# Nuclear Attack - No Warning Or 15 Minutes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 14, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646 "2018-01-14T23:30:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/21 "2018-01-15T07:36:58Z")
Not so much in my area. Probably up around the Air force base alittle north of Little Rock. Unless Kim or Putin have a personal vendetta against me I assume ain’t nothing gonna land real close to me. I don’t know how many mile radius I would need to be concerned about, though. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/22 "2018-01-15T08:02:21Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Not so much in my area. Probably up around the Air force base alittle north of Little Rock. Unless Kim or Putin have a personal vendetta against me I assume ain’t nothing gonna land real close to me. I don’t know how many mile radius I would need to be concerned about, though. Said Airbase is one of the major hubs for USAF airlift. The Russians are going to nuke that area until it glows. Another place is the Pine Bluff Arsenal, stored chem weapons. And these days White Phosporus munitions. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/23 "2018-01-15T08:09:51Z")
Base…ment? Do people in Hawaii have them either? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/24 "2018-01-15T10:18:31Z")
Here’s a secret: those who were protected in Hiroshima - in stone buildings with a basement - survived the blast. Just hope it rains hard afterwards to wash the fallout away. So I’ll just be heading downstairs. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/25 "2018-01-15T13:42:12Z")
Too many people mock duck-and-cover and other simple self-protection methods during an atomic attack.\* But keep in mind that not everyone is in the instant death zone. A _lot_ of people are in the moderate to light risk zone. And taking action makes a difference. 15 minute warning? Get some jugs of water and head to the basement. Our odds of survival go way up. - It’s like mocking people who head to a safe spot in their house when there’s a tornado warning. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/26 "2018-01-15T14:03:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Oredigger77** : > > 15 min isn’t a lot of time so id be trying to pack as much dense material around my interior bathtub as I could and getting in with my wife and kid. I’ll deal with the aftermath later but step one is to live through the blast and minimize damage. Maybe I’d pack food water and weapons in the bathroom too so we can survive in that room after the blast for a bit. While you’re piling up the dense stuff, fill the tub with water, and get in right before the blast. Water is about the best neutron absorber you’re going to find, and if you don’t mind drinking water you’ve been in (spoiler alert: You shouldn’t mind, in this situation), it’ll keep you drinking for a while. Oh, while we’re at it, you won’t have to live in the bathroom for any extended time. The immediate hazard is the radiation flash: That’s done and gone in a tiny fraction of a second, and that’s why you’re piling up dense stuff (only bother with the side of the tub facing the likely target). A few seconds later, you’ll get the pressure wave, and for that, you pretty much just want to be in a windowless room. Once that’s past (again, very quickly), anywhere in your house will be about equally good (or bad). The next threat is fires, which will pretty much either consume your house, or they won’t. Then there’s fallout, and the only precaution that matters there is to keep dust out of the house (after the blast, tape up plastic over your broken windows), or if you must leave shelter, out of your lungs (use the ordinary dust masks you can get at Home Depot, or that failing, a scarf over your face). The fallout danger will subside significantly after the first rain, and then again after a few months, and at that point all you have to worry about is general societal collapse. Oh, and in case it’s not clear from my inventory of precautions, I’d like the warning. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/27 "2018-01-15T14:05:34Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Isnt there, or wasn’t there, nuclear silos in Arkansas? Pretty sure there was a major mishap at one of them. But anyway, silo sites were/Are targets even if nobody cares about little rock or ft Smith (My extended family are in both those places and \*they \* don’t even care) There used to be Titan missiles [in Arkansas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:308th_SMW_Titan_II_Missile_Sites.png), but they’ve [all been retired](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-25C_Titan_II#Retirement). There was indeed [a major incident with one near Damascus, Arkansas, in 1980](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_explosion). (As the second link discusses, the potential for such little problems was a major reason why the Titan was retired.) That deadly accident Arkansas in 1980 is one of the things discussed in detail in Eric Schlosser’s book _Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety_, which is quite good (albeit a bit of a doorstopper, and obviously more than a little scary). ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/28 "2018-01-15T14:06:51Z")
15 minutes is plenty of time to get laid … ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/29 "2018-01-15T15:09:00Z")
A limited nuclear exchange is absolutely survivable, and I want warning. If there’s a massive thermonuclear balls-to-the-wall war between NATO and Russia, we’ll all either be dead or wish we were, but even then I think I’d like time to tell my family I love them. In the case of a limited exchange, though, you’d be rather UNlucky to be underneath an explosion. Suppose North Korea tries to hit a bunch of North American cities and they take a shot at Chicago and hit it dead on and it works. Let’s say they have a 100kt warhead. If you are right downtown you’re dead, sure. But if you’re in Oak Park you should be fine, as long as you are not unfortunate enough to be looking eastward when the flash goes off; furthermore, the fallout will likely go eastward, not towards you. A little warning will help not only avoid the flash, but to give you a few minutes to batten the hatches and wait out the ensuring chaos. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/30 "2018-01-15T15:13:41Z")
I’ve got my emergency nuclear attack kit ready: a newspaper to cover myself with and authentic 1960’s elementary school desk to duck under. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/31 "2018-01-15T15:38:26Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > As a kid raised in the 60’s who went on to read a lot of science fiction, I have no illusions that surviving a nuclear war would be something I’d want to do. If I’m gonna go, just get it over with. I think I could eke out a living as a anti-hero drifter or warlord for a band of local mutants or something. I know that everyone thinks a nuclear war will look like this but the reality is that even a direct hit by a North Korean nuclear weapon (estimate yield 100 kilotons) would affect a relatively small radius of a few miles. > **[NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein](https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&airburst=0&linked=1&kt=100&lat=21.3069444&lng=-157.8583333&hob_ft=0&zm=12)** > > NUKEMAP is a website for visualizing the effects of nuclear detonations. Outside of the fireball and airblast radius, being underground or inside a concrete building (i.e. “duck and cover”) would greatly mitigate the effects of heat, radiation, flying debris and overpressure. And that’s assuming a direct hit and not somewhere in the ocean a few miles away or in the mountains. > [@watchwolf49](#): > > 15 minutes is plenty of time to get laid … For a lot of this crowd, 20 years isn’t enough time.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/32 "2018-01-15T15:57:42Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > For a lot of this crowd, 20 years isn’t enough time.😃 I can’t think of a worse way to find out that everyone who told you “I wouldn’t have sex with you if you were the last person on Earth!” _meant it_. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/33 "2018-01-15T16:37:04Z")
Do we know which point in Hawaii NK would target? Do we know how accurate NK’s missile aim is likely to be? Whatever the answers, fleeing to a basement (or even sheltering inside a building) will “improve” your prospects. Improving your prospects is bad if the choice is between instant death and slow death, but good if the choice is between serious injury and minor injury. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/34 "2018-01-15T18:37:17Z")
Given that I am no longer living anywhere near a target for anything larger than idiot terrorists, ballistic missile attacks don’t bother me any more. But give me the warning if I’m traveling. Believe it or not, if you are outside the blast radius nuclear weapons are very survivable. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/35 "2018-01-15T19:57:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Given that I am no longer living anywhere near a target for anything larger than idiot terrorists, ballistic missile attacks don’t bother me any more. … You have more confidence in the accuracy of North Korean missiles than I do. It wouldn’t surprise me if they accidentally hit Mexico or Canada if they launched at CONUS. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/36 "2018-01-15T21:54:34Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Believe it or not, if you are outside the blast radius nuclear weapons are very survivable. I think that’s true of pretty much all weapons. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/37 "2018-01-15T22:21:02Z")
I don’t want to know. As it is, I know I’ll die some day. I honestly wouldn’t want to know when. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/38 "2018-01-15T23:03:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’ve got my emergency nuclear attack kit ready: a newspaper to cover myself with and authentic 1960’s elementary school desk to duck under. Looks like you’re good to go. I don’t really see the point in warning civilians about an incoming nuke. I see very little chance that anything I could do in 15-30 minutes is going to make much difference. I’m either toast, going to wish I’d died quickly, or am far enough away for it not to immediately matter to me. I don’t really want to spend my last minutes of life going “Oh fuck, Imma die now” or listening to others do that. Better to just be caught by surprise. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/39 "2018-01-15T23:22:37Z")
I said no warning, on the presumption that it was going to hit close enough that I’d have zero chance of survival. I’m not really that interested in spending the last quarter hour of my life panicking. (And, living in Boise, Idaho, if I’m not at ground zero then there’s nothing else nearby worth hitting anyway. Heck, ground zero isn’t worth hitting either.) ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646/40 "2018-01-15T23:32:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > While you’re piling up the dense stuff, fill the tub with water, and get in right before the blast. Water is about the best neutron absorber you’re going to find, and if you don’t mind drinking water you’ve been in (spoiler alert: You shouldn’t mind, in this situation), it’ll keep you drinking for a while. Ya, I was thinking tub with water and dense stuff piled around it. I was a little more concerned about fallout which is why I was opting for staying in the bathroom for a bit since every other room is full of windows. We’ll be distilling all of our drinking water anyhow so I’m not really worried about how messed it up it is prestill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-attack-no-warning-or-15-minutes/806646.md?page=3)