Talks of nuclear war have reignited since outgoing US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to fire US missiles deep into Russia.
If Vladimir Putin were to follow through on his threats, the map below shows the states at greatest and least risk of nuclear attack.
The Midwest would be a prime target because it hosts intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch facilities, and eliminating them early would be a strategic advantage for any foreign adversary.
With this as a starting point, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst mapped out how wind patterns would have carried the precipitation each day, in addition to the amount of radiation exposure that would reach the rest of the US.
The researchers based their results on enemies targeting the 450 ballistic missile silos, because detonating just two silos would cause an equivalent explosion of 100,000 tons of TNT.
They found people living along the East Coast are at least at risk of being affected due to their distance from the bomb site and nuclear fallout zone.
The reach of the safe zone would extend from Maine to Florida and cover some inland states, including Indiana, Michigan and Alabama.
Those living on the West Coast would also be less affected by a nuclear fallout, including Washington, Utah, California and parts of South Texas.
However, the map only looked at the initial impact and estimated that the nuclear winter that would follow would kill at least a billion Americans.
The map predicts that Americans living on the east and west coasts would be least affected if another country launched a nuclear attack on the US.
Those living in states like Florida, South Georgia and California would likely only be affected by 0.001 of radiation, which is the annual limit for the public
Experts have stated that “nowhere is truly safe” if such an attack were to occur, adding that a nuclear attack on the silos would detonate one or two of America’s own intercontinental missiles.
Christian Appy, director of the Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said Newsweek that immediately after an attack, “even a relatively ‘minor’ nuclear war would cause a nuclear winter famine that would kill at least a billion people (worldwide).”
Exposure to radiation poisoning would put an additional 300 million Americans at risk of dying in the four days following a nuclear attack.
Even low levels of radiation poisoning can cause nausea, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, skin damage, seizures, or comas.
Landlocked states such as Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri would be decimated in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.
Meanwhile, coastal states like Oregon, Washington, Florida and New York may have to wait at least another four days before radiation poisoning spreads to those areas.
The initial impact would put three million people living around the silos at risk of receiving eight gray radiation (Gy) in the four days after the attack, which would result in certain death – one Gy is enough to cause radiation sickness.
However, due to their distance from the epicenter, people living in some east coast states such as Florida and South Georgia would be hit by radiation as low as 0.001 Gy.
A secondary map predicts the worst-case scenario following a nuclear attack on the 450 ICBM silos in the western United States. This level of radiation would kill 300 million people
Talks of nuclear war have reignited since outgoing US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to fire US missiles deep into Russia
The annual public limit is .001, while .05 is the annual limit for radiation workers.
This is still enough to cause health problems and possibly death, but the reduced amount of radiation puts residents of those areas at significantly lower risk.
With high enough doses of penetrating radiation, these symptoms can occur within minutes and be fatal.
The map showed that anyone living in the Midwest would likely be killed immediately MontanaNorth and South Dakota, Nebraska and parts of Coloradowyoming and Kansas are the worst affected.
Although the population density in those states is low compared to other neighboring states, the winds can carry the radioactive material throughout the US.
Appy told Newsweek that it is “morally reprehensible to think about the safest places to survive a nuclear war” because “a major nuclear war would throw so much soot and debris into the stratosphere that it would create a nuclear winter.” that would cause all or almost all deaths. all those who survived the explosions, firestorms and radiation of war.”
Using weather patterns recorded through 2021, scientists simulated the aftereffects of an 800-kiloton nuclear warhead that would hit all 450 silos at once and cripple the U.S. arsenal.
“They averaged the impact of changing wind speeds on radioactive fallout across the continent,” according to a report from Scientific American.
The warning comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin last month signed a decree updating the country’s policy on the use of nuclear weapons.
The revised doctrine states that Russia “reserves the right” to use nuclear weapons not only to respond to a nuclear attack by another country, but also in response to a “critical threat” to its “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The Kremlin launched the review of the doctrine after President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range missiles as the war between the two countries lasted 1,000 days.
The US Department of Defense told DailyMail.com it could not comment on nuclear projections or the likelihood of a Russian attack on US soil.