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One of Russia's latest and most advanced weapons, a torpedo-bearing underwater drone, may be capable of unleashing nuclear destruction in a new, devastating way, according to some experts cited this week.
As part of Moscow’s ambitious campaign to upgrade its conventional arsenal, it has developed a submersible device that's been marketed as stronger, faster and more innovative than any previous weapon of its kind. So much so, that—if launched—the resulting shockwave could rival or even exceed the 2011 Japanese earthquake that produced a tsunami powerful enough to kill 15,000 people and cause the Fukushima nuclear power plant to undergo a triple meltdown, one of the worst nuclear disasters of all time
"A well-placed nuclear weapon of yield in the range 20 MT [megatons] to 50 MT near a seacoast could certainly couple enough energy to equal the 2011 tsunami, and perhaps much more," nuclear weapons physicist Rex Richardson told Business Insider on Tuesday. "Taking advantage of the rising-sea-floor amplification effect, tsunami waves reaching 100 meters [nearly 330 feet] in height are possible."
Greg Spriggs, a nuclear physicist at California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said the notion of nuclear explosion-induced tsunamis is "completely stupid." After further evidence of the "doomsday" weapon was revealed in the Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Review in February and Russian President Vladimir Putin's own state of the union address at the Russian parliament on March 1, the news outlet published its follow-up article Tuesday in which Spriggs reiterated his description of the weapon as "stupid" and a "waste." However, he said it "could possibly induce a tsunami."
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http://www.newsweek.com/russia-new-nuclear-torpedo-consume-us-cities-giant-radioactive-waves-901089
As part of Moscow’s ambitious campaign to upgrade its conventional arsenal, it has developed a submersible device that's been marketed as stronger, faster and more innovative than any previous weapon of its kind. So much so, that—if launched—the resulting shockwave could rival or even exceed the 2011 Japanese earthquake that produced a tsunami powerful enough to kill 15,000 people and cause the Fukushima nuclear power plant to undergo a triple meltdown, one of the worst nuclear disasters of all time
"A well-placed nuclear weapon of yield in the range 20 MT [megatons] to 50 MT near a seacoast could certainly couple enough energy to equal the 2011 tsunami, and perhaps much more," nuclear weapons physicist Rex Richardson told Business Insider on Tuesday. "Taking advantage of the rising-sea-floor amplification effect, tsunami waves reaching 100 meters [nearly 330 feet] in height are possible."
Greg Spriggs, a nuclear physicist at California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said the notion of nuclear explosion-induced tsunamis is "completely stupid." After further evidence of the "doomsday" weapon was revealed in the Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Review in February and Russian President Vladimir Putin's own state of the union address at the Russian parliament on March 1, the news outlet published its follow-up article Tuesday in which Spriggs reiterated his description of the weapon as "stupid" and a "waste." However, he said it "could possibly induce a tsunami."
...
http://www.newsweek.com/russia-new-nuclear-torpedo-consume-us-cities-giant-radioactive-waves-901089
