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Once-top-secret letter warns of Russia’s plot to nuke London

Published 11:05 24 Oct 2015 BST

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Once-top-secret letter warns of Russia’s plot to nuke London

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A once-top secret letter released by National Archives outlines a plan by Russia to drop nuclear bombs on London.

Don't panic too much though, this isn't recent news. As revealed by a report in The Mirror, the letter was penned by a British atomic bomb expert named William Penney in 1954 and warned Edwin Plowden, chairman of the Atomic Energy Authority that Russia was prepared to drop several a-bombs on the British capital. Warning that Russia could attack London in the Cold War, he added that the bombs would cause 'complete destruction', and suggested that no more than three or four of the warheads would be needed.   'Instead of using, say, 32 bombs on London, they would probably use three, four or five very powerful ones which would give the same total damage but need not be aimed accurately,' he writes. Pluney died aged 81 in 1991. Thankfully, Russia didn't take such action.
 

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Once-top-secret letter warns of Russia's plot to nuke London