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     It is estimated that a nuclear strike on U.S. cities would be devastating. However, a nuclear attack on U.S. missile silos would kill millions by acute radiation poisoning in a few days. Radioactive fallout would spread across the entire country.
     A recent study published in Scientific American concluded that if the strategic missile launch bases were hit, most of the Midwest would be bathed in a more than legal dose of radiation. In a worst-case scenario, most of the U.S. and Canada would become uninhabitable.
    Researchers at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security estimated that in the first four days after the missile silos were struck, between three hundred forty thousand and four and a half million people would die. The average death toll would be around one and a half million. The report they produced predicted that three hundred million people would be at risk of a lethal dose of fallout.
     The Princeton study follows a statement by the U.S. Air Force last year that said that it would be replacing all of its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). These missiles have been in operation since the 1970s. There are also more modern Sentinel missiles from 2009.
     It is estimated that the one and a half trillion-dollar plan will replace all four hundred of the older missiles. Though the range and payload of the Sentinel ICBM have not been officially released, they are believed to have an equivalent explosive power of eight hundred kilotons of TNT. When fired, they are expected to travel up to six thousand miles and strike any target around the world in thirty minutes.
     Minuteman missiles have a range of eight thousand miles. They carry estimated payloads equivalent to one hundred seventy to three hundred fifty-five kilotons.
     The researchers at Princeton said that the U.S. Air Force had investigated the potential effects on humans and the environment of deploying a Sentinel. However, they did not mention what would happen if the missiles were detonated in their silos.
     A Department of Defense (DoD) spokesperson told Newsweek that it had not had the opportunity to review the Princeton report so they could not directly address its findings. However, they did say that the Sentinel missiles would not increases the risk to the U.S.
     The DoD said, “The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review made clear that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. To this end, the best deterrent to adversary initiation of nuclear war against the United States or its allies or partners is a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent and strong and credible extended deterrence.”
     U.S. nuclear missiles silo bases are located across five states including Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota. They form part of the U.S. “nuclear triad, which gives the U.S. the ability to also launch nuclear strikes from submarines and aircraft if one leg of the triad is compromised.
     The researchers said that the nuclear missiles in their silos are buried deep underground and covered with a huge blast door. In order to detonate one of those missiles, an enemy nuclear warhead would have to land very close to the silo.
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