World tensions are feeling quite high right now, and with so much war going on in the world, for many people this feels a little like being on the path to World War three. Of course, a third world war being fought with nuclear weapons would cause extreme devastation on the whole planet, wiping out the environment as well as huge numbers of humans – but what might a nuclear war be like in the UK?
If the film Threads, recently re-aired on BBC4 is anything to go by, the first nuclear bomb would be detonated high in the atmosphere. This creates an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP which basically knocks out all communications – if you are trying to follow what is going on by watching the news for example, there would be no point in trying to call someone like this TV aerial installation Gloucester based company steveunettaerials.co.uk/ to come and repair it, as all forms of electrical communication would be dead, including mobile phone masts and even vehicles.
After that, there would be main targets that the weapons would be launched at. The UK is a small island with a lot of targets, from government buildings like Whitehall and GCHQ, to military targets like RAF and naval bases around the country, including Faslane where the nuclear submarines are based in Scotland.
The effects of the numerous blasts would be devastating. Many people say that the best place to be is directly under the bomb, as you would instantly be vaporised without warning. Of course, it depends on the size of the bombs that are used as to how large an area is flattened, but they are all pretty devastating!
Fallout is the other worry if you survive the intense firestorms and collapsing of buildings. Radioactive fallout from the bomb then drifts on the wind and can be carried large distances, especially if the bomb is a ground burst rather than an air burst. As well as being dangerous if you come into contact with it, it will also contaminate everything that it touches, from the soil to the buildings – rendering everything toxic to most forms of life that are in the path of it.
