[chimera]

The initial post mentioned small yields in the 5 to 10 KT range. I didn't pay much attention to that because those seem kind of smallish. The Starfish Prime test that everyone talks about was 1.4 MT. It blew at an altitude of 250 miles about 900 miles away from Hawaii. It was said the major effects were disruptions in telephone communications, some damage to streetlights, and setting off a few security system alarms. I heard the residual radiation fried a few of the early communications satellites (e.g., Telstar). Offhand, those seem like relatively minor effects compared to the doomsday scenarios I've seen.

[familyop]

Those are good points. One might study differences in radiation yields between smaller and larger nuclear weapons along with differences in communications equipment and methods between the past and now.