Putin Has His Nuclear Defense on High Alert

And some news commentator has said the doomsday clock has moved from 100 seconds to midnight to 30. How far out does a nuclear blast go? I mean instant obliteration, and then how much further is the fallout, where you would get radiation poisoning?

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dirge

Nagasaki and Hiroshima used tiny (by modern standards) weapons, they had ground zeros of about a mile in radius and big effects out to about 25 miles.

Carissimi · F

So what’s the expected radius today? Do you think it’s double? @dirge

ElwoodBlues · M

@Carissimi 10X the radius is a reasonable guess.

The Nagasaki & Hiroshima bombs were in the 15 to 25 kiloton range (blast equivalant to 15,000 to 25,000 tons of TNT). These days ICBMs carry multi megaton warheads, so at least 100X the blast power. The intensity of a shockwave should roll of with the inverse square of distance, so 100X the blast means 10X the radius.

For more details, check out this "blast simulator" and type in 1500 kilotons or 3000 kilotons. Airburst does more damage, so focus on those results.
https://nuclearweaponsedproj.mit.edu/nuclear-weapon-effects-simulations-and-models/nuclear-weapons-blast-effects-calculator