If Britain fired Trident - International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear ...

If Britain fired TridentThe humanitarian consequences of a nuclearattack by a Trident submarine on MoscowJohn Ainslie, Scottish CND, February 2013CONTENTSSummary 1Attack Scenario 3British nuclear targeting policy 3Model target list 4Assumptions 7Effects modelling 7Effects 7Blast within 3 kms 8Initial radiation and heat 1-2.2 kms 9Fire 10Radioactive fallout 14Damage Areas 16Fire zone within Moscow 16Other areas within Moscow 19Effect of fallout outside Moscow 20Overall casualty estimates 21Specific buildings and facilities 22High-rise buildings 22Hospitals 26Schools 28Power stations 28Variable factors 30Civil Defence 30Response of residents 31Emergency response 32Weather 32Warhead numbers and ABM 32SummaryDeputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has questioned the traditional rationale for British nuclear weapons and saidthat the UK does not need to be able to flatten the city of Moscow. Destruction of the Russian capital has beenat the centre of British nuclear planning for 50 years. The current plan for a like-for-like replacement for Tridentsuggests that the Ministry of Defence still regards this as the key damage criteria. This report explains what“flattening Moscow” would mean for the 11.5 million residents of Europe’s second largest city. 1This study gives an illustration of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of an attack on a large urbanarea with multiple nuclear weapons. It also shows that the devastation would be on such a scale thathumanitarian and emergency response agencies would be unable to provide an adequate response. 2The targeting policy for Trident was established in the early 1980s. The primary aim-points were to be specificlocations within the city of Moscow and command bunkers in the surrounding area. Today an attack on these1 The only city in Europe which is larger than Moscow is Istanbul.2 The Red Cross have highlighted the “lack of any adequate humanitarian response capacity” to a nuclear explosion.Working towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, Council of delegates of the international red cross and red crescentmovement, 26 November 2011, http://www.redcross.com.fj/pdf/NW-Resol-1.pdf1