# Deaths from a 400 kiloton nuclear explosion

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-from-a-400-kiloton-nuclear-explosion/974168>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 1, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-from-a-400-kiloton-nuclear-explosion/974168 "2022-11-01T20:08:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-from-a-400-kiloton-nuclear-explosion/974168/41 "2022-11-05T20:06:27Z")

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> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> None of this will change the outcome for people at ground zero - they’re dead, vaporized. What it changes is the level of destruction/death at distances from the center of destruction.

Well, no. At both Hiroshima and Nagasaki people survived despite being at ground zero and people died despite being well outside the lethal zone. Vagaries of fate.  
Akiko Takakura.was only a few hundred feet away, but she survived.

> **[Testimony of Akiko Takakura](https://inicom.com/hibakusha/akiko.html)**
>
> Testimony of Akiko Takakura, a
> Hiroshima survivor

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-from-a-400-kiloton-nuclear-explosion/974168/42 "2022-11-05T20:31:39Z")

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If you have a surface detonation of a 400 kiloton nuke _no one_ will survive being at ground zero because they will be vaporized.

This is in contrast to Hiroshima, which was an _air burst_ whose fireball never reached the ground.

As for people further out dying - sure, that’s always a possibility. But the further out you are the more likely you are to survive. It’s just not guaranteed.

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**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-from-a-400-kiloton-nuclear-explosion/974168/43 "2022-11-05T20:44:23Z")

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Intensity decreases at the square of the distance. Meaning something 2 times as far will have an intensity 4 tines less.  
If you have some shielding than that greatly increases your survival chances,

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