The ukrainian warnow in its third year, periodic threats from Putin and more recently Macron's statements about sending troops to Ukraine have reignited fear to an escalation of the conflict that leads to the use of nuclear weapons. It is a state that begins to remember the one that many countries experienced during the decades of Cold War that they kept USA and the Soviet Union until its dissolution and which raises a logical question: what would happen if a nuclear bomb would it fall in my city?
The answer to this question is Outrider Foundation through their website. This is an organization that reports on issues related to nuclear threats and climate change and has an interactive map that geolocates the visitor to simulate what the detonation of an atomic bomb would be like in their location. The tool also gives the option to enter a location from anywhere in the world, but by clicking on Use my location It performs the simulation on the place where the user is.
On a map of the location, the tool shows the scope and number of victims that the detonation would produce. delimiting the area that the fireball generated by the explosion, heat, shock wave and radiation would occupy. Next to each of the effects of the explosion, its range in km² is shown. Outrider allows you to choose between 4 nuclear weapons different: low-yield nuclear bomb 15 kilotonsequivalent to the Little Boy dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945, North Korea's most powerful atomic bomb with 240 kilotonsthe W-87 of 300 kilotons of the United States' Minuteman III missiles and the Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba 50,000 kt which was detonated in 1961 on Severny Island in the Arctic Ocean.
Also allows you to choose between an explosion on impact against the surface or in the air, causing many more victims in the latter case. The website also provides a calculation of the number of deaths and injuries as a consequence of the nuclear explosion and its effects.
The immediate area around the detonation site is covered by the ball of fire, in white. As Outrider explains, “the fireball forms immediately from the burning bomb residue and emits an enormous amount of energy in the form of x-rays, light and heat, expanding as it cools.” Depending on the type of bomb chosen, among those available in this simulation, the fireball would occupy an area of between 100 m² and 113 km² in which 10,000 times the temperature of the sun is reached in a millionth of a second. The fireball is larger if the detonation occurs at surface level than in the air and everything within this area would be vaporized in an instant.
He heat generated by the detonation would also cause catastrophic damage and would cause death or third-degree burns to anyone within its radius. Wood, clothing, paper and plastic would burn and outside it would still be intense enough to cause first and second degree burns. Depending on the type of pump, it would cover an area of between 8.92 km² and 10,932 km². In this case, the area reached is greater if the detonation occurs in air.
The expansive waveproduced by the air that pushes the fireball, would destroy most buildings within its radius. Most of the casualties would occur from the collapse of buildings and structures and the impact against flying debris. It would range from 4 km² of a 15 kt bomb exploding on the surface at 2,107 km² of the Tsar's bomb detonating in the air. Again, the affected area is larger with the second type of detonation.
The next effect, radiationdamages the cells of the human body and would cause between 50 and 90% of survivors of all of the above would suffer a painful death within a few hours or weeks. With 15 kilotons and on the surface, its area would be 5.64 km² originally. With the Tsar's bomb they would be 80 km². In this case, surface detonation ensures that the radiation covers a larger area. However, the wind would push the radioactive particles to other places quickly, making their reach very difficult to determine, and would contaminate the food chain, animals and crops, producing long-term health risks.
Regarding the number of victims, simulating the detonation in the south of the city of Madrid, it would cause 30,000 dead and 75,000 injured up to approximately 3,130,000 and 1,400,000 with the Tsar's bomb. In the latter case, the heat generated would almost completely cover the community of Madrid, the shock wave would cover practically half and The fireball would vaporize just over a fifth of the capital's surface.