The UK is being told to hold ‘frank conversations’ about preparing for war after the head of the army called on the country’s leaders to step up planning for conflict.
General Sir Roly Walker told Sky News that ‘every’ citizen will be ‘asked to make sacrifices’ and play their part in the defence of the country.
While the spectre of nuclear war is hopefully still a relatively remote one, fresh threats of an attack on key infrastructure or security in the UK from Russia mean that the chances are still non-zero.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been warned that the UK faces an “inevitable” Russian attack over unfaltering support for Ukraine.
And much like pandemic planning, every major Western government does have contingencies in place for dealing with nuclear strikes on major cities, with the UK being no exception.
Below is what would happen in a worst-case scenario if Russia dropped a key 800kt weapon from its arsenal – the Topol SS-25 – on the 10 largest UK cities.
The estimate of devastation is provided by NuclearSecrecy.com, which has a tool that shows the extent of damage to each city based on various confirmed warheads.
London
One website, NuclearSecrecy.com, has a tool called Nuke Map, which shows estimates of the damage which would be dealt by various nuclear weapons. This was set up by Alex Wellerstein, a science and nuclear weapons professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology. One warhead available is the Topol SS-25, an 800-kiloton nuke currently in Russia’s arsenal. It shows that, if it were dropped right on Westminster in Central London, the damage would be predictably catastrophic.
(Image: NuclearSecrecy.com)
If Cardiff was hit with a Russian nuke, this is the result
The Nuke Map explains what happens in each of the four zones in each city, such as in Cardiff, pictured here.
For the impact area in the orange: “Maximum size of the nuclear fireball; relevance to damage on the ground depends on the height of detonation. If it touches the ground, the amount of radioactive fallout is significantly increased. Anything inside the fireball is effectively vapourised.”
(Image: NuclearSecrecy.com)
Liverpool
The next zone, seen here on a map of Liverpool, is the ‘moderate blast damage radius’. This would collapse buildings and start fires. The map states: “At 5 psi overpressure, most residential buildings collapse, injuries are universal, fatalities are widespread. The chances of a fire starting in commercial [buildings] and residential damage are high, and buildings so damaged are at high risk of spreading fire.”
(Image: NuclearSecrecy.com)
Edinburgh
The third zone, further from the point of impact, shown here on a map of Edinburgh, in yellow, would fare little better. The map states: “Third degree burns extend throughout the layers of skin, and are often painless because they destroy the pain nerves. They can cause severe scarring or disablement, and can require amputation.”
(Image: NuclearSecrecy.com)
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.