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The damage from a dirty bomb are mostly psychological, unless you happen to be standing next to it when it goes off.

True, but there are a couple things to know to minimize radiation inhalation exposure downwind.

There's not much the authorities can do if a nuke goes off in a US city.

True, but more families could start to become better prepared the sooner they grasp the reality that they've always been on their own. Also, from the guide What to Do If A Nuclear Disaster Is Imminent! we state; Government information and guidance is a vital resource in your response to a nuclear crisis, but for many reasons it may be late, incomplete, misleading or simply in error. While evacuation might be prudent for individuals who act quickly in response to a threat, governments will be slow to call for mass evacuations because of their potential for panic and gridlock. As the recent government calls for duct tape and plastic sheeting led to sold-out stores, anxiety, and derision from the press, there will be great reluctance to issue similar alarms. If you want to assure that you have adequate food and supplies for your family you must act BEFORE the panic without first waiting for government instructions that may never come or as urgently as warranted. You alone are ultimately responsible for your family.

People within the blast zone will die quickly, people within a certain radius will die slowly and people within a certain radius will have their cancer rates go up.

True, for the ground zero blast zone victims, but there is really 'Good News' awaiting that larger vast majority that will be downwind that will only have to deal with radioactive fallout. See the guide linked above for effective and practical tactics to dispel those widely held and self-defeating nuclear un-survivability myths. They are what will have many families tragically failing to even try for lack of well proven basic knowledge.

-Shane

I live no more than 3 miles from the White House and the Capitol. If someone nukes DC, I figure I have about a 0% chance of surviving, so I'm kind of fatalistic about the whole thing.

I don't have any first hand knowledge with other Departments but Austin FD has both detectors for high and low levels of radiation. There are also training and procedures in place for the use of this equipment and mass decon.

The high level detectors are from the feds (old CD type in good working order) and I don’t think we are the exception.

Ping for later.