#10 Here's a link to the summary of Study details catastrophic impact of nuclear attack on U.S. cities.
And a link to the study itself in html. There's a link to a 7MB pdf in the left sidebar; it's a detailed and serious investigation; not just grant grubbing.
Two sizes of nuclear weapon were simulated. The explosion of a tactical nuclear weapon with a predicted yield of 20 kilotons (Kt) and the explosion of the most common size of strategic weapon in the Russian arsenal with a 550 Kt yield. A fission fraction of 1 was assumed for the smaller device and 0.8 was assumed for the 550 Kt device [22]. Both weapons were assumed to explode close to the ground surface, as in a truck or a ship. Bursts at higher levels would cause greater thermal and blast effects which would be somewhat offset by lower downwind radiation amounts.
Bell explained that a 20 kiloton weapon could be manufactured by terrorists and fledgling nuclear countries such as North Korea and Iran, while a 550 kiloton device is commonly found in the arsenal of the former Soviet Union and therefore is the most likely to be stolen by terrorists.
Among the studyÂ’s findings:
A 20-kiloton detonation would leave debris tens of feet thick in downtown areas with buildings 10-stories or higher. Roughly half of the population in downtown areas would be killed, mainly from collapsing buildings. Most of those surviving the initial blast in downtown areas would be exposed to a fatal dose of radiation.
While the main effects from a 20-kiloton explosion would be from the blast and the radiation it releases, a 550-kiloton explosion would create additional and substantial casualties from burns. Such an explosion would superheat the blast zone, causing buildings to spontaneously combust. Mass fires would consume cities, reaching out nearly four miles (6.3 km) in all directions from the detonation site.
A 550 kiloton detonation in New York would result in a fallout plume extending the length of Long Island, resulting in more than 5 million deaths. A 550 kiloton detonation in Washington, D.C. would destroy hospitals in the District, but its fallout plume would also incapacitate hospitals in Baltimore, nearly 40 miles away.
The researchers note that in all four cities studied, hospitals are concentrated in the area most likely to be destroyed. Another weak link is the inability of the nationÂ’s hospital system to treat the burn victims a 550-kiloton detonation would create. A 550-kiloton detonation in Atlanta, the least densely populated of the four cities studied, would result in nearly 300,000 serious burn victims.
“The hospital system has about 1,500 burn beds in the whole country, and of these maybe 80 or 90 percent are full at any given time,” Bell said. “There’s no way of treating the burn victims from a nuclear attack with the existing medical system.”
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A nuclear attack is the worst possible scenario -- and even though there are plans for disasters, the study suggests the aftermath would be devastating to relief efforts.