"a 20Kt surface detonation would produce a zone of total destruction about a mile across. the effects would diminish logarithmically out to about a 3-mile diameter, beyond which the *blast* effects would be minimal to nil. however, the firestorm and fallout would probably extend well beyond that.

these days, 20Kt is almost a "tactical" nuke. the strategic warheads are most commonly in the 10-30 Mt (megaton) range, with most being 20-25 Mt. "

Don't understand how this is intended to advance the discussion?

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"France had Versailles during the monarchy, Spain had Toledo, and The U.S. had DC. That became bigger exponentially after all. its safer to administrate from a small city since less people means better control of ho enters, and presents more space for future expansion or building of infrastructures, being big cities like new York, too crowded, inn stable, and impossible of further development during hard situations, Albany meanwhile is a small city whit much space, many parks, and have already a state government established. Big cities also presents big problems, Epidemics, sanitary problems, Transportation problems, problems that head of state can’t worry about, being to busy whit the rest of the country. Also, big cities are BIG targets for further attacks. Me being president, would rule from Jericho after all, is safer, and more Mann able. and by the way, fallout is carried in the clouds and falls clean whit rain, contaminating land and water sources, while rivers would transport some of that radiation, it would not remain long contaminated, also salt water serve as a good radiation wash, or something like that I read some time ago, the radiation that should be feared the most is the one remained in ground cero of the nuke, that will remain for many years"

"It's safer to administrate from a small city" - The US capital was first located in Lower Manhattan (GW's first term), then it moved to Philadelphia for Washington's second and last term. Meanwhile, an entirely new entity with land ceded from both Maryland and Virginia was established as (at first) what they called Washington City", later the District of Columbia. Nobody wanted it to be a city-state, so it was limited in how it could view itself. For decades afterwards, it was seen as a sleepy Southern town full of what JFK called "Northern charm and southern efficiency" , and the lack of air conditioning in summer meant that everyone left during that season.
Because of how the country ran before railroads, states were far more powerful than the federal government, except that little by little things like technology changed that. One example was the need for capital to build canals and infrastructure which crossed state lines. The rivers too had attempted state monopolies for steamship companies, in special relationships with states. Then a Supreme Court case in 1824 asserted that the federal government regulated inland navigation, that rivers were not the possession of a single state (often they were the boundaries). All these early "working it out" problems would have to be revisited after attacks like those in Jericho. I suspect most places would have more in common with New Orleans after Katrina - although its message, that you have to be self-reliant even if there is a FEMA - doesn't mean that unforeseen tragedies would not rack up (as in Jericho, which is almost optimal). The early hopes of the Republic still inspire us, but their implementation in times of trouble are not a foregone conclusion.

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