Vulnerability of populations and the urban health care systems to nuclear weapon attack – examples from four American cities

Table 3 Affected population from 20 Kt surface detonation in 4 downtowns

Effect Type	City
	Washington	New York	Chicago	Atlanta
Combined Fallout and Thermal	188,430	1,649,587	614,535	182,717
Combined Fallout and Blast	223,570	1,733,983	637,033	207,025
All Thermal categories	39,641	140,701	79,451	36,256
All Fallout categories	172,819	1,592,968	554,048	160,224
All Blast categories	92,040	286,587	104,988	63,814
All Thermal categories	39,641	140,701	79,451	36,256
> 25 cal cm² Zone	1,024	12,336	11,574	1,431
> 13–25 cal cm² Zone	963	15,303	14,685	1,810
3rd Degree Burn Zone*	3,132	20,660	12,456	5,001
2nd Degree Burn Zone**	9,876	22,993	10,381	8,593
1^st Degree Burn Zone	24,646	69,409	30355	19,421
All Fallout Categories where mortality > 0.5%	172,819	1,592,968	554,048	160,224
Mortality > 90%	80,386	429,172	252,538	46,579
> 50–90%	14,851	145,123	52,182	11,632
> 10–50%	28,335	358,922	85,807	43,970
> 0.5–10%	49,247	661,177	163,521	58,043
All Blast categories over 1psi	92,040	286,587	104,988	63,814
> 20psi	902	8,616	4,222	961
10–20psi	658	10,056	9,799	1,342
3–10psi	9,194	46,515	33,410	12,949
2–3psi ***	22,532	55,126	23,360	15,278
1–2psi	58,754	166,274	34,197	33,284

To take into account daytime populations near central business districts [26]
* Add roughly 32–35,000 additional people within 3rd degree burn isoline
** Add roughly 53–60,000 additional people within 2nd degree burn isoline
*** Add roughly 50,000 additional people within the 3psi isoline and 90,000 within the 2psi isoline.

ISSN: 1476-072X