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Bikini Atoll nuclear blast radius
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Castle Bravo, 1 March 1954, was the largest US nuclear test at about 15 Mt — higher than predicted. This page loads that surface-burst preset on Bikini.
Open Bikini Atoll in the 3D simulator
Educational estimate only. Blast and heat rings use simplified yield scaling. They ignore terrain, weather, shielding, and weapon design. Casualty counts use WorldPop 2020 residents on an approximately 1 km grid and ignore time of day, commuting, shelter, and evacuation. This is not a targeting or civil-defense tool. About the model.
| Effect | Ground range | What the model means |
|---|---|---|
| Fireball | 3.7 km (2.3 mi) | Maximum luminous radius |
| 20 psi | 6.2 km (3.8 mi) | Heavy destruction |
| 5 psi | 13.8 km (8.6 mi) | Most buildings collapse |
| Thermal | 35.4 km (22.0 mi) | 3rd-degree burns |
| 1 psi | 32.6 km (20.2 mi) | Windows shatter |
Casualty estimate at this pin
| Estimated deaths | 6 |
|---|---|
| Estimated injuries | 10 |
| Residents inside 1 psi | 23 |
What the rings cover
Megaton inner rings cover the atoll and a wide stretch of lagoon and ocean in the model. 1 psi is a regional ocean disk. WorldPop counts on the pin are near zero; the real harm of Bravo was not a 2020 grid total.
Bravo’s fallout injured islanders and the crew of Lucky Dragon No. 5. This tool’s fallout overlay is a uniform-wind, 48-hour unsheltered sketch. It is not a reconstruction of that plume.
The named yield is why Bikini belongs in the index. A 15 Mt disk on an atoll is how you feel the jump from Little Boy’s 15 kt (a thousand times smaller).
Enewetak (Ivy Mike) and the Castle Bravo weapon page complete the US Pacific megaton set.
Related pages
Castle Bravo · Enewetak Atoll · Ivy Mike · Tsar Bomba
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