The Ultimate Disaster

The Ultimate Disaster

A nuclear weapon detonated at a nuclear power plant is the American Hiroshima force multiplier.

In the image on the left, the radioactive downwind hazard is shown following an accident in which the core of a one-gigawatt nuclear reactor releases a third of its radioactivity. The disaster from the illustrated accident in the Racine, Wisconsin nuclear power facility. The amount of radiation illustrated is after one week and 100 times the amount released during the Three Mile Island accident.

In the image on the right, the radioactive downwind hazard makes a large portion of the United States uninhabitable for decades. The image illustrates a nuclear explosion of a one-megaton bomb at the Racine, Wisconsin nuclear power plant (the American Hiroshima attack is likely to begin with a much smaller nuclear device such as a ten kiloton bomb). In addition, the radioactivity blasted into the air from a nuclear power plant has a much slower decay rate than that of a nuclear bomb because the two inventories of radioactive nuclei have different proportions of various isotopes (see below for the chart highlighting that the dangers far exceed 25 years).

For specific solutions on how to better protect nuclear facilities, read American Hiroshima and the recommendations by The Committee To Bridge The Gap and The Nuclear Control Institute.

Source: Scientific American, April 1981.

Click on this link to buy the book.