Radiation - How to guard against it.

Doomsday Prepper Forums

Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Gazrok

A True Doomsday Prepper
Joined
Aug 15, 2013
Messages
7,491
Reaction score
9,179
Location
Florida
While the threat of nuclear war is something many of us faced while kids during the Cold War, that threat has largely diminished. However, it is still possible. Worse though, is that if the grid went down, the nuclear plants in the US would eventually have a meltdown, meaning Chernobyl type events all over half the nation.

Here's what is needed of a shelter:

A basic fallout shelter consists of shields that reduce gamma ray exposure by a factor of 1000. The required shielding can be accomplished with 10 times the thickness of any quantity of material capable of cutting gamma ray exposure in half. Shields that reduce gamma ray intensity by 50% (1/2) include 1 cm (0.4 inch) of lead, 6 cm (2.4 inches) of concrete, 9 cm (3.6 inches) of packed earth or 150 m (500 ft) of air. When multiple thicknesses are built, the shielding multiplies. Thus, a practical fallout shield is ten halving-thicknesses of packed earth, reducing gamma rays by approximately 1024 times (210).[12]
Usually, an expedient purpose-built fallout shelter is a trench; with a strong roof buried by c. 1 m (3 ft) of earth. The two ends of the trench have ramps or entrances at right angles to the trench, so that gamma rays cannot enter (they can travel only in straight lines). To make the overburden waterproof (in case of rain), a plastic sheet may be buried a few inches below the surface and held down with rocks or bricks.[13]
Blast doors are designed to absorb the shock wave of a nuclear blast, bending and then returning to their original shape

Then, there is the question of how long.

Inhabitants should plan to remain sheltered for at least two weeks (with an hour out at the end of the first week – see Swiss Civil Defense guidelines (which was once part of Swiss Zivilschutz)), then work outside for gradually increasing amounts of time, to four hours a day at three weeks. The normal work is to sweep or wash fallout into shallow trenches to decontaminate the area. They should sleep in a shelter for several months. Evacuation at three weeks is recommended by official authorities.[citation needed]
If available, inhabitants may take potassium iodide at the rate of 130 mg/day per adult (65 mg/day per child) as an additional measure to protect the thyroid gland from the uptake of dangerous radioactive iodine, a component of most fallout and reactor waste.[21]

It's a good idea to get a Geiger Counter (can be had for around $100) to check also, in such an event.
 
Note, if you don't think you'll receive an actual blast, you can focus on the door just being made to shield radiation, vs. a blast door.
 
Another thing to add. If a shelter is for 6 people, you don't need 6 beds. 2 will do. 24hrs in a day. At any given time, 2 could sleep for 8 hours, then 2 more the next 8, 2 more the final 8, etc. This can keep your construction cost down.
Remember to think about temperature, air filtering, waste disposal, water, and food, etc. (and ability to read levels outside). Personally, we won't be doing ANYTHING fancy or cooking for the time we'd be in there. Ration bars and water, and snacks. Be sure to have something to DO in there (like games, etc.). Our plan is board games, laptops with movies, etc.

2 weeks would really suck this way, so hoping it wouldn't be that long.
 
Thanks for the post Gazrok, I'm not personally looking into a fallout situation but I want my bunker to be set incase something like that happens. What is the point of prepping if you can't be protected from something?
 
Depends where you are. How close are you to a nuclear power plant? If they lose power for an extended time, they WILL have a meltdown. No ifs about it.
I'm not in a circle, but I am going to get some if the wind is going my way.

nukes.png
 
ok rudyc ..if your asking about the ones that start off black and ends up being yellow.thats the wind direcction.and the direction of the fall out part thats in the air,and being blown away from the plant.if you need to the exact location of the nearest one to you...and then here's a link that shows which one that'd be clostest to you.pluse there's diff maps..so it's just a matter of chooseing the one that gives you the info that you need..
https://www.google.com/searchq=nuclear+power+plants+in+the+usa&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=BAM_Uo60I6rwiwKL_IE4&ved=0CFgQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=663&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=sc84w5ofxl7UTM%3A%3BFgUdIMtnLevsqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nukepills.com%252Fimages%252FUS-Reactor-Map-anim.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nukepills.com%252Fnuclear-reactor-maps.htm%3B546%3B364
 
Depends where you are. How close are you to a nuclear power plant? If they lose power for an extended time, they WILL have a meltdown. No ifs about it.
I'm not in a circle, but I am going to get some if the wind is going my way.

View attachment 1459
Actually they can scram the reactors. That is when they quickly drop the uranium rods in the water to stop them.
Of course when you scram the reactors it usually cause a lot of damage, but considering the alternative....

Also many plants have up to triple redundancy to ensure all can be handled with out a release.

If your are curious here is Title 10 of the US CFR from the NRC's website.
Title 10 Of The US CFR
 
The lines were the wind patterns for that day. They would change daily.

That is refreshing info Clyde, but the worry is that there isn't anyone going into work to do that scram work during the SHTF, or activate the redundancy features, etc. Only so much of it is automated. And, how much of it depends on a functioning infrastructure to happen? There's the rub.
 
I have toyed with the idea of setting up a radiation shelter, but I'm divided within myself.

On one hand, it can be argued that any protection at all is better than nothing, and will certianly extend life.

On the other hand, I question whether all the infrastructure neccesary to make a really effective radiation shelter (including air filters, radiation suits, dosemeter badges, gieger counters, decon facilities, and so on) is cost effective for anyone less than a millionaire.

Even if this infrastructure is in place, what of the aftermath?

I don't believe in heroic measures for people with terminal illnesses (like an aggressive cancer) when it comes to CPR, organ transplants, and so on.

I could see it being worthwhile to try and survive the meltdown of a reactor or a local dirty bomb.

But a full-scale nuclear exchange?

I question whether it's worthwhile to even try to survive a nuclear war . . . as I would probably do a good job surviving, but I would have to ask myself why I should even bother, as I fail to see how continued life under these circumstances could have any real meaning.

Surviving a nuclear exchange seems about as pointless as reviving a terminal cancer patient by performing CPR.

I could be wrong and/or excessively pessimistic.

Maybe I would feel differently if I was younger, but I'm 53 years old.
 
1) Cost effective. You are a writers. Write a story or a series of articles on the radiation shelter and get Uncle Sam to pay for it, as a research write off. 2) The good people (yes I think you at one but tell anybody I said it) that survive are needed to rebuild a better society. The planet will need more than just the self centered millionaires. So good old down to earth people will be needed to help set things back on the right track. Your concepts are usually wrong but your heart is in the right place. After surviving the SHTF event, your concepts will change, so good heart and good concepts, win-win.
 
1) Cost effective. You are a writers. Write a story or a series of articles on the radiation shelter and get Uncle Sam to pay for it, as a research write off. 2) The good people (yes I think you at one but tell anybody I said it) that survive are needed to rebuild a better society. The planet will need more than just the self centered millionaires. So good old down to earth people will be needed to help set things back on the right track. Your concepts are usually wrong but your heart is in the right place. After surviving the SHTF event, your concepts will change, so good heart and good concepts, win-win.
Thank you.

But my concepts are usually wrong?
 
"that survive are needed to rebuild a better society". My opinion, that would be the main reason for the strong to survive. In most cases, this would be the people who prepared, meaning more intelligent than most (expect for the brain dead politician who will survive like a cock-roach at taxpayers expense). In my case, I am well into my 60s and had a vasectomy many years ago, so I would not be good for rebuilding the society.

For most situation, I will fight to survive, just because I am stubborn. But for something like this, I realize that I would just be a waste of resources and would just accept my fate.
 
"that survive are needed to rebuild a better society". My opinion, that would be the main reason for the strong to survive. In most cases, this would be the people who prepared, meaning more intelligent than most (expect for the brain dead politician who will survive like a cock-roach at taxpayers expense). In my case, I am well into my 60s and had a vasectomy many years ago, so I would not be good for rebuilding the society.

For most situation, I will fight to survive, just because I am stubborn. But for something like this, I realize that I would just be a waste of resources and would just accept my fate.
I am tempted to agree.

In the South Pacific, horrific nuclear weapons were tested in the 50s and 60s on remote atolls, and these areas are still dangerously radioactive today. People in this part of the world still develop exotic cancers, birth defects, and other disabilities and illnesses from these tests.

I also question whether the government and physicists really know what they're doing.

In one nuclear test, the thermonuclear explosion was actually four times more powerful than the scientists calculated that it should be, as the theory was inadequate and certian numbers were overlooked and dismissed.

Just in case you think I'm bullshitting, look up the Castle Bravo test that was conducted in the Marshall Islands.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top