Blast Zone

A nuke blast zone is the resulting irradiated area in Fallout 76 created when a nuclear missile makes an impact, identified as a red circle on the map.

Background
After completing Mission: Countdown in any of the three nuclear silos, sites Alpha, Bravo, or Charlie, Vault Dwellers can insert a nuclear keycard and enter the launch codes which grants access to the targeting computer. They can then target a location on a military-style version of the map to fire the missile and trigger Death from Above.

Before the nuclear missile is launched, a broadcast warning alerts the entire server that a nuclear strike is imminent and an air raid siren sounds. It will take three minutes for the bomb to drop and the created blast zone will last for two hours. Upon nuke impact, players and most workshop objects inside the blast radius will be destroyed instantly. Anyone inside of an interior cell within the blast radius will be safe from the effects.

Players outside the edge of the blast zone will not be killed. Once a player has entered the zone, they will take severe radiation damage unless wearing power armor, a hazmat suit or Chinese stealth armor. NPCs inside of a blast zone will don hazmat suits as well.

While where a nuke is launched is dependent on the choice of the player, certain portions of Appalachia are in a "protected zone" and cannot be targeted. The protected zone includes many areas of Appalachia where low-level players are likely to have early quests. If any part of the blast radius would be within the protected zone, the nuke cannot be launched.

Public events
If a nuke is launched at specific locations on the map, a public event with a high-level boss enemy will begin. The listed location only needs to be contained somewhere within in the entire blast zone radius and does not have to be explicitly targeted as the center of the blast zone. The event can then be accessed by fast traveling to the closest location outside of the impact zone.

Random encounters
Certain random encounters may only appear if the area is within a blast zone.

Glowing loot
Some enemies killed within a blast zone will drop special loot, in the form of mutated organic materials. These may be used for crafting, consumption or may be broken down for raw components. The following items may be added to their drop tables:

The rules for dropping glowing loot are not universally applied, so not all creatures, even glowing variants, are able to drop glowing loot. For example, most creatures that spawn during Scorched Earth will be Scorched instead of glowing, and will be bugged to be missing the requirements, even if they are killed within the blast zone. Only the following enemies are able to drop glowing loot:

Nuked ore
When affected by a blast zone, the following ore veins have a 15% chance to be converted to an ultracite vein:

Ultracite veins around fissure sites work differently. When affected by a blast zone, decaying ultracite veins will be completely removed and hidden from the game. On the other hand, standard ultracite veins, which are likewise hidden when not affected by a blast zone, will become harvestable inside of a blast zone.

Interacting with either an ultracite vein or a decaying ultracite vein will spawn a wave of Scorched defenders, regardless of a whether a blast zone is present.

Nuclear Winter
In Nuclear Winter, players must obtain four launch codes and a nuke briefcase before gaining the ability to drop a nuke. By activating the briefcase, a targeting computer allows the player to drop a nuke anywhere they choose.

Similar to Adventure mode, the blast radius will instantly kill any players inside at the time of impact and will leave a red radioactive circle for a duration. Unlike Adventure mode, the countdown timer is reduced to 20 seconds and the blast zone is comparatively smaller.

Bugs

 * Most NPCs do not drop "glowing loot" upon death in a nuke zone. Creatures spawned during Scorched Earth will not drop "glowing loot."
 * Strangler pods within a blast zone are supposed to have a chance to convert to either glow pods or Strangler bloom when affected by a blast zone. Due to the glow pod being listed first and having a 100% chance to spawn, the 25% chance to cosmetically convert to strangler bloom is never possible.
 * Pumpkins do not convert to nuked flora.

Gallery

 * Environment