In any ecosystem food chain is not operates in isolation. Different food chains are in operation at a time. The organisms of different food chains are interlinked. The network of different food chains in an ecosystem is called food web.
The top carnivores in a food web are the apex predators. They can obtain food from the primary, secondary or tertiary consumers of different food chains. They are not dependent on the consumers of one food chain.
It is, therefore, the top carnivores are the top consumers and are most likely to survive.
No choice given but the development of nuclear weapons could be considered a negative consequence of the application of scientific knowledge for example when it was used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing and wounding 100's of 1000's of people.
