Nuke maps show what would happen if Russia took revenge for Iran on UK cities

A massive escalation in global conflict has been levied against Britain in the past day after a UK military base in Cyprus was targeted by Iran. As the US stepped up bombing raids against the Middle Eastern nation, chaos ensued across several Middle Eastern countries, with flights suspended, and the UK was dragged into the conflict by allowing the US to use its airbases.

At the same time, Russia sided with Iran. Its foreign ministry called the strikes “a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state”. The ministry accused the US and Israel of “hiding behind” concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme while actually pursuing regime change.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow was deeply disappointed to see the US and Israel attack Iran despite the progress made in the US-Iranian talks.

Just last week, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Moscow could fire nuclear weapons against the UK, France, and Ukraine if the former two offer nuclear weapons technology to the embattled European nation heading into the fifth year of the illegal Russian invasion.

While threats are just threats and it’s something none of us wants to think about, among the reasons the world is thought to be at risk include the possibility, however slim it might be, of nuclear war.

Iran isn’t believed to have its own nuclear weaponry, but Russia could potentially side with Iran and escalate a future conflict to a nuclear level.

Much like pandemic planning, every major Western government has contingencies in place for dealing with nuclear strikes on major cities, with the UK being no exception.

Though it remains unlikely, if push came to shove and Russia did levy one of its many nuclear warheads against the UK, how bad would the damage be?

One website, NuclearSecrecy.com, has a tool called Nuke Map, which shows estimates of the damage which would be dealt by various nuclear weapons. This was set up by Alex Wellerstein, a professor of science and nuclear weapons at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

One warhead available is the Topol SS-25, an 800-kiloton nuke currently in Russia’s arsenal.

It shows that, if it were dropped right on Westminster in Central London, the damage would be predictably catastrophic.

Each city fares slightly differently. Cardiff, Edinburgh and Liverpool, being close to the water, might be spared some damage compared to landlocked conurbations.

The Nuke Map explains what happens in each of the four zones in each city.

For the impact area in the orange: “Maximum size of the nuclear fireball; relevance to damage on the ground depends on the height of detonation. If it touches the ground, the amount of radioactive fallout is significantly increased. Anything inside the fireball is effectively vapourised.”

The next zone is the ‘moderate blast damage radius’. This would collapse buildings and start fires. The map states: “At 5 psi overpressure, most residential buildings collapse, injuries are universal, fatalities are widespread. The chances of a fire starting in commercial [buildings] and residential damage are high, and buildings so damaged are at high risk of spreading fire.”

The third zone, further from the point of impact, in yellow, would fare little better. The map states: “Third degree burns extend throughout the layers of skin, and are often painless because they destroy the pain nerves. They can cause severe scarring or disablement, and can require amputation.”

Finally, the last zone around the edge would see the least damage. The map says about this area: “At around 1 psi overpressure, glass windows can be expected to break. This can cause many injuries in a surrounding population who come to a window after seeing the flash of a nuclear explosion (which travels faster than the pressure wave).”

The UK government stresses that its nuclear deterrent would, in theory, prevent such a hypothetical catastrophe.

It says via gov.uk: “The UK’s independent nuclear deterrent has existed for over 60 years to deter the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life, helping to guarantee our safety, and that of our NATO allies.

“The risk of nuclear conflict remains remote, but the threats the UK faces are increasing in scale, diversity and complexity. That is why we must be able to deter the most extreme acts of aggression against us and our NATO allies.

“The UK has taken a consistent and leading approach on nuclear disarmament but not all states have followed. Some are significantly increasing and diversifying their nuclear capabilities. We must ensure they can never use their nuclear weapons to threaten us, constrain our decision making, or sponsor nuclear terrorism.

“It may sometimes feel that these threats are far removed from our daily lives, but the UK must have the capability to protect itself and our NATO allies. Deterrence plays a key role in keeping the public safe, and to abandon our nuclear deterrent would put us all at greater risk.

“Since April 1969, the Royal Navy has maintained continuous at sea deterrence, with at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine patrolling the seas undetected at all times, ready to respond to the most extreme threats to the UK. Their fundamental purpose is to preserve peace, prevent coercion, and deter aggression.

“This continuous at sea deterrent (CASD) is the most capable, resilient, and cost-effective platform on which to deploy our independent nuclear deterrent.”