All of Andrew McNabb's Comments + Replies

Among the intellectual class, I think it is contrarian, at least in the US. The idea is a common thread in American social thought going back to at least the early 1900's. Particularly since the end of the Cold War, the the widening fissures in our society, It's been very common for elites to bemoan the lack of social cohesion and suggest that mandatory national service is the answer. Not just a military draft, or registering for the selective service, but actual mandatory service by all young adults for a period of one-two years.

Mandatory national service is a terrible idea.

6Said Achmiz
Is… is that a contrarian idea? I was not aware of the negation of this claim being a mainstream view. Who is advocating for mandatory national service?!
Answer by Andrew McNabb50

There are a lot more factors to consider like the design of the bomb, how it's targeted, what the target is, atmospheric conditions and weather (which have a huge effect on fallout). A lot of that is not going to be in the public literature.

You can get a decent guesstimate by using a preset bomb in Nukemap (check out especially the advanced options):

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

You can also check out the definitive book on weapons effects, "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons" by Glasstone though I don't believe it discusses salted weapons.

2habryka
Seems like this comment was the best one, though overall I had hoped to get some more answers. But I will stick with my promise and am happy to PayPal you $50 to whatever address works best for you (or Venmo, or whatever else works for you).
3habryka
Yeah, the ideal thing would be something like nukemap, but adjusted for the salted aspect. This question is at least partially the result of a conversation in which someone claimed that it would be possible to create a single bomb that makes an area as large as california, or maybe even half of the U.S., unlivable, which would be much larger than even the Tsar bomb on nukemap.