nuclear-news

Grim reality of what a terrorist attack on nuclear facility would mean

local emergency responders shouldn’t expect any substantial federal help for at least 24 hours, and perhaps as long as 72 hours……

Thinking about the unthinkable — a terrorist nuclear attack, Winnipeg Free Press  , 26 Dec 10,  The Obama administration is faced with one of those damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t decisions: Should it be giving Americans advice on what to do in case of a nuclear attack by terrorists on an American city?…………

the Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation, prepared by a federal interagency committee. It is fascinating reading, full of grim acronyms like LD50 (a lethal dose of radiation that kills 50 per cent of a population) and RTR (radiation triage, treatment and transport).

It assumes, for sake of argument, that terrorists would acquire a 10-kilotonne nuclear device, the explosive equivalent of 10,000 tonnes of TNT, only worse because TNT doesn’t create radioactive fallout.

A 10-kilotonne nuclear weapon creates a fireball 200 metres wide. Anything within a kilometre of ground zero will be flattened or heavily damaged by the shock wave or wind. “Life-saving not likely,” the report advises.

Outside of this “no-go” zone and within a kilometre-and-a-half of ground zero, there will be heavy structural damage but “many serious injuries (and) greatest life-saving opportunities.”………

local emergency responders shouldn’t expect any substantial federal help for at least 24 hours, and perhaps as long as 72 hours……

Thinking about the unthinkable — a terrorist nuclear attack – Winnipeg Free Press

December 27, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA