The emergency supplies you should have

• A small nuclear bomb set off by a terrorist is one of 15 disaster scenarios the US government plans for.
• Radioactive fallout is the biggest danger for those who survive the initial blast.
• Sheltering indoors is important to lower radiation exposure, but you'll want a few items to help you make it through the first 24-48 hours.
• You should have a radio, water, essential medications, and food handy.
• FEMA has more complete supply lists for emergency preparedness kits, which it recommends every American family assemble.

North Korea on July 4 reportedly launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile — a rocket capable of traveling more than 3,400 miles with a weapon on top. The feat suggests that the isolated country, which is one of nine nations that together wield more than 14,900 nukes, can strike Alaska.

However, the rest of the country faces a much different and shadowy nuclear threat: A terrorist-caused nuclear detonation, which is one of 15 disasters scenarios that the federal government has planned for — just in case.

"National Planning Scenario No. 1 is a 10-kiloton nuclear detonation in a modern US city," Brooke Buddemeier, a health physicist and expert on radiation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told Business Insider. "A 10-kiloton nuclear detonation is equivalent to 5,000 Oklahoma City bombings. Though we call it 'low yield,' it's a pretty darn big explosion."

Buddemeier couldn't say how likely such an attack might be today. But the concern isn't unfounded, since weapons-grade nuclear materials have proliferated in recent years, along with smaller, kiloton-class bombs. And while governments do their best to safeguard nuclear weapons materials, there's no guarantee a terrorist couldn't succeed in obtaining them.

Read more at Business Insider