Scotland 'nuke map' shows Russian bomb aftermath in deaths and danger zone

An unsettling 'nuke map' exposes what the effect of nuclear warfare would be if bombs were dropped on Scotland.

The interactive map online shows what would happen in gory detail if one of 33 nuclear warheads would strike any location in the world.

It estimates the size of a nuclear bomb's 'fireball radius', blast damage, and fatalities based on a variety of bombs created or tested by countries like Russia, North Korea, and the US.

The largest nuclear bomb users can test is the Tsar Bomba - the largest USSR bomb designed with 100 megatrons of TNT.

NUKEMAP was designed by American nuclear weapons historian Professor Alex Wellerstein in 2012.

So far 239.5 million detonations have been tested on the nuke map.

What would happen if the largest nuclear bomb was dropped on Scotland?

The nuke map shows the devastating effect of nuclear bombs falling on Scotland (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

To use the nuke map, users first enter a city or drop a marker on the map to specify a location.

Then you select a nuclear bomb - or an amount in kilotons - then whether the bomb is either airburst or surface-hitting, and finally how much data to see including casualties and radioactive fallout.

For example, if a Russian Tsar bomb dropped on central Scotland - Stirling for this simulation - it estimates 292,480 deaths and 979,760 injuries.

The bright green circle in the centre is the radiation radius that's 'likely fatal' wherein 15 percent of survivors will eventually die of cancer as a result of exposure.

Nuke Map shows exactly what would happen if nuclear bombs hit Scotland or anywhere in the world (NUKEMAP / Alex Wellerstein)

The yellow circle shows the 'fireball radius' - the maximum size of the nuclear fireball - in which anything inside the fireball is effectively vaporised.

Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Perth would be engulfed in moderate blast damage.

According to the site, moderate blast damage means:

• Most residential buildings collapse
• Injuries are universal
• Fatalities are widespread
• The chances of a fire starting in commercial and residential damage are high, and buildings so damaged are at high risk of spreading fire.
  

Thermal radiation, which includes third degree burns, would extend from Kilmarnock to Dundee.

The radioactive fallout would reach as far as northern Sweden.

You can find and use the nuke map here.

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