EVER wondered what would happen if Malvern were hit with nuclear weapons?

Using a tool developed by outrider.org, we simulated the effects of a 300 kiloton nuclear warhead being dropped in the town centre.

At ground zero, in this case Great Malvern Priory, the initial fireball would stretch for 0.73sq miles across

Anything in this circle would be vaporised in an instant, with the fireball burning 10,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun.

After this, an enormous amount of x-ray energy, light and heat would expand outwards, creating the outer circles of the blast.

The fireball would incorporate most of the town centre, stretching out towards Malvern College and Barnards Green.

The next phase is the radiation, which would extend to around 5.5sq miles from the initial fireball.

The radiation, caused by the distribution of the nuclear components of the warhead, would give people in this area a dose of 500rem of radiation, 800 times greater than the average annual exposure to radiation in the United States.

According to Outrider: "Of those who survive the heat and the shockwave, 50 to 90 percent will die a painful death from radiation poisoning within a few hours to a few weeks."

Expanding outwards from the fireball and radiation wave, there would be a shockwave.

This would catch areas including West Malvern, Madresfield, Malvern Link and Guarlford

At this phase, the main destructive element would be the blast of air from the explosion, which would be strong enough to destroy most buildings.

The majority of casualties in this wave would die from falling debris and collapsing buildings.

The final wave, stretching to 48 sq miles, would be intense heat, strong enough to see most light materials catch fire.

The Outrider site states: "Anyone within this radius would have severe or fatal third-degree burns.

"Within the radius shown here, wood, clothing, paper, and plastics would catch fire.

"Even outside this boundary, the heat would still be intense enough to cause first- and second-degree burns."

In total, Outrider's projected fatalities for a nuclear weapon hitting Malvern would be 22,121 with a further 10,925 injured.

"What Happens in a Bomb Blast?" is based on NUKEMAP created by Alex Wellerstein, a historian of nuclear weapons and an assistant professor of science and technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Data on blast size calculations and associated casualties is provided by Wellerstein's application.