How many miles away is safe from a nuclear blast?
The resulting inferno, and the blast wave that follows, instantly kill people directly in their path. But a new study finds that some people two to seven miles away could survive—if they're lucky enough to find just the right kind of shelter.
Here, it's important to stress that even if the nuclear event doesn't happen in your immediate area—even if it's hundreds of miles away—the fallout could still potentially reach you in a day or less.
A 1,000-kiloton nuclear blast might produce third-degree burns up to 5 miles away, second-degree burns up to 6 miles away, and first-degree burns up to 7 miles away, according to one estimate from AsapScience. People up to 53 miles away could also experience temporary blindness.
So a 10-megaton bomb detonated at an optimal altitude might do medium damage to a distance of 9.4 miles (15 kilometers) from ground zero, but a 100-megaton bomb “only” does the same amount of damage to 20.3 miles (33 kilometers).
At 40 miles high, it penetrated the stratosphere. Everything within three dozen miles of the impact was vaporized, but severe damage extended to 150 miles radius—enough to entirely annihilate any modern major city, including suburbs. Windows in faraway Norway and Finland were shattered by the force of the blast.
At a distance of 20-25 miles downwind, a lethal radiation dose (600 rads) would be accumulated by a person who did not find shelter within 25 minutes after the time the fallout began. At a distance of 40-45 miles, a person would have at most 3 hours after the fallout began to find shelter.
The resulting inferno, and the blast wave that follows, instantly kill people directly in their path. But a new study finds that some people two to seven miles away could survive—if they're lucky enough to find just the right kind of shelter.
In a 10-mile radius, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the air could be unsafe to breathe in the event of a major catastrophe. In 50 miles, food and water supplies may be unsafe. Click here to go to CNN.
He says, 'Areas in the Midwest and Southeast are far away from major nuclear targets, and have plenty of access to fresh water, food, and supplies. 'These areas are generally outside of major population centers, meaning there is less of a chance of fallout from a nuclear attack.
Irwin Redlener at Columbia University specialises in disaster preparedness and notes that there are six cities in the US that are more likely to be targeted in a nuclear attack – New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC.
What US cities would Russia target?
A Primary Target for Annihilation
But from there, as counterforce evolves into counter-value, Russian missiles would begin targeting larger cities, including New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. (Note that Washington, D.C. would most likely have already been hit in the first wave of attacks.)
The air blast from a 1 KT detonation could cause 50% mortality from flying glass shards, to individuals within an approximate radius of 300 yards (275 m). This radius increases to approximately 0.3 miles (590 m) for a 10 KT detonation.
Scientists have recently revealed that Australia and New Zealand are best placed to survive a nuclear apocalypse and help reboot collapsed human civilisation. The study, published in the journal Risk Analysis. These countries include not just Australia and New Zealand, but also Iceland, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
For the survivors of a nuclear war, this lingering radiation hazard could represent a grave threat for as long as 1 to 5 years after the attack. Predictions of the amount and levels of the radioactive fallout are difficult because of several factors.
Recovery would probably take about 3-10 years, but the Academy's study notes that long term global changes cannot be completely ruled out. The reduced ozone concentrations would have a number of consequences outside the areas in which the detonations occurred.
Stay inside. Stay tuned. GET INSIDE: If warned of the possibility of a radiation hazard, immediately get inside the nearest building and move away from windows. Put as many walls between you and the outside to protect you from the radiation outside.
Can one survive a nuclear blast hiding in a basem*nt? The basem*nt is the safest place to hide for this type of emergency. The radioactive dust will settle over the roof and outer walls when the fallout occurs. The belowground position of the basem*nt provides protection, thanks to the solid-packed earth around it.
To increase the probability of an intercept, the United States has to shoot multiple interceptors at each incoming ballistic missile. At present, because its inventory of interceptors is limited, the United States can shoot down only a handful of ballistic missiles that have relatively unsophisticated countermeasures.
Bottom line — if you see a nuclear explosion on the horizon, move to the back of the building you're in and stay as far away from doors, windows, and hallways as possible.
A good place would be a valley where the hills would give you some protection from heat and blast from bombs which go off [miles] from where you are," Dr Mark R. StJ Foreman, an associate professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, told Newsweek.
Should you drive away from a nuclear blast?
If you're driving, pull over, get out, and make your way into a building, Buddemeier said. Seek shelter indoors, preferably underground and in a brick or concrete building, per the Red Cross and FEMA. Go as far underground as possible, per the Red Cross and FEMA.
You have been sheltered because of the potential for dangerous levels of radiation in the first 24 hours following a nuclear detonation. After 24 hours, outdoor radiation levels will have fallen significantly but may still warrant protective measures in your area.
BUILD UNDERGROUND
A fallout shelter needs to protect you from radioactive particles and blast impact: compacted dirt is great at both. Building down to a depth of about ten feet will provide ample protection, but any deeper makes it hard to dig out in the event of a collapse.
While an underground shelter covered by 1 meter (3 feet) or more of earth provides the best protection against fallout radiation, the following unoccupied structures (in order listed) offer the next best protection: Caves and tunnels covered by more than 1 meter (3 feet) of earth.
Hyping up a then-new hypersonic nuclear-capable missile, Russian state TV said the Pentagon, Camp David, Jim Creek Naval Radio Station in Washington, Fort Ritchie in Maryland, and McClellan Air Force Base in California, would be targets, according to Reuters.
It would take a land- based missile about 30 minutes to fly between Russia and the United States; a submarine-based missile could strike in as little as 10 to 15 minutes after launch.
However, a nuclear blast would likely cause great destruction, death, and injury, and have a wide area of impact. In a nuclear blast, injury or death may occur as a result of the blast itself or as a result of debris thrown from the blast.
Irwin Redlener, a professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, six cities have the highest risk of attack: New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston.
The Bulletin has reset the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock 25 times since its debut in 1947, most recently in 2023 when we moved it from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight.
A “nuclear winter” would be the result of a chain reaction that would go something like this: Nuclear warheads striking cities would cause firestorms and send huge amounts of soot into the stratosphere. That soot would block out much of the Sun for up to a decade.
What would happen if a nuke hit NYC?
An improvised nuclear device can have the same destructive force as 10,000 tons of TNT and would do catastrophic damage if it exploded in New York City. A nuclear explosion could destroy many buildings within a half mile from where it exploded.
She said people should find shelter and stay inside, reduce contamination by taking off all their clothes and showering, then seal the shelter. Her advice is then to wait. Her final tip is to have things like food, water, flashlights and first aid kits prepared in advance of a nuclear war.
The Soviet Union built the largest thermonuclear bomb in human history. The name of the bomb was Tsar Bomba. It had a yield of 50 megatons of TNT. Fireball radius was 2.3 km or covering 16.61 square kilometers.
Iceland: the safest country
It belongs to NATO but does not have its own army (coast guard and police are enough).
In the event of a global nuclear catastrophe, researchers predict that pockets of survivors will endure, at least for a time, particularly in island nations such as New Zealand, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Iceland and Vanuatu. The study was published in Risk Analysis, a peer-reviewed academic journal.
I would feel safer in places like SE Asia, the Philippines, South and Central America, New Zealand, along with southern regions of Africa and India. Those areas are generally not places where intercontinental nuclear missiles would be headed if World War 3 breaks out.
Some options people should consider stockpiling are pasta, beans, rice, protein bars, and canned items higher in protein like black beans or beef stew. Families should pack items they enjoy eating.
To seal a room:
Seal all windows, rooms and air vents in one room with 2-4 mil. thick plastic sheeting and duct tape. You might want to measure an duct the plastic sheeting in advance to save time.
But the vast majority of the human population would suffer extremely unpleasant deaths from burns, radiation and starvation, and human civilization would likely collapse entirely.
Such a scenario envisages large parts of the Earth becoming uninhabitable due to the effects of nuclear warfare, potentially causing the collapse of civilization and, in the worst case, extinction of humanity and/or termination of all biological life on Earth.
How long would nuclear winter last after ww3?
The cooling would last for years, and, according to the research, could be "catastrophic", disrupting agricultural production and food gathering in particular in higher latitude countries.
These thick black clouds could block out all but a fraction of the Sun's light for a period as long as several weeks. Surface temperatures would plunge for a few weeks as a consequence, perhaps by as much as 11° to 22° C (20° to 40° F).
BUILD UNDERGROUND
A fallout shelter needs to protect you from radioactive particles and blast impact: compacted dirt is great at both. Building down to a depth of about ten feet will provide ample protection, but any deeper makes it hard to dig out in the event of a collapse.
Beta particles travel appreciable distances in air, but can be reduced or stopped by a layer of clothing, thin sheet of plastic or a thin sheet of aluminum foil. Several feet of concrete or a thin sheet of a few inches of lead may be required to stop the more energetic gamma rays.
The safest place in your home during an radiation emergency is a centrally located room or basem*nt. This area should have as few windows as possible. The further your shelter is from windows, the safer you will be.
Some estimates name Maine, Oregon, Northern California, and Western Texas as some of the safest locales in the case of nuclear war, due to their lack of large urban centers and nuclear power plants.
