The Political Orphanage
The Political Orphanage
Who Actually Survives a Nuclear War
0:00
-2:14:27

Who Actually Survives a Nuclear War

Radiation, fallout, and perpetual winter – would you survive a nuclear war? What about the President, Australia, and modern civilization? In this episode we do a deep dive on nuclear warfare, how bad it might be, and what rebuilding civilization would entail.


HELPFUL RESOURCES

NUKE MAP: Nuclear impact, fallout, fireball, etc. map  

"The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch" 

TPO Rerun: “Everything You Know About Nukes Is Wrong, with Ward Wilson” 

The Soho Forum: "It Is Imperative To Eliminate Nuclear Weapons" 

Declassified US Targets 

DHS: Radiation Risks for Responders 

MUSIC

“The Great Atomic Power” - The Louvin Brothers 

“99 Red Balloons” - Strings and Things 

EPISODE SOURCES:

GOVERNMENT WAR PLANS

"Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself--While the Rest of us Die" by Garret M. Graff 

The Atlantic: The Armageddon Plan 

Telegraph: How many nuclear bunkers are there in Britain... and who would get in? 

Politico: Time is ticking to replace the Pentagon’s 1970s-era Doomsday planes 

iNews: How is the Doomsday Plane ‘nuke proof’? 

BBC: What are the Letters of Last Resort? 

NY Post: This is Where the Government Would Hide During Nuclear War 

NPR: In the Event of an Attack, Here’s How the Government Plans to Save Itself 

WaPo: Five Myths About the Continuity of Government 

NUCLEAR ATTACKS AND STRATEGY

The Sydney Morning Herald: Soviets Did Not Target Australian Cities 

Projected Death Toll By City 

Business Insider: The UN said nuclear war is 'back within the realm of possibility.' Here are the places in the US most likely to be hit in a nuclear attack. 

Wired: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wars a Snuggy 

Missilleer Patch 

ATOMIC EXPLOSIONS AND FALLOUT

Popular Mechanics: This Is What a Nuclear War Between the U.S. and Russia Could Look Like 

Vox: This is exactly how a nuclear war would kill you 

Vice: How to Survive a Nuclear Bomb 

Britannica: Residual Radiation and Fallout 

NuclearSecrecy.Com: What the Nuke Map Taught me About Fallout 

Electro Magnetic Pulse Fact Sheet

NUCLEAR WINTER & STARVATION

Robock: Nuclear Winter Models 

Robock: Global Food insecurity after nuclear winter 

TedXMileHigh: “I've studied nuclear war for 35 years -- you should be worried” 

Cosmos: A nuclear war could starve five billion people – but Australians might survive 

Atomic Archive: World-Wide Effects of Nuclear War 

How Stuff Works: What Would Nuclear Winter Be Like? 

Allfed: Low-Tech Solutions to Mass Starvation 

Alliance for Science: Could Humans Survive a Nuclear War Between NATO and Russia? 

Lesswrong: Nuclear war is unlikely to cause human extinction 

EuroNews: Nuclear bunkers for all: Switzerland is ready as international tensions mount 

Al Jazeera: Could the World Survive a Nuclear Winter? 

DOOMSDAY VAULTS & LIBRARIES

The Museum of History in Granite 

The Time Capsule That's as Big As  Human History 

Hallstatt Ceramic Tablets 

Doomsday Crackers 

Food & Wine: Oreo Built a 'Doomsday' Vault to Protect Its Recipe and Cookies 

Discussion about this episode

User's avatar