About Nuke Simulator

Nuke Simulator is an independent educational project that shows the estimated effects of a single nuclear explosion on an interactive map.

Why it exists

Nuclear weapons are often discussed in numbers that are hard to picture: kilotons, megatons, pounds per square inch. Drawing those numbers over a real city helps people understand the scale of these weapons and why their effects are taken so seriously. The goal is public understanding, in the tradition of science museums and reference books.

How we approach it

• Public sources only. The effects model is built from Glasstone and Dolan's The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (1977) and the open-source glasstone library. Every source is listed on the How It Works page.
• Honest about limits. The results are rough estimates for idealized conditions. Where the model goes beyond its sources, it says so.
• Distances, not casualties. The simulator does not estimate deaths or injuries.
• No targeting features. There is no burst-height choice, no optimization, and nothing designed to increase damage. The airburst uses one fixed historical example.
• Leave it out if we cannot cite it. Fallout is not modelled because we could not fully cite the simplified model other tools use.

Independence

Nuke Simulator is not affiliated with NUKEMAP, its author, or any government agency. It is not a civil-defense or safety-planning tool. For real-world emergency information, please use official sources such as your national or local emergency management agency.

Free to use

The simulator is free, needs no account, and runs in your web browser. Corrections and suggestions are welcome through the contact page, especially when they point to a specific page, table, or figure in a published source.

Start exploring with the nuke simulator.