Putin blowing up nuke in Black Sea would release killer poisonous gas cloud & trigger tsunamis, warns top professor
RUSSIA detonating a nuclear bomb in the Black Sea could trigger a killer toxic gas cloud and six and a half foot high tsunamis, it has been warned.
Nato is watching closely as the world sits on the brink of a nuclear crisis - with US President Joe Biden comparing the situation to the heights of the Cold War.
Putin - who turned 70 today - has been wildly swinging his nuclear sabre as he repeatedly threatens to go nuclear over his disastrous war in Ukraine.
It is feared Russia could either use a nuke on the battlefield or instead do a test, potentially in a remote region or over the Black Sea.
Defence sources have said there is a real possibility that Putin could consider detonating a nuke in the sea which is bordered by Russia, Ukraine and Georgia along with Nato nations, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.
But a leading expert has warned detonating a nuclear bomb in the Black Sea could have disastrous consequences.
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Professor Viorel Badescu, a physicist and engineer the University of Bucharest, penned a paper a number of years ago warning of impacts of a nuclear explosion in the Black Sea.
And he spoke to The Sun Online as he laid out "through the eyes of a scientist" the potentially horrifying consequences - including tsunamis and a cloud of toxic gas being released from the sea.
Prof Badescu said he doesn't see the logic of Russia opting for the sea as a testing range - and was highly sceptical over whether Putin would use such a strategy for such a show of force.
But he soberly spoke of the possible consequences if Vlad did go ahead with such a plan, with various reports the Russian president is becoming increasingly rash.
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He told The Sun Online: "Two different phenomena that may affect the coastal regions start simultaneously at the place of the nuclear explosion.
"First, the initial water cavity constitutes the source for a
tsunami wave.
"Second, the [gas] expelled into the atmosphere - which is denser than air - 'falls' with a lower speed than the falling water and finally creates a gaseous 'cloud' or 'blanket' on the sea surface."
Prof Badescu wrote his initial paper in 2006 titled: "Poison Effects of Asteroid Impacts or Nuclear Explosions in the Western Regions of the Black Sea".
It compares the dangers of both impacts from space and nukes, which have comparable effects with the amount of energy being transferred into the sea.
What makes the Black Sea unique is the high level of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the water, being the world's largest natural reservoir of the chemical compound.
The gas - which smells like rotten eggs - is toxic to humans and animals when inhaled and in high doses can cause death.
The effects on human population may be much more important and fast in case of a nuclear explosion
Professor Viorel Badescu
People suffering exposure can be left unable to breath - and in high enough doses the chemical can rot people's brains.
So with this in mind, a nuclear bomb hitting the sea would release this chemicals into the air and could be blown towards coastal regions.
Prof Badescu told The Sun Online: "The surface area affected by the poisonous gas cloud is much smaller than the surface area affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
"However, the effects on human population may be much more important and fast in case of a nuclear explosion, depending on the place of the explosion, its magnitude and wind speed and direction."
However, simulations carried out by the prof for his paper said even the largest nuclear bomb could expel gas clouds may not be able to reach the shore - travelling for around 20 miles.
Much of this however is dependent on where the bomb is exploded in the sea.
The other threat from a very large nuclear blast - tsunamis - could see waves of up to 6.5ft crash into the shores of the Black Sea.
But a more realistic option for Russia would be a smaller device, such as the 2 megaton nuke believed to be on the Poseidon nuclear towards.
And this would lead to a tsunami more likely of around 3ft high.
Prof Badescu said the effects of a nuke test would be "very small" if a bomb was detonated in the middle of the Black Sea.
And when asked if he had a message to Putin or Russian generals weighing such a test, he replied: "I am not in a position to send political messages."
Russia has been dangling the threat of nuclear weapons over Ukraine as its forces continue to be pushed back.
Moscow has red lines in its doctrine about when to use nukes - but they are softer than those in the West.
It is widely understood the current nuclear threats are referring specifically to smaller, tactical weapons designed for battlefield use rather than massive city-killing bombs.
The Kremlin is happy to use the weapons if it considers there is an "existential threat" to Russia.
Putin's commanders believed they could roll over Ukraine in a matter of days - but now the war has been raging for eight months.
They convinced Russia troops they would be greeted with cheers and waving flags as "liberators", instead they were faced with Kalashnikovs and molotov cocktails as invaders.
Putin's war has become a slow and brutal quagmire - one which has seen the Russians change tactics, moving from attempts at surgical strikes to savage, indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
With further defeats on the horizon, a seemingly hopeless mass mobilisation, and a resurgent Ukraine storming towards their new "territory" - stoking fears the war could escalate once again.
Russia is thought to have around 2,000 nuclear weapons in their arsenal in the form of small yield missiles, torpedoes and artillery shells.
Moscow's war doctrine is believed to be open to using nuclear weapons in a conventional conflict as an intimidation tactic - and use of such a weapon must be signed off personally by Putin.
The tactic became known as "escalate to de-escalate".
Nato is closely monitoring Russia, with reports of Vlad's biggest nuclear submarine on the move and a convoy linked to a nuke unit spotted heading towards Ukraine.
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And it seems Putin is also escalating his hybrid war on Europe, with Russia the prime suspect in attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
With winter looming over Ukraine and the Russian defeats mounting, the world awaits with baited breath to see what Vlad will do next and the what response - if any - there will be from the West.
