Nuclear attack worst-case scenario would see 90% of Americans wiped out

As if nuclear strikes on US cities weren't potentially damaging enough, an attack on America's missile silos would kill millions due to acute radiation poisoning in a matter of days and spread radioactive fallout across the country, new modeling suggests.

Report informs referring to NewsWeek that a study published by Scientific American found that if the strategic launch bases were hit, most of the Midwest would be bathed in a more than lethal dose of radiation, with a worst-case scenario seeing most of the US and Canada becoming uninhabitable.

Researchers at Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security estimate that in the first four days after the silos were struck, between 340,000 and 4.6 million people would die - though the average death toll would be 1.4 million. They predicted that 300 million people would be at risk of a fatal dose of fallout.

The study comes after the US Air Force said last year that it would be replacing its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which have been in operation since the 1970s, with the more modern Sentinel missile from 2029.

The $1.5 trillion plan will see all 400 of the older missiles replaced. Though the range and payload of the Sentinel ICBMs have not been officially released, they are thought to carry an equivalent explosive power of 800 kilotons of TNT and are expected to reach up to 6,000 miles and be capable of striking any target around the globe in 30 minutes.

Minuteman missiles have a range of 8,000 miles and carry estimated payloads equivalent to 170-335 kilotons - enough to effectively destroy the whole of Washington, D.C.

The researchers at Princeton said that while the US Air Force had assessed the potential effects on humans and the environment of deploying a Sentinel, they had not mentioned what would happen if the missiles were detonated in their bases.