  This manuscript investigates the potential effect of a nuclear-disturbed
atmospheric environment on the signal attenuation of a ground/satellite
transmitter/receiver system for both classical optical and quantum
communications applications. Attenuation of a signal transmitted through the
rising nuclear cloud and the subsequently transported debris is modeled
climatologically for surface-level detonations of 10 kt, 100 kt, and 1 Mt.
Attenuation statistics were collected as a function of time after detonation.
These loss terms were compared to normal loss sources such as clouds, smoke
from fires, and clear sky operation. Finally, the loss was related to the
degradation of transmitted entanglement derived from Bayesian mean estimation.
