Alex WellersteinVerified account

Nuclear fissile materials can be radiochemically analyzed by IAEA against their forensic databases, for narrowing down reactor national origin, like fingerprints of trace elements. The culprit would likely be discovered in time, and pay a heavy price. https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/TDL009web.pdf …

It's strange that such an alert would escalate as it did, despite the phone network and TV alarms. Who would launch a single ballistic missile attack (as described in the alert) while risking a significant part of their home country becoming a smoking hole in response?

It's healthy skepticism of an alert with such an odd detail as single missile. And with alarms resembling a serious attack, recall heroic skepticism of former Soviet Air Defense Lt Col Stanislav Petrov, who stopped a global nuclear war despite false alarm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov …