Last February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, raising concerns of a worldwide nuclear Armageddon.
Moscow is usually regarded to have the world's greatest nuclear arsenal, closely followed by the total number of nuclear weapons held by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's member countries (NATO).
The danger of such weapons being utilized has served to keep the military alliance from directly intervening in the Ukraine conflict.
The radioactive plume from the bomb dropped on Nagasaki City, as seen from 9.6 km away, in Koyagi-jima, Japan, August 9, 1945. The US B-29 superfortress Bockscar dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed 'Fat Man,' which detonated over the northern part of Nagasaki City just after 11am.
Worldwide Nuclear Bomb in Numbers
According to the most recent Russian nuclear military capacity assessment, Russia has a stockpile of 4,477 nuclear weapons as of early 2022 - almost 6,000 if "retired" warheads are included.
The United States has a comparable stockpile of 5,500 warheads, with 3,800 capable of quick deployment as of 2021.
It's tough to understand the destructive force of these weapons. During World War II, an estimated 3 million tons (megatons or Mt) of TNT equivalent exploded.
For context, each of the UK's Trident submarines carries 4 megatons of TNT (40 nuclear bombs).
The numbers implied that each submarine was capable of causing more catastrophic damage than occurred throughout World War II as a whole.
What Happens If US and Russia Detonates a Nuclear Bomb
A 2008 research looked at a Russia-US nuclear war scenario. Russia would use 2,200 bombs on Western nations, and the US would use 1,100 weapons on China and Russia, respectively. As a result, 4,400 warheads are detonated in all, about half of Russia's and the US's present arsenal.
This scenario, which has a 440-Mt explosive output, is comparable to nearly 150 times all the bombs exploded in World War II and did not involve nuclear weapons owned by other governments. It was projected that a full-scale nuclear war would kill 770 million people directly and produce 180 Tg of soot from burning towns and forests. In the United States, almost half of the population would be within 5 kilometers of ground zero. A fifth of the people would be killed instantly.
Follow-up research, published in 2019, looked at a similar but slightly smaller 150 Tg atmospheric soot injection after a nuclear war of comparable magnitude. For the next six months, barely 30-40 percent of sunlight reaches the Earth's surface as a result of the damage.
The temperature plummets and the weather remains below freezing throughout the remainder of the Northern Hemisphere summer. For example, the model predicts that temperatures in Iowa will remain below 0°C for 730 days. There is no such thing as a growing season. This is the genuine definition of a nuclear winter.
It's also not simply a blip on the radar. After several years, summer temperatures remain below freezing, and worldwide precipitation has decreased by half by years three and four. It takes nearly a decade for the world to return to any kind of climatic normalcy.
The majority of the world's human population will have died by this time. Food output would plummet by more than 90 percent, resulting in a global famine that would kill billions of people. In most countries, by the end of year two, fewer than a quarter of the population has survived.
The models are accurate. China predicts a 97.2 percent reduction in food calories over the next five years in the 4,400 warhead/150 Tg soot nuclear war scenario, while France sees a 97.5 percent drop, Russia 99.7%, the UK 99.5 percent, and the US 98.9%. Almost everyone who survived the initial bombs would starve in these countries.
How to Survive a Nuclear Threat
Even the 150 Tg soot nuclear war scenario is orders of magnitude less than the quantity of smoke and other pollutants released into the atmosphere by the asteroid that killed dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
This means that even after a full-scale nuclear war, some people will survive and gradually repopulate the globe.
Express also underscored that anyone within the "blast zone" of a nuclear weapon has little chance of survival. However, individuals who are just outside of the danger zone have a chance of surviving.
Because of numerous elements, including the weather on the day the bom is dropped, there is no clear method to assess the impact of a single nuclear bomb.
Radiation or radioactive fallout is the most hazardous of the risks posed to anybody near a nuclear weapon detonation.
To offer oneself the best chance of avoiding being exposed to this, you should seek shelter in a secure structure.
A reinforced bunker or basement would be ideal in this circumstance, but if that isn't possible, going inside the nearby structure would be your best option.
If you were outside following the fallout, remove any contaminated clothing and wipe off or cleanse uncovered skin once inside.
Hand sanitizer will not protect you against radiation, so avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth if at all possible.
While inside, seek cover in the basement or the center of the structure, staying away from the exterior walls and roof.
Maintaining a safe social distance (at least six feet) from persons who are not in your family and wearing a mask can assist in limiting the chance of radiation spreading.
Unless local officials give you alternative advice, you should stay indoors for at least 24 hours following the detonation.
While you wait, attempt to listen to any accessible media for official information, such as when it is safe to leave and where you should go.
After a nuclear explosion, battery-operated and hand-crank radios, for example, will work.
Of course, even if you are permitted to leave the building, the consequences of radioactive fallout will last eternally, rendering any location where it has spread essentially uninhabitable.
Indeed, for more than 70 years, governments have avoided employing nuclear weapons in battle because of the hazards they bring.
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