I think it is still on the back burner and on low, but it is on the stove.
See this FEMA preparedness guidance aimed at the average citizen, Nuclear Blast.
What I'm going to say next may seem strange to some folks, but it comes from my military experience in planning for the use of tactical nuclear weapons and also from my Cold-War-era experience in preparing the nation to survive a nuclear holocaust. A nuke is just a bigger bomb with bigger and specialized impacts.
Nuclear weapons come in all different sizes and variations. There are backpack-sized nukes designed to destroy large pieces of infrastructure like the Golden State Bridge. These were the ones that we were very concerned about right after the fall of the Soviet Union because of their size and transportability. Then there are tactical nuclear weapons that can be delivered via conventional artillery or rockets/missiles. Ratcheting up the ante are cruise missiles, bombs delivered by aircraft and ICBM missiles. As you go up the spectrum of weapons the size and lethality goes up significantly.
However, as you move out from ground zero, the number of survivors multiplies. Yes, at the point of impact, much of what exists is vaporized. Then there is the blast that destroys more, and the resulting fires from the heat. Further out from the blast the impacts are not as severe and the major threat is the immediate gamma radiation and the radioactive fallout from debris being thrown up into the air and blown by conventional wind patterns.
Thus, taking the Fourth Stage of Denial is not a good assumption, "If it does happen and it does happen to me, we'll all be dead anyway." Perhaps the most important planning for governments for the worst case scenario is continuity of government and continuity of operations (COG and COOP) planning.
If people are calling about what they should be doing to be prepared I'd still be pushing natural hazard preparedness and how it will help them survive and do so by staying indoors and as sheltered as possible from radiation. I did not see the recommendations to shut all windows and turn off your heating and cooling system to avoid drawing in external air that could have radiation as part of it.
Yes, a nuclear attack is survivable — depending on where you are at the time.
