March 16, 2011

Tsar Bomba

A dose of calm from Jerry Pournelle

Wealthy civilizations have costs. They are small compared to the grinding costs of poverty. Low productivity produces poverty. High energy costs lower productivity. Before we call for any drastic reduction in energy production, it would be well to see what the maximum disaster costs might be, and what can be done to mitigate or prevent such in future. That does not appear to be the advice the media is giving us.


Tsar Bomba, refers to the 50 megaton hydrogen bomb deployed 10-30-1961 by the Soviets in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The most powerful nuclear bomb every detonated. 50 megatons is estimated to be one quarter of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. (The Soviets design Tsar Bomba to yield 100 megatons but they reduced the yield for the test because they were worried about fallout).

A reverse-order timeline of the nuclear problems in Japan

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