These are sometimes given the acronym of ABC weapons: atomic (nuclear), biological and chemical
The effects of exploding a nuclear warhead can be assessed from the dropping of atomic bombs in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant plant explosion in 1986
They include heat, blast and radiation that would prove lethal over a wide geographical area
The environmental damage would last for thousands of years
When was the Chernobyl power plant disaster?
1986
When were atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
1945
Biological weapons may be sprayed or transmitted through the bites of infected insects or contamination of food and water supplies, with deadly effects
Chemical weapons cause injury, disability and death to animals and humans in the vicinity of their uses this has been seen in the civil war in Syria
Weapons of mass destruction could thus never fulfil the JustWar criteria of discrimination, proportionality and probability of success
Proportionality:
means that expected benefits must be proportional to expected harm and that the means used in war must be proportionate to the ends required
