April 29, 2005
Nukes in the News
Many Deaths Still Expected With Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Weapons
WASHINGTON -- A nuclear weapon that is exploded underground can destroy a deeply buried bunker efficiently and requires significantly less power to do so than a nuclear weapon detonated on the surface would, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. However, such "earth-penetrating" nuclear weapons cannot go deep enough to avoid massive casualties at ground level, and they could still kill up to a million people or more if used in heavily populated areas, said the committee that wrote the report.
"Using an earth-penetrating weapon to destroy a target 250 meters deep -- the typical depth for most underground facilities -- potentially could kill a devastatingly large number of people," said John F. Ahearne, committee chair and director of the ethics program at the Sigma Xi Center of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Research Triangle Park. NJ.
~They're not the kinder, gentler ('surgically precise') thermonuclear devises they're being promoted as. Somebody in the Bush Administration's fibbing? Making-up stories with happy endings so we all can feel warm and fuzzy about "bustin-bunkers"?
~Note: no red stuff on the surface here.
[image google/ not from above]