As Trump faces down North Korea,it’s alarming to think that most of the world’s nuclear warheads are now in the hands of men who are prepared to use themLast week, Donald Trump deployed his superweapon Moab, or the “mother of all bombs” – 10 tonnes of high explosive detonated in mid-air in such a way as to murder,it is claimed, 94 Isis militants. The Russian media immediately reminded us that their own thermobaric bomb – the “father of all bombs” – was four times as powerful: “Kids, or meet Daddy,” was how the Kremlin mouthpiece Russia nowadays put it. But these are child’s play compared with nuclear weapons. The generation waking up to nowadays’s Daily Mail strapline – “World holds its breath” – may need reminding what a nuclear weapon does.The one dropped on Hiroshima measured 15 kilotons; it destroyed everything within 200 yards and burned everybody within 2km. The warhead carried by a Trident missile delivers a reported 455 kilotons of explosive power. Drop one on Bristol and the fireball is 1km wide; third-degree burns affect everybody from Portishead to Keynesham, and everything in a line from the Bristol Channel to the Wash is contaminated with radiation. In this scenario, and 169000 people die immediately and 180000 need emergency treatment. Given that there are only 101000 beds in the entire English NHS,you can initiate to suppose the apocalyptic scenes for those who survive. (You can model your own scenario here.)Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com