(Department of Energy)
According to the Post, Tuesday's Senate hearing on the ever-increasing risk of nuclear terrorist attack was quite the spectacle:
At the committee's request, Dallas prepared a report on the effects of a small nuclear device exploding near the White House.
...
The 10-kiloton blast would release fatal doses of radiation in the immediate area and destroy almost all buildings within a half-mile radius, he said. The intense heat would burn people for many blocks and spark fires. Windows would shatter for miles, Dallas testified, gesturing to a color-coded map that showed damage as far out as Union Station.
Sadly, the Post didn't reprint a map so that readers could determine the specifics: would your house or apartment be obliterated by the shockwave, or merely consumed by flash fires and coated with lethal fallout? Needles to say, this is where The Plank comes in.
Click here to determine the exact blast effect on your city, and here to determine whether you'd be hit by the fallout. Here's a joint DoD-Energy Department video of a 10kt nuclear blast in Washington, and--for those who can't get enough--here, here, here, and here, are vivid and detailed studies on the precise impact of a nuclear terrorist attack.
If you want to know how to prevent such an attack, however, the most valuable thing to do is read Peter Scoblic's U.S. vs. Them: How A Half Century of Conservatism Has Undermined America's Security. It's quite a resource.
--Barron YoungSmith