Nuclear Warhead: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen Summary A thermonuclear weapon with a yield of 1 megaton exploded in Washington, D.C., creating a massive fireball that expanded at millions of miles per hour. The Pentagon, with its vast 6.5 million square feet of office space, was obliterated, and 27,000 employees were killed instantly. The fireball's intense heat ignited everything flammable in its path, extending for several miles in every direction and triggering a massive firestorm that consumed an area of over 100 square miles—an area that served as the core of American governance and was home to approximately 6 million people. Across the Potomac River, the intense heat caused the marble walls and columns of the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials to superheat, crack, and disintegrate. The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, known for its numerous high-end stores, and the nearby Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City hotel were completely destroyed. Within moments, the thermal radiation from the 1-megaton nuclear explosion at the Pentagon severely burned the skin of about 1 million people, 90% of whom would not survive. Despite decades of calculations by defense scientists and academics, most people would not get far from where they stood when the bomb detonated. At Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, another 17,000 individuals were affected, including almost all personnel at the Defense Intelligence Agency headquarters, the White House Communications Agency headquarters, the U.S. Coast Guard Station Washington, the Marine One helicopter hangar, and numerous other critical federal facilities dedicated to national security. At the National Defense University, most of the 4,000 students were dead or dying. In the twenty-first century, nuclear weapons pose a global threat. The scientific principles behind these bombs are complex, involving two pulses of thermal radiation in the thermonuclear flash. These pulses ignite and burn human skin, followed by a blast that generates a high-pressure wave spreading outward like a tsunami, causing widespread destruction. The air following the blast wave accelerates, creating winds reaching several hundred miles per hour. The nuclear fireball in Washington, D.C., annihilates all structures in its path, instantly altering the physical forms of engineered buildings. Here is a Preview of What You Will Get: ⁃ A Detailed Introduction ⁃ A Comprehensive Chapter by Chapter Summary ⁃ Etc Get a copy of this summary and learn about the book.
