What to do if a nuke goes off nearby.

what would be my best protection against fallout from a nuclear detonation in my area? basement? shelter? run the hell away?

If your anywhere within a few miles you will die you can't outrun anuke.

Gamma rays, heat and blast pressure are what you have to worry about. And a deep, sealed underground bunker pretty much beats 'em all.

Start digging mate.

I understand that there is no way to survive the blast from a nuke if you are close to ground zero. I'm talking about fallout, radiation, things of that nature.

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks


Start digging mate.

I Will get an e-tool (entrenching tool, not a web email browser)

and dig,
and dig,
and dig some more

I think the most obvious thing to do if it dropped near-by, is to say toodle-pips to your kids then die!

Y'all have a nice day now, ya hear!

well, if its near by, there wouldnt even be any time to do that. Only just enough time to blink in horror at the mushroom cloud on the horizon before the shockwave gets you.

Originally posted by YodaMoFo
well, if its near by, there wouldnt even be any time to do that. Only just enough time to blink in horror at the mushroom cloud on the horizon before the shockwave gets you.

3 minute warning, or there-abouts!

just enough time to say goodbye, and pray...

Duck and Cover right?

Actually, it depends on a couple of things.

First, the size of the bomb. A 10-15 kiloton yield is partly survivable past about 1.5 miles or so, IF you can hit the deck and perferably get behind something solid, like a concrete wall. This goes for any size weapon of course, but you have to be further away to survive the blast and thermal pulse as the weapon gets bigger.

Then get out of the fallout area. If you go upwind of the blast you should be ok (decon yourself my stripping of your clothes, and washing so you don't bring any residue in with you.

If you can't get out of the fallout path, then get underground or in an acceptable fallout shelter. Even an improvised one is better then nothing. A minimum of 72 hours is required before the fallout goes to "acceptable" levels, all though 2+weeks is considered ideal and even in many contaminated areas radiation would be down to "background" levels in 2-4 weeks. The further downwind from the fallout the less time you need to stay underground or in a fallout shelter. If you were say 250 miles downwind, you would get less fallout and you would get it about 24-48 hours later so it wouldn't be near as potent as say 5 miles down range.

There is alot of misconception about radiation. I am not saying it isn't dangerous, but it is misunderstood. People have lived in Hiroshima and Nagasaki since relatively quickly after the blasts there. And while there ARE higher rates of cancers there, it isn't as many as some studies had predicted at the time.

Surviving a nuclear event is not impossible. It's something we should be thinking about in the age of nuclear terror. In an all out exchange no one would want to live, but if a single city is hit, it can be survived. But you have to know what to do.

Well this really depends on what city you are in or how close from one you are. IF the missiles are originating from russia it would take 30-45 minutes for the missile to reach you.

Unfortuneately you may not even get a warning, much less knowing what country has launched nuclear missiles.

your best bet if you are close to a city is to get the HELL OUT as fast as you can in the time you had, the next would be to find shelter, preferably a basement. If by some miracle they had a bomb shelter get in there and stay for a fews days.

If you are a considerable distance from a major city that would be a target your best bet is to take shelter in a basement or any area that would provide some shelter from falling debris.

Gamma radiation will take its toll....you can wear white to block some the UV rays, but the best thing you can do to protect yourself from gamma rays is to get someplace with VERY thick material, preferably concrete. While it wont block all of the radiation it may protect you from large amounts.

A cave would be fantastic if you can find one deep enough and not have it cave in on you.

If you know it's going to be an outdoor event....

...the best thing would be to dig a skirmish trench. Setup a ham radio and start broacasting. Oh don't leave out the neighbors brew some coffee, make some cool-aid for the kids. Hell have a cookout!

If your in a fallout area stay put. An underground cellar is best. A good tip is to seal up the windows with charcoal if you have it. A mini shelter within the cellar or if you dont have a cellar in the middle of the house is good. You can make a mini shelter out of anything, matress, quilts, doors the thicker the better.

A good thing to do is to fill any container you can find with water, the bath sinks what eva as water will become contaminated and probably shut off, and try and find a battery radio for information. It is best to not even come out of the mini shelter for the first 3 days and even then only venture out if its absolutely necessary. If you have enough provisions stay in there for upto 2-4 weeks depending on what information you get from the outside world.

I was taught growing up in the 60's the protocol for a nucleur strike was to bend over place head firmly against legs,then kiss your ass goosbye

This seems to be a trend on ATS. There is a new 'nuke' thread every other day here and they all go the same way. Someone asks 'what to do' and then a dozen-or-so people respond with some version of 'you're toast'.

The fact is most people will survive. Here are some links that will provide a guide to preapring for and what to do in the even of a nuclear 'event':

What to Do

Surviving Doomsday



Nuclear Raelated Links

And here is an interactive map to see how far from 'ground zero' the damage will be depending upon the size of the device.

Map

When you play with the map keep something in mind, it is projected that 75% of the population would be unhurt between the 1 and 2 psi rings. That's extrememly close to GZ. Immediate risk goes way down beyond that. The key to survival is fallout protection (which is covered in the first link). It will be necessary to shelter in place for several days --- more for people closer to GZ.

Don't let people toss flip answers at you saying it's hopeless. It is far from hopeless. It will suck, be sure of that, but survivable. IF you know what to do.

Originally posted by XphilesPhan
Well this really depends on what city you are in or how close from one you are. IF the missiles are originating from russia it would take 30-45 minutes for the missile to reach you.

If it's an all out missle strike, then if you survive the blast, you will likely eventually wish you didn't. In addition your looking at warheads in the 200-500 kiloton range or larger, which greatly complicates issues.

Gamma radiation will take its toll....you can wear white to block some the UV rays, but the best thing you can do to protect yourself from gamma rays is to get someplace with VERY thick material, preferably concrete. While it wont block all of the radiation it may protect you from large amounts.

I am not sure where you get wearing white will block the UV rays. I suppose in theory this is true, but it's the gamma thats the problem.

3 types of nuclear radiation:

alpha particles- stopped by a sheet of paper.

Beta particle- stopped by your average house wall.

Gamma particle- stopped by about 5 feet of dirt, 3 feet of concrete, or about 3-5 inches or so of lead.

UV is part of the normal spectrum of light and is not considered "nuclear" radiation in the traditional sense. You maybe thinking about objects that are white will not combust as quickly then darker objects during the thermal pulse...but if you are close enough to the thermal pulse for objects to spontaneously combust, what color shirt your wearing isn't going to matter much.

[edit on 24-9-2006 by Sr Wing Commander]