These are the government’s nuclear “hotspots” across America that could be targeted in the event of a thermonuclear war.
While densely populated cities like New York and Los Angeles might seem like the most likely US targets, there are other, more strategic targets in states like Montana or North Dakota to wipe out US retaliatory forces.
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) originally released the map of areas most likely to be attacked in 2017 – but it has resurfaced on social media as the West is on the brink of war with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine stands.
The map shows potential targets in each state, with dense clusters along the east coast and in California. Particularly large clusters are also highlighted in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
Active nuclear power plants are big goals. There are around 90 active nuclear power plants in the United States, including plants in Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
A FEMA map shows potential nuclear targets in the US, including those in 2,000 (marked in black) and 500 (purple) warhead scenarios, as well as state capitals (asterisks) and cities (squares).
The effects of a nuclear explosion in New York’s financial district are illustrated, which obliterated the entire southern tip of Manhattan and caused severe damage and burns that extended to much of Brooklyn and Jersey
The prospect of a nuclear strike never seemed more real as Vladimir Putin and his henchmen threatened to wipe out western capitals in the recent escalation of the Ukraine war. Pictured: A survival apartment in Kansas
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a “safe” place to live, consider parts of Idaho, Maine, Northern California, and Oregon, where the lack of nuclear power plants and sparser populations make them less likely destinations.
ADVICE FROM THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN A NUCLEAR BENZONE
- Turn away and close and cover your eyes to avoid damage to your eyesight.
- Drop face down on the floor and place your hands under your body.
- Stay flat until the heat and two shock waves pass.
- Find something to cover your mouth and nose, such as B. a scarf or a handkerchief.
- Remove any dust from your clothing.
- Go to a shelter, basement, or other underground area.
- Shut down ventilation systems and seal doors or windows until the cloud of fallout has passed.
- Stay inside until authorities say it’s safe to come out.
- Listen to local radio or television for information and advice.
- Use stored food and drinking water.
- Clean and cover any open wounds on your body.
- If you are advised to evacuate, take emergency supplies (eg, a flashlight, battery-operated radio, emergency food, and water) with you.
The US has strategically positioned nuclear forces far from population centers that could be primary nuclear targets. Scattered across the country are ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missile silos), naval and air force bases, and nuclear storage facilities.
Irwin Redlener, a public health expert at Columbia University who specializes in disaster preparedness, says there are six US cities that are the most likely targets of a nuclear attack.
New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC are prime destinations not only for their dense populations but also for critical infrastructure such as financial centers, government buildings and energy facilities.
Other cities and metro areas that could be likely destinations include Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres last year raised the flag on the risk of nuclear conflict as Russia’s war against Ukraine continued – and still does.
“The alerting of the Russian nuclear forces is a startling development,” Guterres said.
The US State Department warned last month that Russia was not honoring the last remaining nuclear arms deal, which was extended by five years in 2021. Russia has denied these allegations and has also accused the US of violations.
The likelihood of tensions between the US and Russia escalating into a nuclear war is small, but cannot be ruled out.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons outside Ukraine late last year. He accused the West of “nuclear blackmail” and warned the US and Europe that Russia had “various means of destruction.”
“In order to defend Russia and our people, we will undoubtedly use all the weapons resources at our disposal,” Putin said. “It’s not a bluff.”
In December, Putin suggested that Russia could abandon its “no first use” military doctrine, which says Russia would only use nuclear weapons as a last resort. “We, on the other hand, formulated a retaliatory strike in our strategy.”
In the same vein, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said: “We are fighting not only with Ukraine, but with the collective West.”
A Fallout Shelter sign and American flag next to the Manhattan Municipal Building. There are still nuclear shelters from the tense Cold War era scattered throughout New York City. Not all are fully functional, but can provide shelter and respite if the city was ever attacked with a nuclear war
80 New York Avenue: Nathan Pensler, a Crown Heights resident, said the former fallout shelter in his building now contains bicycles, non-functioning washing machines and leftover building materials. At least one homeless person was hiding there until recently, leaving behind a cell phone and two suitcases
In 2006, city workers stumbled upon a long-forgotten safe room under the Brooklyn Bridge filled with stored supplies that had been hidden for decades
Patricia Lewis, head of Chatham House’s international security programme, told the Independent that a nuclear attack from Russia was seen as a last resort but it was still an ominous prospect.
According to the BBC, analysts suggest that this should be taken as a warning to other countries not to step up their involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In 2017, Russian state media said Moscow would annihilate parts of the US after a nuclear deal collapsed.
The Western nuclear threat is not limited to Russia. The Pentagon warned that China has more ground-based facilities capable of launching nuclear missiles than the US.
A nuclear attack in a major metropolitan area is one of the 15 disaster scenarios for which FEMA has developed an emergency response strategy. It includes deploying first responders, providing shelter for evacuees and decontaminating victims exposed to radiation.
According to Stephen Schwartz, author of Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, the US has four to five nuclear-armed submarines “on high alert, in their patrol areas, awaiting orders to launch.”
Even senior US military officials don’t know where the silent submarines are, and there’s no way Russia can hunt them all down before they shoot back, which Schwartz says could be done in as little as five to 15 minutes.
It may come as a small consolation – and perhaps a surprise – to New Yorkers to know that they are actually never very far from a nuclear fallout shelter.
While not all are fully functional, they can still provide some protection and respite should the city ever suffer an attack.
The old and weathered yellow and black signs in front of buildings and blocks of flats indicate that these were once fully equipped fortresses that could serve as protection in the event of an atomic bomb.
New Yorkers can find out where their nearest nuclear fallout bunker is located here.
A fallout nuclear construction frenzy was sparked by the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
However, by the following decade the money had run out and most had been converted to basement rooms.
The shelter program was spearheaded by then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who in 1960 approved a “state shelter” initiative that would fund the construction of tens of thousands of shelters across the city at a projected cost of $1.5 billion — the equivalent of more than 12 US Dollars – billions overseen today.
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened to attack countries believed to be interfering with his war in Ukraine, and it is feared he is currently preparing for the first open-air nuclear test since the 1960s
During the Cold War, when tensions with the USSR were at their height, New York had tens of thousands of nuclear shelters.
At the height of the 1950s and 1960s, New York police conducted mandatory air raid drills, requiring people to duck into dugouts when sirens sounded.
President John F. Kennedy even created a nationwide program to create emergency shelters amid the threat of nuclear attack as the US went toe-to-toe with the USSR.
In New York, black and yellow “Fallout Shelter” signs were seen on buildings across the city that the Army Corps of Engineers determined were adequately shielded from radiation.
According to the New York Times, there were approximately 17,448 of these buildings, and they were outfitted with survival kits should a nuclear attack occur.
Worth about $2.40 per person back then, penned-in New Yorkers would have aspirin, toilet paper, and appetite-suppressing candy to survive on.
Instead of buying mass bomb shelters in urban areas, the US instead opted for backyard bunkers in suburban areas. Then-governor Nelson Rockefeller called for a mandatory state protection program.
On a plot of land on New York Avenue in Crown Heights, there is still a nuclear fallout shelter in the basement of an apartment building.
According to the Gothamist, it is now used with buses to store bikes and washing machines, and is also no longer an enclosed concrete space.
Resident Nathan Pensler told the website, “I don’t think we would last very long.”
Shelters would stand in the middle of strong concrete buildings and would have no windows to minimize damage if a nuclear attack was imminent.