This page shows a simulation of the 100000 kt nuclear bomb (100000 kt) detonated over Paris, France. 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.
100 megatons was the design yield of the Soviet AN602 — the Tsar Bomba — before its final stage was throttled back to 50 for the 1961 test. No weapon of this size was ever deployed: the bomb weighed 27 tonnes, no missile could lift it, and the arms race moved towards many smaller warheads instead. This scenario is therefore a physical ceiling, not a military one. The rings are enormous: a fireball about 12 km across, total destruction (20 psi) to roughly 13 km, collapse of houses (5 psi) to about 32 km, third-degree burns on exposed skin to about 75 km in clear weather, and broken windows (1 psi) out to about 100 km.
What that means in Paris
Centred on the Île de la Cité, the 13 km zone of total destruction covers the whole of Paris and the petite couronne — La Défense, Saint-Denis, Boulogne-Billancourt, Montreuil, Orly's approaches. The 32 km collapse ring takes in Versailles, both airports, Créteil, Argenteuil, Marne-la-Vallée and Pontoise — about 10 million people. Burns to 75 km reach Chartres' approaches, Beauvais, Compiègne, Meaux, Melun, Fontainebleau and Évreux's edge; the 100 km ring of broken windows covers all of Île-de-France and reaches Chartres, Amiens' approaches and Orléans' northern outskirts. Compare with the 800-kiloton Topol scenario.
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