# Safe distance from North Korean nuclear warhead detonation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556 "2017-09-17T17:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/1 "2017-09-17T17:28:48Z")
Lots of talk in Great Debates about North Korea and their nuclear capabilities. What is a safe distance to be away from the last zone if they set one off in an attack? I’m in Salem, Oregon. If they hit Seattle, would we survive? I don’t even know how to look up something like that for a reliable answer. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/2 "2017-09-17T17:33:38Z")
> **[NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein](https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/)** > > NUKEMAP is a mapping mash-up that calculates the effects of the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Try it with 250kt blast in Seattle, WA (250kt is the highest possible nuke NK can wield right now). > **[NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein](https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=250&lat=47.6062095&lng=-122.3320708&airburst=0&hob_ft=0&zm=9)** > > NUKEMAP is a mapping mash-up that calculates the effects of the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Oregon is way out of any effect radius. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/3 "2017-09-17T17:47:32Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > [NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein](https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/) > > Try it with 250kt blast in Seattle, WA (250kt is the highest possible nuke NK can wield right now). > > [NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein](https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=250&lat=47.6062095&lng=-122.3320708&airburst=0&hob_ft=0&zm=9) > > Oregon is way out of any effect radius. Holy hell. I just checked out the site. Don’t want lunch anymore that’s for sure. I don’t understand nuclear weapons very much. If one went off there would the area be uninhabitable due to radiation levels? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/4 "2017-09-17T18:01:33Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > Holy hell. I just checked out the site. Don’t want lunch anymore that’s for sure. I don’t understand nuclear weapons very much. If one went off there would the area be uninhabitable due to radiation levels? Yes. After a week or so, the radiation would be low enough that you could live there without suffering acute health effects, but it would be a really bad idea - the likelihood of you getting cancer or debilitating radiation poisoning over the long term would be very high. ---
**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:** [September 17, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/5 "2017-09-17T21:46:49Z")
Keep in mind that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are both busy, living cities nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/6 "2017-09-18T01:38:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Keep in mind that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are both busy, living cities nowadays. The Hiroshima bomb was about 15KT and the Nagasaki one about 20. Pretty small potatoes compared to 250KT. It’s also worth noting that parts of the Nevada Test site are still contaminated enough that lingering is not recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/7 "2017-09-18T04:19:59Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > The Hiroshima bomb was about 15KT and the Nagasaki one about 20. Pretty small potatoes compared to 250KT. > It’s also worth noting that parts of the Nevada Test site are still contaminated enough that lingering is not recommended. The Nevada Test Site also undertook over a hundred (aboveground) tests, including multiple tower and cratering shots. The Sedan test, for example, which was a 104 kiloton shallow underground test, producing a 1800 foot across, 330 foot deep crater. And according to tests in 1990 (the most recent year I could find data on), has residual radiation levels at the west side of the crater of about…4.087 millisieverts per year. Natural background radiation varies by location, but also from what I’m seeing online, this is above the US average, but would seem to be about the equivalent of the radiation exposure you’d get living in…[Winnipeg](http://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/resources/fact-sheets/natural-background-radiation.cfm). ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/8 "2017-09-18T04:22:10Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > [NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein](https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/) > > Try it with 250kt blast in Seattle, WA (250kt is the highest possible nuke NK can wield right now). > > [NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein](https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=250&lat=47.6062095&lng=-122.3320708&airburst=0&hob_ft=0&zm=9) > > Oregon is way out of any effect radius. On the other hand, there is no way they are going to launch just the one… I would worry about Mother Russia and Aunty China if I was the OP. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2017, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/9 "2017-09-18T10:46:50Z")
The nuclear test site also hasn’t had much effort devoted to its cleanup, since after all, it’s a nuclear test site. > [@](#): > > Quoth **AK84** : > > On the other hand, there is no way they are going to launch just the one… Why, how many do you think they have? ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/10 "2017-09-18T12:04:47Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > On the other hand, there is no way they are going to launch just the one… > > I would worry about Mother Russia and Aunty China if I was the OP. Just to be clear, if you knew that the U. S. would be the target of an ICBM over the next five years, you guess it was launched from Russia or China before NK? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/11 "2017-09-18T12:06:49Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > Just to be clear, if you knew that the U. S. would be the target of an ICBM over the next five years, you guess it was launched from Russia or China before NK? Yes. Russia and China are Great Power adversaries. North Korea a jumped up Emirate who wants to be let alone. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/12 "2017-09-18T12:14:04Z")
I’d put NK on the top of the list. While I think that NK is more rational than they are given credit for, both Russia and China have much, much more to lose. I think that would/will continue to keep the peace, as it has for all these many years. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/13 "2017-09-18T12:42:36Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > I’d put NK on the top of the list. While I think that NK is more rational than they are given credit for, both Russia and China have much, much more to lose. Also, the USA is much more likely to start a war with North Korea than with China or Russia. You don’t see stuff like [this](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-18/un-has-exhausted-options-on-north-korea-haley-says/8955238) about China or Russia. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/14 "2017-09-18T20:08:24Z")
Are we talking about being _targeted_ by a nuke, or being _successfully hit_ by a nuke? The two are different things, especially when we’re talking about tech as unreliable as what North Korea is using. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/15 "2017-09-18T20:12:02Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Yes. Russia and China are Great Power adversaries. North Korea a jumped up Emirate who wants to be let alone. But Russia and China are generally competently run countries, as opposed to North Korea, whose unquestioned leader is almost certainly a speed junkie who wouldn’t be allowed to drive a forklift in this country. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/16 "2017-09-19T02:08:45Z")
…the country which elected Donald Trump? ---
**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:** [September 19, 2017, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/17 "2017-09-19T05:25:51Z")
Yeah…what you said… ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-distance-from-north-korean-nuclear-warhead-detonation/796556/18 "2017-09-19T12:34:18Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > …the country which elected Donald Trump? Hurr hurr hurr – none of the three countries we were talking about.