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Semipalatinsk nuclear blast radius

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Semipalatinsk (the Polygon) was the Soviet Union’s primary nuclear test ground. This page is a 21 kt analog, not a catalogue of 456 tests. The steppe is the story: large yields, few residents on the grid.

Open Semipalatinsk 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.

Aim point: Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan · Weapon: Fat Man (21 kt, 607 m (1,991 ft) optimum airburst)

Ground ranges for Fat Man (21 kt, 607 m (1,991 ft) optimum airburst) in this simulator.
Effect Ground range What the model means
Fireball 304 m (998 ft) Maximum luminous radius
20 psi 938 m (3,078 ft) Heavy destruction
5 psi 2.0 km (1.3 mi) Most buildings collapse
Thermal 2.3 km (1.4 mi) 3rd-degree burns
1 psi 4.7 km (2.9 mi) Windows shatter
Rings scaled to 1 psi. Yellow fireball, red 20 psi, orange 5 psi, gold thermal, blue 1 psi. Not a map of buildings.

Casualty estimate at this pin

People on the WorldPop 2020 grid inside this scenario’s 1 psi ring. Rounded educational estimate, not a forecast.
Estimated deaths 2
Estimated injuries 4
Residents inside 1 psi 15

What the rings cover

Rings sit on test-range steppe. 1 psi does not reach a major metro in this model. The WorldPop estimate is a reminder that yield and harm to people are different questions.

The first Soviet test, RDS-1 in 1949, was in the 20 kt class. Fat Man is the named yield this globe already carries in that class. Later tests here were far larger; open Ivy Mike or Castle Bravo if you want megaton rings on the same pin.

Nearby cities were not ‘inside the fireball,’ but fallout and later health controversies are part of the real history. This simplified local-fallout overlay is not that epidemiology.

Use this page next to Nevada, Lop Nur, and Moruroa: national test grounds where the educational casualty line is low because the pin was chosen to be empty.

Related pages

Nevada Test Site · Lop Nur · Novaya Zemlya · Trinity Site

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