If nuclear weapon bomb landed in a town/city near you is it ganteed to kill you?

David B

No, it is certainly not guaranteed to kill you; it's entirely possible to survive a nuclear attack. The "10 mile vaporization, 30-40 mile fireball" figure given here is wholly unrealistic. A modern 1 megaton (which is on the large side; average yields are more like 200-300 kt) air burst doesn't do any appreciable damage beyond 10 miles, and most people would survive just fine at 5+ miles. Survival at closer ranges depends on how sheltered you are.

As for the fallout, it's very overrated. If you're far enough out to survive the blast in the first place, odds are you won't get hit with very much fallout. Air bursts,which are the military application, generate negligible fallout to begin with. Surface bursts, as would likely be the case for a terrorist attack, *do* generate large amounts of fallout, but most of it is blown into the upper atmosphere and floats around harmlessly until it decays.

And forget that whole "staying in a fallout shelter for 20 years" stuff, the longest you might have to stay sheltered is two weeks, after that it's safe to leave the shelter, even near ground zero, most people would be able to leave a shelter long before that.

michelob86

Yes. If a present day standard nuclear weapon went off in a city, at least ten mile diameter would be vaporized instantly. Another 30-40 miles would get burned up on the fire ball spread out from the blast. And everyone else within several hundred miles would get radiation sickness over the following months and die from that.

No mask would protect you. Deep underground or a long distance away from the blast are the only ways to survive.

keith d

Depends on the size of the nuclear weapon, there is a vast difference in power between the smaller 'tactical' nukes and the larger 'strategic' ones.
A gas mask would stop you inhaling fallout (actually parts of the bomb itself) and would be of some benefit. A gas mask would be useful because Alpha radiation cannot penetrate the skin but if an emitter of Alpha radiation is ingested or inhaled it can do massive damage to internal tissue.

YEGOR

It depends how far way from you the bomb went off, and how powerful it is. If you are really close, you probably die, but many will die in the next 10 to 15 minutes. But if it is reasonably away, and it touched you, then you have to get away as fast as you can, in about 2 to 3 minutes, gas mask wont help as the radiation would go into your hair and skin, Russian soldiers had lead in their mouth when they were in Chernobyl, that helps to neutralise the radiation.

306

if the blast doesnt get you, nuclear fall out will, radiation is the main killer...you could survive if your superhuman.

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