This page shows a simulation of the Topol (SS-25) (currently in Russian arsenal) (800 kt) nuclear bomb (800 kt) detonated over Berlin, Germany. The map displays the estimated fireball, the zones of heavy, moderate and light blast damage, thermal radiation and ionizing radiation. Click «What does that mean?» for a detailed legend, or run your own detonation on the main page.
The 800-kiloton warhead of the Topol (SS-25) is the kind of weapon a strategic missile actually carries today — about 50 Hiroshimas, delivered in roughly 30 minutes. On this map it is an airburst, the height chosen to maximise the area of heavy blast damage. The fireball is about 1.8 km across; total destruction (20 psi) reaches roughly 2.6 km, residential collapse (5 psi) about 6.5 km, third-degree burns on exposed skin about 11.5 km, and broken windows with flying-glass injuries (1 psi) about 20 km.
What that means in Berlin
Centred on Mitte, the 2.6 km zone of total destruction covers the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Museum Island, Alexanderplatz and Potsdamer Platz. The 6.5 km collapse ring reaches Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg, the Tiergarten, Hauptbahnhof and Friedrichshain; burns to 11.5 km extend to Charlottenburg, the former Tempelhof airfield, Neukölln, Wedding and Lichtenberg. The 20 km ring of broken windows covers most of the city inside the S-Bahn ring and beyond — Spandau's edge, Steglitz, Köpenick's approach and Pankow.
Berlin has about 3.8 million residents and nearly all of them live inside the outer ring, though the city's low density compared with Paris means fewer people per square kilometre of damage. The ground is flat and sandy with no shielding terrain; the many lakes and forests at the edges fall just outside the rings. Divided Berlin was a nuclear flashpoint for forty years. The 100-megaton version would reach Potsdam and beyond.
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