Detonation Britain: Nuclear War in the UK

by Jeremy Mark Robinson

DETONATION NUCLEAR WAR IN THE U.K. An exploration of nuclear politics, the military machine and war scenarios, including how the United Kingdom would fare in a nuclear war. There are chapters nuclear politics • nukespeak and 'nuclear theology' • atomic bomb tests and 'accidents' • American bases in Britain • the superpowers' military programmes and strategies • the cost of nuclear war • British civil defence • the Gulf War, 'infowar' and 'smart' technology • nuclear attack scenarios • and anti-war and peace initiatives. EXTRACT FROM CHAPTER “HELL ON EARTH” A NUCLEAR WAR 'WORST CASE' SCENARIO Here's how you might die in a nuclear strike. Maximum capability is about one strategic warhead hitting a target every twenty seconds. Let's take a one megaton air-burst scenario. At ground zero, all buildings would be destroyed. Winds of 1,000 mph. There may be an 'echo' of the blast wave (the 'Mach' effect), resulting in double the over-pressure. The fireball will rise at  feet/ second, expanding to 6,000 feet diameter after ten seconds. The radioactive cloud would be 3 miles high in 30 seconds. All combustible stuff would ignite, some up to 8 miles away. Air heat rises to 10,000,000° C. Heat travels outwards at 186,000 miles per second. Flesh would melt. People would die in the suffocation from the firestorm. At 1.5 miles from ground zero over-pressure is 30 times than normal atmospheric pressure. From two to five miles away, most buildings would be flattened, within 15 or so seconds. Winds of 130 mph. Clothing would ignite. Radiation sickness is inevitable. At three miles away you'll feel a flash of light (christened the pika-don at Hiroshima); then intense heat which chars to the bone (full-thickness burns); fifteen seconds later the windows would be blown in by the blast wave; and you'd be thrown about by the wind. First degree burns as far as 20 miles from detonation. The EMP (electromagnetic pulse) will disrupt computers, telephones, radios, radars and power supplies. Most people would be permanently blinded by the brilliant light. There are about 200 radioactive elements in fall-out. Fall-out is second-stage radiation, contaminating water, the food chain, everything. Everywhere would be a 'Z Zone', a fall-out zone. Nice to know, too, that radiation is undetectable by the five senses. You may have a mortal dose and not know it. You'll know soon, though. You're in for a party, with radiation comin' at ya in four alpha, beta, gamma and neutron. Gamma rays can penetrate several inches of concrete. Uranium and plutonium isotopes are nice, affecting bones, the respiratory tract, the liver, kidneys and radiation lasts up to thousands of years. Ionizing radiation'll give you nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, delirium, exhaustion, haemorrhages, hair loss, ulcers, anaemia and leukemia. Illustrated, bibliography and notes. ISBN 1861711735. www.crmoon.com

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Reviews

[Adam B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful. Like reading a university student’s idealistic ramblings on a term paper.

May have come across as well-written in the nineties (though I doubt it), but laughably poor now.

If you have the remotest interest in the subject matter, avoid this. It’s a haughty, sarcasm-laden lecture on why nuclear weapons are bad for you.

Uninformative, uninteresting, and uninspiring.

(Also, lazy cash in on a straight republishing of an out-of-date work.)

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well intentioned, but rambling attempt to argue against nuclear weapons. It's clear which campthe authors sits in, unfortunately he brings nothing new and it reads like a poor undergraduate dissertation. Much better anti-nuclear weapon books were published in the 1980s, read some of those instead.