This week on Surviving Disaster, host Cade Courtley demonstrates the steps you can take to survive a nuclear attack by terrorists on a major U.S. city.
I had the opportunity to assist in the research for this episode and while it’s incredibly difficult to capture all of the information one would need to survive such a scenario in a short/concise format, the writers and producers of Surviving Disaster did an amazing job.
A 10 kiloton nuclear device detonating in a major U.S.city is a catastrophe on a scale that few can even comprehend.
Surviving Disaster strikes an excellent balance between reality and entertainment while providing a level of detail and accuracy that few others have been able to achieve.
The full episode of Surviving Disaster – Nuclear Attack is available online this week.
Each full episode of this show is available for on week after its on-air premiere. Episodes are added immediately following their premiere date. After one full week of online availability each episode is taken down for one month. After the month has gone by the episode returns and is available for you to watch indefinitely.
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First and foremost, the ara of damage of a 10KT bomb is determined on what type burst it is….to say that the areas of damage would be the same for a surface burst as it is for an air burst is BS! An air burst is where the fireball (at max brilliance) does not touch the surface. An air burst would wreak much more damage than a surface burst because it has a phenomenon called the Mach Y stem (reinforced shockwave). also, the contamination cloud would go in the direction of the prevailing wind and would spread at the rate of the wind velocity …..not necessarily covering the entire city it was detonated in……..If you’re gonna tell the story….tell the whole story!
Editor’s Note: The beginning of the show states that the nuclear device was in a van at ground level. Yes an air burst nuclear detonation is an entirely different situation. The EMP from an air burst in addition to what you stated would have much greater long range effects.
Many Americans have been sidetracked into believing it is only nuclear missile attacks they need worry about from Iran. But realistically, the greater threat is that Iran may covertly provide small nukes to Terrorists in America to cause physical and economic devastation. How would the U.S. prove it was Iran, that supplied nukes detonated in America? Pakistan can provide those weapons. Then there is N. Korea. Foreign Terrorists in America would only have to explode one small nuke in our homeland to damage and or blackmail the U.S. Government, including its American business interests, e.g., U.S. foreign oil interests. Iran at this time would appear to pose the greatest threat of attacking the U.S. via Surrogate Terrorists with small nukes. Once Iran achieves nuclear weapon capability, America among other countries have a lot to worry about. Many believe the only option is to put Iran out of the Nuke business, before they can produce and supply terrorists with nuclear weapons.
Sidney Hart: made a good point that a 10KT bomb exploded at surface level would not develop the Fire Ball effect (max brilliance) as would an air-burst or have the Mach Y stem (reinforced shock-wave) causing as much physical damage. And radiation fallout would not cover an entire city but travel in the direction of prevailing winds. As the editor noted, the beginning of the show states the nuclear device was planted in a van at ground level.
However (different height levels of ground explosion) can affect the interaction of energy mass—and opposing matter consistent with the explosion, e.g., resistance caused by nearby city buildings and structures. If a determined “nuclear terrorist” is intent on killing people and physical devastation to a city is secondary, it is foreseeable a terrorist would not plant a bomb at ground level. For example, a terrorist might attach a nuke on top a radio tower, airplane light beacon or the top of a skyscraper, where nearby structures if any, were of much lesser height to minimize obstruction of the explosion. Prevailing winds at that higher level of detonation might carry radioactive contamination throughout an entire city, killing large numbers. Considering that possibility, owners of tall buildings should be required to better secure their top floors and roofs and improve background checks on janitorial personnel and others given access to their building. Tall towers of any type need to be better protected.