Posted on 02/02/2010 3:03:33 AM PST by B-Chan
“...a nuked NYC.”
The UN building is in NYC. NYC is safe. I’m guessing Norfolk or San Diego. Washington is tempting but they have people there.
IIRC, the initial test devices were mounted of tall towers. Oh, wait- you don't mean above ground as in air bursts, you mean not underground. Quite a few, I'll bet.
The crater itself would remain hot for centuries. Debris that is sucked up into the fireball, then sprinkles downrange as fallout, will only be dangerous for several weeks or months with a 10KT device. Nevada nuclear tests were so close to Las Vegas that they became a tourist attraction, but the fallout radiation is long gone.
An airburst at several thousand feet would result in much more blast and heat damage but cause little to no fallout. The bad guys want fallout because it affects a wider area and potentially may result in many more deaths.
While this “smuggled component” scenario is frighteningly possible, I’m more concerned about a dedicated EMP attack. High altitude nuclear blasts over the Continental U.S. could cause an electromagnetic pulse that would fry our power grid and could, maybe, burn out our laptops, cell phones, and anything else that uses computer chips ... such as the computer in your car.
Iran has test-launched ballistic missiles from cargo ships (in the Caspian Sea, where our subs couldn’t see them) and has experimented with detonating missile warheads at the top of its flight path. Just one of these “Scud in a Bucket” attacks could, potentially, knock out the electric grid for most of the Eastern Seaboard. Three could blanket the Lower 48.
But we’re not sure. EMP was discovered during the Starfish Prime test in the Pacific in 1962, then open-air nuke testing was halted a few months later.
The death toll in America could reach nine figures from an EMP attack. Yeah, it’s THAT bad! One bright flash in the sky and we’re back to 1850.
Hiroshima is a thriving city again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.