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A nuclear weapon can do that in seconds, at a tiny fraction of the monetary cost.

That's not really the point. We accomplished the same effect (albeit over a smaller area) already, and it clearly didn't stop WWII from happening.

No nuclear weapon has ever been built that can do that to 460 square miles.

> No nuclear weapon has ever been built that can do that to 460 square miles.

460mi ^2 = 1192km^2

sqrt(1192km^2 / pi) = 19.5km

Tsar Bomba (largest one), from Wikipedia: 'total destruction _radius_ 35km.'

So, yes, such a single weapon surpassing that several times has been built. And it can as well be argued that a MIRVed ICBM is in a way a single weapon.

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