Written question asked by Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party) on Wednesday, 23 February 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 April 2005. It was answered by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Monday, 4 April 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the death toll that would arise from the use of one of the UK's (a) tactical and (b) strategic nuclear warheads on a population centre of (i) 100,000, (ii) one million and (iii) five million inhabitants.

Answer: Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate his Department has made of the death toll that would arise from the use of one of the UK's (a) tactical and (b) strategic nuclear warheads on a population centre of (i) 100,000, (ii) 1 million and (iii) 5 million inhabitants. [218492] Mr. Hoon: The UK has no tactical nuclear weapons. The casualties that might arise from the use of a nuclear weapon depend on a wide range of variable factors. These include the yield and design of the weapon; the accuracy of the delivery system; the nature and construction of the target; the geographical characteristics of the surrounding terrain; geological conditions in the target area; the height of weapon burst; and the weather conditions at the target.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 432 c1104W; 218492
Session: 2004-05
Subjects: Deployment Casualties Nuclear weapons Strategic nuclear weapons Tactical nuclear weapons
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk