbia River.
Rocky Flats manufactured P-239 cores. These cores are the primary component of modern nuclear weapons, the piece
responsible for the chain reaction, and Rocky Flats produced nearly every core in the American nuclear arsenal.
In high concentrations required for weapons P-239 is uniquely dangerous, because it can spontaneously ignite in air or undergo a chain reaction in the presence
of water. P-239 had to be machined into precise cores for use in weapons, and the wastes produced in this process
were the source of many dangerous accidents involving plutonium. There is a remarkable history of nuclear secrecy, denial,
and lies involving human health and ecological damages from plutonium core production at Rocky Flats.
Not all nuclear weapon designs are equally risky. One specific type of cores - sealed-pit cores - was itself a far
riskier choice of weapon design because any accident guaranteed a nuclear scattering incident; previous "gun-style" designs had kept the
radioactive materials separate from the other bomb components until they were ready to be deployed. Military leaders
insisted that the risks of sealed-pit weapons were negligible, but declassified national security documents show otherwise. These weapons
have been involved in dozens of scattering events, some resulting in serious ecological damage.
An arms race always generates negative environmental impacts, but the Cold War nuclear arms race introduced
unprecedented types and amounts of radioactive wastes into the environment. The production strategies used
in this arms race were remarkably different from arms races in other eras of human warfare. The military
guided a nexus of industrial, scientific, and technological production with one goal: build the most deadly
weapons in human history.
Plutonium is the most deadly and carcinogenic substance known to humans. Hanford reprocessed Plutonium-239 (P-239)
from irradiated fuel rods for use in advanced nuclear weapons. The process of manufacturing P-239 requires enormous amounts of water,
the use of many caustic and deadly chemicals, and results in the generation of huge volumes and numerous types
of radioactive waste. There were many processes that could be used to accomplish plutonium reprocessing.
PUREX was a process chosen for its high efficiency, but it was a double-edged sword; it produced even greater
volumes of waste. Some of the resulting 32 billion gallons of liquid waste (64% from PUREX) seeped into the groundwater
and created mounds that altered the local hydrology and sped the flow of water towards the Columbia River.
Rocky Flats manufactured P-239 cores. These cores are the primary component of modern nuclear weapons, the piece
responsible for the chain reaction, and Rocky Flats produced nearly every core in the American nuclear arsenal.
In high concentrations required for weapons P-239 is uniquely dangerous, because it can spontaneously ignite in air or undergo a chain reaction in the presence
of water. P-239 had to be machined into precise cores for use in weapons, and the wastes produced in this process
were the source of many dangerous accidents involving plutonium. There is a remarkable history of nuclear secrecy, denial,
and lies involving human health and ecological damages from plutonium core production at Rocky Flats.
Not all nuclear weapon designs are equally risky. One specific type of cores - sealed-pit cores - was itself a far
riskier choice of weapon design because any accident guaranteed a nuclear scattering incident; previous "gun-style" designs had kept the
radioactive materials separate from the other bomb components until they were ready to be deployed. Military leaders
insisted that the risks of sealed-pit weapons were negligible, but declassified national security documents show otherwise. These weapons
have been involved in dozens of scattering events, some resulting in serious ecological damage.
Source: Hulton-Deutsch / Hulton-Deutsch Collection / Corbis / Getty
Source: Historic American Engineering Record / Library of Congress
Source: US Naval Historical Center
Source: Hanford.gov
What did the researcher do?
The researcher located and analyzed academic research, media, governmental publications, and
recently declassified national security documents on the environmental damage resulting from
the production of nuclear weapons in the United States since the Manhattan Project. I
identified historical and social factors that led to the American effort in the Cold War nuclear
arms race. I document the American strategy of "modernizing" the nuclear arsenal and the resulting ecological
consequences for humans and all biological life.
The researcher located and analyzed academic research, media, governmental publications, and recently declassified national security documents on the environmental damage resulting from the production of nuclear weapons in the United States since the Manhattan Project. I identified historical and social factors that led to the American effort in the Cold War nuclear arms race. I document the American strategy of "modernizing" the nuclear arsenal and the resulting ecological consequences for humans and all biological life.
What did the researcher find?
The American military competed in a nuclear arms race by imposing a "treadmill" strategy. National security and military
secrecy doctrines guided the extraction of material, industrial, and scientific resources away from the civilian
economy and were directed towards waging a nuclear arms race. As the United States was prepared to sacrifice
democracy and the survival of humanity, it comes as no surprise that it was prepared to sacrifice the environment as well.
Hanford is the most radioactively contaminated space on Earth. Radiation bioconcentrates and bioaccumulates in the local water
supply and foodchain. Evidence can be found in radioactive tumbleweeds, in the droppings of apex predators such as hawks,
in the genetic changes in many Columbia River fish species, and in the thyroids of humans in the surrounding communities.
A new nuclear arms race threatens to add to the waste burden at Hanford, before the Cold War environmental legacy has been fully addressed.
Rocky Flats contaminated much of the Denver metro area with plutonium during the 1957 fire - and spread contamination through
Colorado via hundreds of other fires at the facility. It has been estimated by Dr. Helen Caldicott that
one pound of plutonium - evenly distributed - could induce lung cancer in every human on earth. During Rocky Flats' operation
no less than 1,100 pounds of plutonium were "lost" in the air ducts, drum, and glove boxes. Moreover, the sealed-pit cores
contaminating Rocky Flats and Denver were a component of a high-risk nuclear weapon design, one that led to dozens of
nuclear scattering incidents. These secret nuclear accidents were classified until only recently, because they demonstrate
the catastrophic risks posed both in the production and maintenance of nuclear arsenals - despite whether they are ever deployed
on the battlefield.
The American military competed in a nuclear arms race by imposing a "treadmill" strategy. National security and military
secrecy doctrines guided the extraction of material, industrial, and scientific resources away from the civilian
economy and were directed towards waging a nuclear arms race. As the United States was prepared to sacrifice
democracy and the survival of humanity, it comes as no surprise that it was prepared to sacrifice the environment as well.
Hanford is the most radioactively contaminated space on Earth. Radiation bioconcentrates and bioaccumulates in the local water
supply and foodchain. Evidence can be found in radioactive tumbleweeds, in the droppings of apex predators such as hawks,
in the genetic changes in many Columbia River fish species, and in the thyroids of humans in the surrounding communities.
A new nuclear arms race threatens to add to the waste burden at Hanford, before the Cold War environmental legacy has been fully addressed.
Rocky Flats contaminated much of the Denver metro area with plutonium during the 1957 fire - and spread contamination through
Colorado via hundreds of other fires at the facility. It has been estimated by Dr. Helen Caldicott that
one pound of plutonium - evenly distributed - could induce lung cancer in every human on earth. During Rocky Flats' operation
no less than 1,100 pounds of plutonium were "lost" in the air ducts, drum, and glove boxes. Moreover, the sealed-pit cores
contaminating Rocky Flats and Denver were a component of a high-risk nuclear weapon design, one that led to dozens of
nuclear scattering incidents. These secret nuclear accidents were classified until only recently, because they demonstrate
the catastrophic risks posed both in the production and maintenance of nuclear arsenals - despite whether they are ever deployed
on the battlefield.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
Photo: Wikipedia, Colorado State Department of Health
How can you use this research?
In 2020, several countries are pursuing a new nuclear arms race. In the United States, there is an ongoing effort to convert former nuclear weapons sites into environmental preservation spaces available for public use. Governments and policy advocates can be reminded that historically, a nuclear arms race results in ecological atrocities at local, regional, and global scales. Understanding how a treadmill emerges can reveal the conditions that prevent it from becoming established. This research can therefore help scholars and policy makers craft national security strategies that take seriously the human health and ecological threats posed by the creation of our own nuclear weapons. Environmental and nuclear disarmament organizations may use this research to inform their strategies for addressing the intersecting and impending catastrophes of global environmental change and nuclear war.
Source: Nature Conservancy of Washington
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Citation
Lengefeld, Michael. 2020. "Nuclear Weapons and the Treadmill of Destruction in the Making of the Anthropocene." Journal of World-Systems Research 26(2), 203-230. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2020.982 Available HERE
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