All the nuclear targets in the US
October 24, 2016 10:40 AM   Subscribe

The geopolitical situation has got me wondering, where are the likely nuclear targets in the United States? Suppose the United States comes under nuclear attack by a state power with many weapons (hundreds or thousands), where are the weapons likely to land?

I am looking for a detailed and documented answer. I already know the schematic answer: major population centers, air force bases, nuclear launch sites, government labs, and industrial base will be hit. And I'm familiar with the folklore of target lists etc.

But are there more solid answers?

Cold War intelligence analysts surely created maps with predictions about where all the Soviet weapons would go. Are any such maps publicly available? If not, are there any good private attempts to do the same thing?

I live in a dense suburb in the SF Bay Area. I suspect everything around me for some distance would be destroyed in an attack. Part of my interest in asking this question is, what is the place nearest me that wouldn't be a nuclear target? So answers with particular knowledge of northern California and hereabouts are especially welcome.

Another bonus that someone must have studied: taking account of wind patterns and fallout distribution, what places will have lower radiation exposure in the weeks after an attack?
posted by grobstein to Education (5 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 


I don't know of any actual public-knowledge Soviet target lists, but a lot of people have made their own, such as these, one of which posits that you're not actually that far from safety.
posted by Etrigan at 10:48 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


One thing to keep in mind is that different enemies will probably have different targets, and maybe even the same enemy will have multiple lists of targets. Russia's target list is probably not the same as, say, North Korea's, both because of technical capability and strategic importance. Even Russia probably has different targets for a defensive counterattack than for a preemptive strike.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:55 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]




Best answer: Supposedly a FEMA map from 1990.
posted by My Dad at 2:12 PM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


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