Characteristics First nuclear weapons test of the People's Republic of China, Lop Nor, October 16, 1964 Estimated ranges of the Chinese Dongfeng and JL-2 intercontinental ballistic missiles. The energy released by the explosion of a nuclear weapon is usually expressed in kilotons. A kiloton, abbreviated kT, is the energy released by the detonation of 1000 tons (1 Gg) of TNT (about 4-1012 J). Therefore, it is also referred to as TNT equivalent. For various reasons, however, the explosive power of conventional and nuclear weapons is only approximately equivalent via this unit. In the case of very powerful explosions, such as those of hydrogen bombs, the explosive force is given in megatons, or MT for short. This unit corresponds to the energy of one million tons (1 Tg) of TNT. However, the sheer explosive power alone is not a measure of the effectiveness of a nuclear weapon. Depending on the type, area of application and explosion level of the weapon, various other factors are important. Among others, the following characteristics are in use: The U.S. LGM-118A Peacekeeper (MX) can carry up to ten independently steerable reentry vehicles, each with a W87 warhead. Total destruction radius: the radius around the blast center in which all animal and human life, as well as all buildings, plants, etc., are completely destroyed. Depending on the size of the bomb, this can be up to 10 km. The experimental Soviet Tsar bomb in its most powerful version had a total destruction radius of up to 20 km. This is followed by other radii where the bomb's destructive power decreases, e.g., the radius where the chance of survival is above 50%; then that where it is above 80%, and so on. Million dead: the number of people killed in an explosion in a metropolitan area. This quantity depends very much on the location. In particular, the population density and the construction of the city have a very large influence on the number of dead. During the Cold War, model calculations were carried out for the use of powerful nuclear weapons against the most important targets, including Moscow, Leningrad, Washington, D.C., and New York. In modern times, there are corresponding simulations that assume a terrorist attack with a small nuclear weapon (a few kilotons).[25] Number of warheads: many nuclear missiles have multiple nuclear warheads, which are then separated from the launch vehicle at high altitude and spread over a large area. A single missile can devastate huge areas in this way; the Soviet SS-18 Satan, for example, can spread its warheads over an area of up to 60,000 km², depending on how it is equipped. (By comparison, Bavaria has an area of 70,552 km².) In modern missiles, the individual warheads are controllable so that a single target can be attacked with each warhead. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)