Microseconds into the explosion of a nuclear weapon, energy released in the form of X-rays heats the surrounding environment, forming a fireball of superheated air. Inside the fireball, the temperature and pressure are so extreme that all matter is rendered into a hot plasma of bare nuclei and subatomic particles, as is the case in the Sun’s multi-million-degree core.
The fireball following the airburst explosion of a 300-kiloton nuclear weapon—like the W87 thermonuclear warhead deployed on the Minuteman III missiles currently in service in the US nuclear arsenal—can grow to more than 600 meters (2,000 feet) in diameter and stays blindingly luminous for several seconds, before its surface cools.
The light radiated by the fireball’s heat—accounting for more than one-third of the thermonuclear weapon’s explosive energy—will be so intense that it ignites fires and causes severe burns at great distances. The thermal flash from a 300-kiloton nuclear weapon could cause first-degree burns as far as 13 kilometers (8 miles) from ground zero.
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“Just weeks after the dust has settled on a budget that did nothing to address the real problems that we face, the government has made yet more public money available for Britain’s nuclear weapons industry and is unusually linking nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the same breath. It’s good that the prime minister is owning up to the linkage, but the suggestion that they are needed for both national and energy security is a complete fallacy. “As the long-delayed Hinkley Point C shows, nuclear power is neither a timely nor cost effective way of generating electricity. It is extremely cynical of the government to use a genuine issue like energy security to greenwash nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The additional funding pumped into these will inevitably find its way into the pockets of investors through government contracts financed by the public.” Read statement by clicking HERE
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