US Nuclear Warheads

[Unbound Draykon]

Look what I found:

 

US reveals it has 5113 nuclear warheads | Herald Sun

[Niemand]

The above link should work now.

[Unbound Draykon]

oops i tried to fix it before anybody noticed but i probably would never figure it out and i did it before but for some reason i can't do it now

[Rowen]

Is the 5113 the number of current deployed warheads?

[Unbound Draykon]

most certainly

 

NOTE: and what could anybody do with that nuclear warheads? because if you fire them the area becomes inhospitable not a good thing if you want to conquer that country

[Ephesos]

It's all just leftover from the Cold War. Or from Cold War-era thinking. I don't think anybody's really suggesting that the US (or any other country) would unleash a full nuclear arsenal.

[Niemand]

You don't use them for conquering anything. You use them to make it clear that anyone who attacks you will die. In particular, you do this by making sure that you always have enough which are hard enough to locate that no matter what the enemy fires at you, you will be firing something back that cannot be survived. This is the essence of mutually assured destruction.

[Cthulhu]

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/09/soviet-doomsday/

I'll just leave this right here.

[Goldengirl]

It's a good thing that no country would ever use nuclear weapons! Unless... these are deployed by a third party organization. Who knows what would happen, then.

[waterplant]

A third party organisation? What - like the CFR?

[Monroe]

[Student of Trinity]

There are words in that picture. Also numbers. And the picture would make rather less sense without them.

[Monroe]

[Ephesos]

Pretty sure Monroe just won the thread. And at life.

[Dantius]

 

FYT

[Student of Trinity]

Well done.

 

The presidents' faces for a timeline is brilliant, but some impact is lost in converting from huge numbers of warheads to just one to four radiation hazard symbols. Maybe something that actually showed thousands of warheads, somehow. Like a legend that showed that one symbol-thing equals a ten-by-ten-by-ten cube of little bombs. Can't use an equals sign, though!

[The Ratt]

Hey what about the whole Iran thing? Them wanting us to get rid of our weapons when they don't tell us if they have any and not following any international treatise on nuclear arsenals? It's reasonable to ask the US to decrease their arsenal as long as you're playing by the rules, but if you're trying to cheat and not being very subtle about it, don't expect the US to make it easier for you.

[Slawbug]

ALLONS ENFANTS DE LA PATRIE,
 

LE JOUR DE GLOIRE EST ARRIVÉ!
 

CONTRE NOUS DE LA TYRANNIE
 

L'ÉTENDARD SANGLANT EST LEVÉ...

[Ephesos]

Okay, seriously. Is this part of the project? Is the project just a giant joke to get us to anticipate the project? Is that a camera?

 

Originally Posted By: The Ratt

Hey what about the whole Iran thing? Them wanting us to get rid of our weapons when they don't tell us if they have any and not following any international treatise on nuclear arsenals? It's reasonable to ask the US to decrease their arsenal as long as you're playing by the rules, but if you're trying to cheat and not being very subtle about it, don't expect the US to make it easier for you.

 

The whole "us vs. them" mentality is not a productive tack here. It's about everyone scaling back and disarming. Everyone. Including India and Pakistan, who never really agreed to anything and are probably a bigger long-term issue than Iran. Including Israel, who haven't even really admitted to anything, which isn't exactly helping. Including the US and Russia, who still have the biggest stockpiles.

 

Perhaps Iran would step down if everyone disarmed a bit. Maybe not. But more is at stake than one country's weapons.

[Alorael at Large]

Quote:

US reveals it has 5113 nuclear warheads

US does not reveal that it has 5213 nuclear warheads. That way, anyone planning to neutralize 5113 is in for an unpleasant surprise.

Oh, and warheads 5101 and 1233 don't actually exist. You can't ever find them to neutralize them.

—Alorael, who would like to point out that Monroe conveys more with no text that Slarty conveys with text. Just something to ponder.

[Slawbug]

I don't think the connection is that hard to see. Sigh. I've gone from facepalms to sighs...

[Failedassassin]

There was room for Kennedy on that timeline...

[The Knight Who Said Ni]

Forget the weapons, we need nuclear fusion energy.

[Unbound Draykon]

i read the news on it very carefuly and the 5,113 nuclear warheads are ones that are deployed and the CIA advised Obama not to give the exact number of nukes not deployed, nor dead nukes, not even how much uranium they have that can be made into nukes because of national security reasons anyway 5,113 is enough to bomb every country in the world 26 times and combine all nukes that might be in the world and 30,000 is that theoretical number then each country in the world will each be hit by 153 nukes per country thats a lot of nukes

[Ephesos]

Originally Posted By: Unbound Draykon

i read the news on it very carefuly and the 5,113 nuclear warheads are ones that are deployed and the CIA advised Obama not to give the exact number of nukes not deployed, nor dead nukes, not even how much uranium they have that can be made into nukes because of national security reasons anyway 5,113 is enough to bomb every country in the world 26 times and combine all nukes that might be in the world and 30,000 is that theoretical number then each country in the world will each be hit by 153 nukes per country thats a lot of nukes

While I understand your point, I would suggest using a bit more punctuation. I had to re-read this twice before I really was able to parse it.

Also, just because the nukes exist doesn't mean they will be used to bomb every country in the world. Also also, if you're dividing those up evenly, poor little Luxembourg will sink into the sea. Also also also, where's that 30,000 coming from?

[Unbound Draykon]

The 30,000 is the most likely number that if you add all the nukes in all countries that could, would, or have nukes then my best estimate is 30,000 (rounded of course)

[A less presumptuous name.]

Originally Posted By: Unbound Draykon

my best estimate is 30,000

So you're just guessing? Or is there hard data you're using to support your number?

[Alorael at Large]

He could tell you, but then he'd have to kill you.

 

—Alorael, who acknowledges at the very least that images are more universal than French. Even French with a fair number of cognates. The bold does about as much good as speaking really loudly at people who don't speak your language.

[Unbound Draykon]

See, i could be wrong or i could be right. Even if i,m wrong there is STILL enough nukes in the world to destroy the world. Also the U.S. could be lying about how nukes they have, the only people who would know is the president and CIA agents.

 

Furthermore if my estimate is right then were doomed anyway. The only thing that can start a nuclear war is if terrorists got one, launch it and make it look like a country was attacking another.

 

THE END...?

[Niemand]

Quote:

the only people who would know is the president and CIA agents

I'm pretty sure the CIA doesn't have much to do with the nuclear arsenal. That would be USSTRATCOM, as I understand.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Unbound Draykon

The only thing that can start a nuclear war is if terrorists got one, launch it and make it look like a country was attacking another.

Launching a nuclear weapon is a LOT more complex than it looks in James Bond movies, where it seems all you need is a Russian accent and facial scars to fire off a 10-megaton bomb. They have some of the most advanced security systems on the planet protecting them. The only glitch in this system was during the fall of the USSR, but no nukes were reported missing, nuclear weapons only function for about 15 years before the material needs to be recycled and the casing refurbished, and if the weapons haven't been used after nearly two decades, it's a safe bet that there are no loose nuclear weapons to be had.

Frankly, a nuclear weapons doomsday scenario looks so unlikely that it can be pretty much safely ignored, especially since MAD actually, well, works. If the US was the target of a nuclear attack, you can bet large sums of money on the fact that every single other country on the planet, regardless of their prior attitude, would suddenly bend over backwards to help us in every way possible. Think like after September 11th, but multiplied by five or six orders of magnitude.

If you're still interested, I would recommend the excellent book Seven Deadly Scenarios, which touches on unfeasible but deadly military situations for the US, like war with China, nuclear armed terrorists, and global pandemics originating from mexico that are actually deadly.

[Thaluikhain]

Originally Posted By: Dantius

nuclear weapons only function for about 15 years before the material needs to be recycled and the casing refurbished, and if the weapons haven't been used after nearly two decades, it's a safe bet that there are no loose nuclear weapons to be had.

For fusion weapons, maybe, but won't fission weapons work fine? Even, since fusion weapons contain fission weapons, the number of devices will remain the same, though the yield will massively decrease.

Even if I'm wrong about that, a degraded fission bomb would still work fine as a dirty bomb.

Originally Posted By: Dantius

Think like after September 11th, but multiplied by five or six orders of magnitude.

911 x 100,000? That's 91,100,000!

Originally Posted By: Unbound Draykon

See, i could be wrong or i could be right. Even if i,m wrong there is STILL enough nukes in the world to destroy the world.

Actually no...make many people have a very bad day, but probably not even remove the species. In any case, life would survive, to one day evolve intelligence again, which is sort of comforting. Maybe not for those who die in a nuclear holocaust, but then everyone dies sometime.

Originally Posted By: Unbound Draykon

Furthermore if my estimate is right then were doomed anyway. The only thing that can start a nuclear war is if terrorists got one, launch it and make it look like a country was attacking another.

Well...that wouldn't be good news for the nations involved, but even if both nations were nuclear capable, it wouldn't be so bad for everyone else. A war between the US and Russia might make a mess of the northern hemisphere, but AFAIK, people living in New Zealand should be ok.

[Ephesos]

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

A war between the US and Russia might make a mess of the northern hemisphere, but AFAIK, people living in New Zealand should be ok.

"OK" as far as "not being exploded," sure. But they'd be dealing with fallout and climate changes for sure.

[Sudanna]

Quote:

In any case, life would survive, to one day evolve intelligence again, which is sort of comforting.

Not necessarily.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

For fusion weapons, maybe, but won't fission weapons work fine? Even, since fusion weapons contain fission weapons, the number of devices will remain the same, though the yield will massively decrease.

Well, weapons-grade fissile uranium (U-235) has a half life of about 800 million years, so it's not that the material decays. I think it's just wear and tear on the machinery- nuclear weapons are precise and finicky device. It may have something to do with them decaying to the point where they begin to emit radiation? Not sure about this one.

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Even if I'm wrong about that, a degraded fission bomb would still work fine as a dirty bomb.

Well, yeah, but why on earth would you go to all the trouble of obtaining a fission (or god forbid fusion) weapon and then waste it by making a dirty bomb? Honestly, there's probably enough dangerous nuclear waste in a hospital to make a sufficiently deadly dirt bomb (I am NOT going to google "where can I get enough high-grade radioactive waste to make a dirty bomb". Not a chance. Although there is probably a good probability that Google Calculator will pop up "2.60345 metric tons" or something like that.)

Here's a explanation I've used before IRL: Let's presume terrorists placed a dirty bomb at State and Madison. A few blocks of the city would be irradiated, the rest would probably get cancer in a couple of years, and I'd probably be able to drive away before the radioactive fallout hit the north suburbs. Casualties would probably barley push a thousand, plus another couple thousand if you included radiation poisoning and cancer later in life. Now, if a fission (A) bomb was placed, a very large chink of downtown would be smoking rubble. Tens of thousands dead, and the radiation would probably make it to the exurbs. I'd die of cancer in a couple months to years, depending on the power of the explosion. Now let's try a large fusion (H) bomb. Way above the ability of the terrorists to manufacture or steal, but a nuclear exchange between the US and USSR might have involved lots of these. I'd be killed outright, and my house would be in ruins. (THis presumes Tsar Bomba level explosion, which was 50 MT) I later found actual descriptions from the Homeland Security website. This one's for 25 MT:

Click to reveal..

25 Megaton Air Blast: Pressure Damage
Radius of destructive circle: 6.5 miles
12 pounds per square inch
The remains of some buildings’ foundations are visible. Some of the strongest buildings — those made of reinforced, poured concrete — are still standing. Ninety-eight percent of the population within this area are dead.
Radius: 10.7 miles
5 psi
Virtually everything is destroyed between the 12 and 5 psi rings. The walls of typical multi-story buildings, including apartment buildings, are completely blown out. As you move from the center toward the 5 psi ring there are more structural skeletons of buildings standing. Single-family residences within this this area have been completely blown away — only their foundations remain. Fifty percent of the population between the 12 and 5 psi rings are dead. Forty percent are injured.
Radius: 20 miles
2 psi
Any single-family residences that are not completely destroyed are heavily damaged. The windows of office buildings have been blown away, as have some of their walls. The contents of these buildings’ upper floors, including the people who were working there, are scattered on the street. A substantial amount of debris clutters the entire area. Five percent of the population between the 5 and 2 psi rings are dead. Forty-five percent are injured.
Radius: 30.4 miles
1 psi
Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial buildings have sustained minimal damage. Twenty-five percent of the population between the 2 and 1 psi rings are injured, mainly by flying glass and debris. Many others have been injured from thermal radiation — the heat generated by the blast. The remaining seventy-five percent are unhurt.