How wide can a nuclear bomb explode? RE: vancouver 2010

So i live in Vancouver and i recently moved out of the city to the suburbs which is about an hour drive away to pretty much avoid the olympics., i'm not sure the KM/miles distance but its about 1hr subway/skytrain ride from the downtown core... I have a gut feeling that some kinda # will go down, anything from some stadium blowing up to a nuclear bomb. I am not afraid of death but i don't want to die just yet. I moved out of the city but after discussing with a friend at lunch i was informed that if there was a nuclear bomb to obliterate Vancouver that unfortunate i did not move far enough. i am now thinking of taking a mini vacation up into the mountains to visit my aunt in penticton..

the opening ceremonies are at 6pm. and i'm off work at 4:30. if my friend can pick me up from work i could be close to the mountains by the time of the opening ceremony....

[edit on 5-2-2010 by hautmess]

Here's something to feed your paranoia a bit - Google earth app that shows blast radii in your own city

www.carloslabs.com...

I just used Carloslabs,,
Bro, it doesn't look good!
But the app is kind interesting.

An even bigger problem then the initial blast radius is the fallout. I know that these maps are for the US, but it gives some idea of how far fallout ash can travel on the wind.
Fallout Maps
in the event of a war, far more people would succumb to the fallout exposure then the initial attack.

reply to post by hautmess


You would have to have some idea of the yield and design of the nuke to have the slightest hope of predicting that... The smallest of 'suitcase' nukes if detonated at one end of a large stadium might possibly leave the other end of the structure still standing (everyone dead tho!)

But the largest 50mt bomb ever exploded may not leave a single structure standing for a radius of 40 or 50 miles

(just a guess on both of those btw)

ok. i might somewhat survive if its anything but the Tsar Bomba 50mt...

I'm in south surrey.. maybe i will chance it and not take a vacay..


man i hope nothing happens in my beautiful city, it truly is heaven on earth.




[edit on 5-2-2010 by hautmess]

Ontop of this, there has been a lot of earth quake activity this month within the area and in california.. could this trigger "The Big One" ??


i bring this all up because coincidentally in the news paper all on the same page was a article about how we are not prepared for any nuclear attack, and on the same page was a article discussing how conveniently our Parliament (government) will be suspended for the weeks during the Olympics, as well as another seperate article on how the us government will be the major part of security for our Olympics, and then even more conveniently on the same page another article about how Obama will not be attending the Olympics

All on the same page. (todays daily metro for those of us in vancouver if your wondering what i'm talking about)

[edit on 5-2-2010 by hautmess]

Think on this; If any sort of event goes down at the Olympics, all essential freedoms to go where ever, do what ever, say whatever, blog what ever, etc. will be over for good. The 911 aftermath will seem like a short vacation compared to a nuclear detonation by a terrorist cell. Following that, all bets will be off, and all of our freedoms will be null and void. No government will ever allow it's citizenry a free pass again. The era of the iron fist police state will commence. Count on it!

Pray it does not happen.

Here is a bunch of information on why most assume # will go down at the omypics. its a great read..


dprogram.net...

Interesting.....I don't want to derail a thread....but...you bring up and interesting idea.....

If I wanted the world to jump on the Anti-Terror band wagon full force....what world event would I want to make a spectical of in order to make the afformentioned happen??


Just saying..


Better yet....who would I blame it on.....(insert middle eastern country of your choice here)

[edit on 5-2-2010 by wdkirk]

I sure hope nothing like this happens, if it was a 50MT one, I would probably get crispy , I live in Bellingham wa, just south of the border

Why do you ask ?

Would you seriously think about moving to less populated area ?

Some advice.

You're live would probably be allot more fun, if you stop worrying about situations beyond your control.
These fears and paranoid, speculative ideas are used for control.

Yeah, don't bother moving or anything.

If a nuclear event happens we are all screwed anyways, no matter where we live. Like previous posters stated, all bets are off after that.

So, just stay where you are and enjoy your life.

When it comes to worrying about fallout, dont forget about the prevailing winds.

If you are well west of the city, chances are you have nothing to worry about.

On the east side? Time to think about going somewhere else.

reply to post by hautmess


I hope all is well for the big event.

We have a lot of doomsday stuff on here at ATS but most of it never takes place.

A few times it has...such as the WEB Bot hits and the global meltdown...the Cisco/Chinese counterfeit thing and maybe the New Great Game ideas.

But better safe then sorry...have fun at your Aunt's dude.

Also that would not end our freedoms.

Even if the US and Canada ceased to be a nation the brave men and women in our intelligence services would still operate as a "guerrilla government" holding fast to the ideals that founded both great nations of Canada and the United States of America.

This is only my opinion.

Its been a few years since i have been in Vancouver.(1972)

The biggest danger from a nuclear weapon is where its set off at.
if some group got a nuke its very unlikely to be a hydrogen device because They are very hard to make and only the major players have the tech to make them.
A terrorist group is unlikely to have anything over 100 kt due to size and being able to transport anything bigger.

The biggest problem would be a nuke set off in or under water.
and the blast effect would be the least of the problems.
Water blast have a effect called base surge.
Its a cloud of highly radioactive water and steam that travels just above the water. This cloud will spread radioactive material in far greater amount then a air burst and tends to drop its load on everything it passes over as the steam cools.
This radioactive contamination is long term problem and impossible to clean up.
www.cddc.vt.edu...

After this type attack Vancouver would be unusable and unlivable for 30+years.
since its the major port for the west coast of Canada this would be a major problem.
en.wikipedia.org...

Canada feared a nuclear attack on the 2010 Olympics, and asked the US for help.


Worried about nuclear attack on Olympics, Canada turned to U.S. for help

May 4, 2011


Canadian security officials asked the U.S. for military assistance to help with the potential threat of bombs or other "nuclear devices" during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, according to new WikiLeaks cables obtained by a Canadian news network.

How wide can a nuclear bomb explode?

It depends on many factors. I.e. what kind of nuclear bomb it is, and how far above the ground it is detonated. If it is detonated at ground level, the topography and surrounding buildings also determines how wide area it affects. It could be a suitcase nuke or it could be a warhead. A suitcase nuke is more likely as it is easier to transport, but it is not as powerful. Maybe 0,7 - 1,5 kt or so. It can destroy a city center, but not a big city alone.