Ah-Teen said:
The russians tested bigger bombs. Sucks for the fishing boat and the islanders. Really sucks.
I'm saying a 5 megaton weapon would cause thousands of fallout-related deaths if detonated on a populated latitude. The massive Tsar bomba and Castle Bravo were detonated in places far away from civilization exactly because of that, with the latter irradiating thousands of people due to a miscalculation in fallout range.
5-10 megatons is the average weapon in the US arsenal(don't know about the Russians.). Yes that means there are about 8 - 10 on each mirv and there are thousands of mirvs.
Wrong. The most powerful nuclear weapon in the United States' active arsenal is the B83 nuclear bomb, up to 1.2 megatons yield. ICBMS have 300~500kT warheads, or MIRVS. And no, there are no "thousands" of those, 1979's SALT II* set a limit to eight warheads per missile.
Detonating 3 - 5 miles above ground prevents alot of contamination turning your every day dirt into the crackling dust we all know and love as fallout.
I seriously doubt a terrorist organization would have the means of detonating the weapon at such altitude.
Hell, I seriously doubt many things in this paranoid scenario. I doubt anyone stole that weapon, There are no 50 megaton-capable single nuclear weapons in service, the only 5 Megaton capable nuclear weapon would be the sum of warheads in the Minuteman ICBM or the Trident SLBM. Try hiding it under your coat. I doubt anyone has the means of delivery of said weapon, and lastly, I doubt it's that easy to ignite.
Maph said:
So some folk connected the dots... And this is what they came up with. I say, not to far off from what could happen.
So, some folk got hold of a crack pipe. Get real, people.
*1993's START II was supposed to severely limit the number of allowed operational ICBM's, but the Russians withdrew from it one day after the Gringos withdrew from the Anti Ballistic Missile treaty. Go Gringos! Now they want to put antiballistic missiles in my backyard, angering the Russkies and turning Poland into a primary target.