The Effects of Nuclear War
Chapter II
DETROIT AND LENINGRAD
Detroit and Leningrad are representative industrial cities large enough to warrant the use of very large weapons. Both have metropolitan populations of about 4.3 million, and both are major transportation and industrial centers.
In assessing and describing the damage, several assumptions were made that may not be realistic, but which assisted in making a clear presentation of the range of possible effects:
- There is no warning. The populations have not evacuated or sought shelter, both of which measures could reduce casualties.
- The detonations take place at night when most people are at their residences. This corresponds to the available census data about where people are, and indeed people are near their residences more than half the time.
- There is clear weather, with visibility of 10 miles [16 km].
- The air bursts are at an altitude that maximizes the area of 30 psi or more overpressure. A higher height of burst would have increased the range of 5-psi overpressure (i.e. destruction of all residences) by up to 10 percent, at the cost of less damage to very hard structures near the center of the explosion.
- No other cities are attacked. an assumpton that allows for analyzing the extent of outside help that would be required, if it were available.
