<P> The international nonproliferation regime inherited from the Cold War still provides disincentives and safeguards against national or sub-national access to nuclear materials and facilities . Formal and informal measures and processes have effectively slowed national incentives and the tempo of international nuclear - weapons proliferation . </P> <P> Numerous and beneficial uses of nuclear energy have evolved such as the use of nuclear energy to create electricity . Commercial nuclear - reactor operation and construction have persisted, with some notable increase in worldwide energy production . The management of nuclear waste remains somewhat unresolved, depending very much on government policies . However, the quantity of waste produced from nuclear power plants is relatively small, and nuclear waste has been proven to be recyclable . Several countries, including France, Japan, and Finland, currently reprocess nuclear waste . </P> <P> As nuclear weapons are becoming surplus to national military interests, they are slowly being dismantled, and in some cases their fissile material is being recycled to fuel civilian nuclear - reactors . </P> <P> Because of the military and non-military exploitation of nuclear fission, the Cold War brought forth some significant involuntary exposures to high - level radiation . The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused large - scale destruction through intense blast and fire, as well as acute and lingering radiation . Moreover, as a result of decades of nuclear - weapons production, experimentation, and testing, exposure to radiation above normal background levels occurred to scientists, technicians, military personnel, civilians, and animals . Several significant radiation - related accidents occurred at military and civilian nuclear reactors and facilities, causing direct fatalities, as well as involuntary occupational and public exposures . </P>

How did the cold war affect the rest of the world