If a small nuclear device were detonated in downtown Washington, it would pretty much decimate the city and spread radiation into Maryland:
A nuclear device detonated near the White House would kill roughly 100,000 people and flatten downtown federal buildings, while the radioactive plume from the explosion would likely spread toward the Capitol and into Southeast D.C., contaminating thousands more.
The blast from the 10-kiloton bomb — similar to the bomb dropped over Hiroshima during World War II — would kill up to one in 10 tourists visiting the Washington Monument and send shards of glass flying the length of the National Mall, in a scenario that has become increasingly likely to occur in a major U.S. city in recent years, panel members told a Senate committee yesterday.
“It’s inevitable,” said Cham E. Dallas, director of the Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense at the University of Georgia, who has charted the potential explosion’s effect in the District and testified before a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “I think it’s wistful to think that it won’t happen by 20 years.”
Well, at least we’d be safe here in Western Prince William County.
April 16th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
It’s not only where you live, it’s where you work. The map is way cool; the 10% casualty line rins right over my office!
April 17th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Doug,
Time - Distance - and Sheilding baby!
b
April 17th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Damn,
spelled shielding wrong
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_protection
b
April 17th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Ron,
Well then I’m safe on both a home and work front
Of course can you imagine what the traffic would be like after a nuclear attack