A map predicts the worst-case scenario if the US was attacked by nuclear weapons. Credit: Sébastien Philippe, Svitlana Lavrenchuk and Ivan Stepanov
Scientific American: Who Would Take the Brunt of an Attack on U.S. Nuclear Missile Silos?
These fallout maps show the toll of a potential nuclear attack on missile silos in the U.S. heartland
Last March the U.S. Air Force released a two-volume, 3,000-plus-page report detailing the environmental impact of its plans to replace all 400 “Minuteman” land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with new “Sentinel” missiles by the mid-2030s. The program is part of a $1.5-trillion effort to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal and its command-and-control infrastructure. The report, required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970, covers the “potential effects on the human and natural environments from deployment of the Sentinel system” and from, among other things, the refurbishing of existing missile silos and the construction of new utility corridors and communications towers. But it doesn't mention the most significant risks to surrounding communities—namely, what happens if these missiles, which are intended to serve as targets for enemy nuclear weapons, are ever attacked.
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Update #1: Nuclear Attack Worst-Case Scenario Would See 90% of Americans Wiped Out -- Newsweek
Update #2: Nuclear war in the US would wipe out 300 MILLION people from radiation, experts claim -- Mirror
WNU Editor: A sobering assessment.