Nuclear keycard

The nuclear keycard is a miscellaneous item in Fallout 76.

Background
A crucial part of the automated nuclear missile silo network in Appalachia, nuclear keycards are required to unlock access to the launch console so that the launch code could be input. The receptacle in the missile control rooms would destroy the keycard regardless of whether the correct code was entered or not. This limitation was intended to limit the number of nuclear weapons any single officer had at their disposal and the supply of keycards in case of escalation would be delivered by automated couriers.

Convoys were set should the automated system monitoring Appalachia deem it necessary, based on the aggregate DEFCON rating. The Enclave under President Thomas Eckhart deliberately released various threats into Appalachia to trick the system into raising the DEFCON rating, starting with Chinese Liberators and ending with scorchbeasts.

Locations
Nuclear keycards can only be found in secure transport containers carried by cargobots. Locations for these cargobots can be found through the repeatable Hide and Seek and Destroy quest obtained at The Whitespring Bunker.

The cargobot will be protected by up to three vertibots, so they will have to be destroyed to ensure safe destruction of the cargobot to attain the nuclear keycard. The container is also booby-trapped with a self-destruct mechanism once the lock is picked, set to detonate within five minutes.

Player characters need to grab the nuclear keycard and other cargo and get clear of the container before it explodes. The container carries an audio countdown to warn how long is left before it explodes, counting down the last 10 seconds before self-destructing.