Where is safer from a nuclear attack in the UK? What official sources say, and what they don't

Why there is no public list

The UK government publishes its risk planning in the National Risk Register (NRR). The 2025 edition is public and covers everything from floods to cyber attacks. But it says plainly that it is the public version of a classified assessment, and that the most sensitive risks are grouped together to protect national security information.

On nuclear attack specifically, the NRR's section on a conventional attack on the UK has a footnote: a separate scenario involving a nuclear attack on the UK mainland or UK overseas interests exists and is held at a higher classification. So the government's own planning for a nuclear attack, including any view on where, is not public.

That's why we don't publish a map or a list of "targets" or "safe areas". Any such map would be a guess, and a confident-looking guess could lead people to make poor decisions, such as driving away when official advice is to shelter.

What official sources do publish

1. A conventional (non-nuclear) missile scenario. The NRR's reasonable worst case for a conventional attack on the UK involves missiles and cyber operations aimed at infrastructure. It says no population centres are deliberately targeted in that scenario, but civilian deaths are still likely, and essential services would be hit. In practice, that points to disruption: power, water, phones and payments. That is what a 3-day home kit is for.

2. How bad a nuclear event would be. The NRR says the impacts of a nuclear event would be catastrophic for the UK, with possible long-term exclusion of contaminated areas. In its scenario about a nuclear conflict that doesn't involve the UK, it says the effects in the affected area would depend on the size of the weapon, the location and the local population.

3. Zones around nuclear sites, for accidents. The Office for Nuclear Regulation says each council with a nuclear site nearby must have an off-site emergency plan for a Detailed Emergency Planning Zone around it, under the REPPIR 2019 regulations. UKHSA says the areas most affected by a radiation accident are generally within a few miles of where it happens. These are accident plans. They don't tell you anything about attacks.

Where the "UK target maps" come from

Almost every "UK nuclear target map" shared online traces back to one source: a list of 106 "probable nuclear targets" in government papers from the early 1970s, when Edward Heath was Prime Minister. The National Archives released the papers in 2014, and a newspaper turned them into a map in 2018. When the map went viral again in March 2022, Full Fact rated it "missing context", and a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said the records "have little or no relevance to the present day".

So a town being on that map, or missing from it, tells you nothing reliable about today. We don't reproduce it.

What Cold War planners said about moving away

The UK's 1980 Protect and Survive campaign told people to stay at home rather than leave for somewhere they thought was safer, and to make a fallout room in the middle of the house.

There is an honest complication. According to accounts of a 1981 paper by Sid Butler, deputy director of the Home Office Scientific Advisory Branch, the government's own scientists modelled three attack scenarios and found more immediate survivors when people dispersed than when they stayed put. For an attack mainly on civilian targets, the paper estimated that strictly staying at home could mean around 12 million extra deaths. We haven't been able to read the paper itself: it is known through Duncan Campbell's reporting in the New Statesman (1982) and his book War Plan UK, as summarised on Wikipedia.

Two cautions before reading anything into that. It was a 1981 model built on Cold War arsenals, which were far larger than today's. And it was about people dispersing before an attack, not setting off in a car once a warning has been given. Today's official advice, from UKHSA and from the US, Swedish and Finnish guidance we've read, is the same: when a warning comes, get into the nearest solid building and stay there.

What makes a difference wherever you are

Official guidance is consistent on the things you can control:

• The building. UKHSA says brick, stone or concrete buildings protect best. Ready.gov says the safest buildings have brick or concrete walls.
• Where you are inside it. The middle of the building, away from outside walls, doors and windows (UKHSA), or a basement (Ready.gov). Sweden's brochure ranks a room without windows above being outside, and a cellar or underground station above that.
• How fast you get in. Ready.gov says that after a nuclear explosion there should be 10 minutes or more before fallout arrives.
• How long you stay in. UKHSA says one to two days, possibly longer. Ready.gov says at least 24 hours after a nuclear explosion.
• Following instructions. UKHSA says not to evacuate unless told to, because leaving can increase exposure.

Our step-by-step post, what to do if there's a nuclear attack warning, includes a diagram of the best place to shelter in a house.

Myths you'll see online

• "Remote places are safe." No official UK body publishes safe areas, and the government's nuclear attack scenario isn't public.
• "The safest towns list." These lists and maps come from the 1970s target papers, which the MoD says have little or no relevance now.
• "I'll drive somewhere safer when I hear the warning." UKHSA says don't travel and don't fetch family: go into the nearest building. UKHSA also says vehicles and tents don't give enough protection from significant radiation.
• "There's no point preparing." Much of what official plans expect is disruption: the NRR's conventional attack scenario hits infrastructure and essential services. A few days of water, food, light, a radio and medicines helps with that, and with storms and power cuts too.

What we don't know, said plainly

• We don't know whether, where or how an attack might happen. Neither does anyone publishing a "target map".
• We don't know how well a particular house would protect you. None of the official sources we read gives protection figures for UK homes.
• We do know the official first step, and that it is the same in the UK, US, Swedish and Finnish guidance: get inside and stay inside.

Practical steps for any UK home

1. Choose your shelter room now: the most central room, or the basement if you have one. Do the same for work and school.
2. Keep 3 days of supplies, as Be Ready suggests: 3 litres of water per person per day, food that needs no cooking, medicines, a torch and a battery or wind-up radio.
3. Make sure your phone can get Emergency Alerts: GOV.UK says they work on 4G and 5G and need no sign-up.
4. Agree a family rule: in a warning, everyone shelters where they are, and you meet up when officials say it's safe.
5. If you live near a nuclear site, read your council's off-site emergency plan.

Related guides

• Radiation emergency in the UK: what official advice says (go in, stay in, tune in)
• Worried about war? How UK households can prepare — calmly
• UK Emergency Alerts: a calm guide

We're an independent UK site, not the government. We check guides against official sources and link to them. In an emergency call 999.

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