Cities in and Close to South Dakota That Could Be Nuclear Targets

There are about 12,500 nuclear warheads in the world today. Most of them belong to the United States and Russia. Since their invention, the two nations have picked targets in each other's countries.

Part of the joy of living in the middle of the content in places like North and South Dakota, Nebraska, or Wyoming is the wide-open spaces. Lots of nothing. All that wide open space is also a perfect place to keep a bunch of nuclear missiles.

America's nuclear deterrent lives in many places; the air, under the oceans in submarines, and in thousands of nuclear-tipped missiles buried under the plaines of the midwest. Plus there are some pretty important Air Force bases in the area.

The collection of bases and all those missile silos, unfortunately, makes this part of the world a big, fat, target.

Nothing to worry about, but experts say these U.S. cities would be most likely to be attacked if America was the victim of a nuclear attack.

World events in 2022 have reignited thoughts of nuclear weapons in the public’s mind. It got me thinking, what would happen if it happened here in Sioux Falls?

Luckily, Cold War scientists and the military developed the internet to communicate after a nuclear war. Thanks to their hard work I can hear the theme song to What’s Happening anytime I want! Oh, and we can see a simulation of what would happen if ground zero was at 10th and Minnesota. 

Using Nukeman by Alex Wellerstein we can simulate the damage for a chosen area. 

Let’s use one of the ICBMs in Russia’s current arsenal, the RT-2PM Topol, for this demonstration. If that missile brought an 800-kiloton nuclear bomb (the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kilotons) to Sioux Falls, this is what could happen.