Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor
Quote:
Should someone point out there is no such thing as a "suitcase" nuke?


Actually there is, its a derivative of the W54 nuclear warhead (which was very old 1950s technology). The possibility of hand held grenade sized nuclear demolition charges with yields up to 10-50 tonnes are thought to be possible using modern design technology.



Even that link points out that the US was never known to have a true "suitcase bomb." The "backpack nuke" was still a little larger than the mythical terror tool in a rucksack that people fear. Obviously physics allows for a pretty small weapon, and it may well exist, but obtaining one apparently isn't easy or someone probably would have already used one. And while it would be devastating weapon, most of those micro-nukes aren't very powerful. While a blast 5 times larger than OKC bomb would be terrible it wouldn't wipe a city off a map.

I guess the point is that you can obsess about every possible scenario or you can analyse the danger realistically and do what you can. It's not realistic to think you can be prepared enough to deal with every possible scenario.

Very cool link, btw!
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“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman