Fallout Shelters FAQ
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| Nuclear Blast & Fallout Shelters FAQ with free plans, books & ready made shelter sources! |
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| Last Updated: January 16th, 2005 | |
Cold War Relics or Tomorrow's Family Life-Savers?!?
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A: What constitutes a likely nuclear target here in the U.S.A. varies on what you perceive the probable threats to be in your lifetime. Terrorists eager to cause the greatest mayhem and panic to the greatest number of people? Russia and/or China directly or via surrogates launching a surprise attack on the U.S. mainland? Mid-East, Pakistan, India, Korean hostilities going nuclear with the trans-pacific fallout arriving here a few days later? Or, perhaps, simply concern for future nuclear power plant accidents or other radioactive material mishaps in production, storage or transportation?
For those who feel that with all the nuclear weapons in the world today (both held by governments and government terrorist surrogates) that that holds the greatest danger, you can check what kind of potential targets are in your particular state by clicking on your state name below. Be sure, though, to also read there Bruce Beach's 'UPDATE to Target Information!!!' that you'll see there below your state FEMA map that explains changes regarding base closings, etc. since these maps were first published in 1990. (After checking your state be sure to also try out the Blast Mapper linked immediatly down below these state listings.)
Now that you've looked up your state, you can also check the expected blast damage and fallout range from a miliatarily significant target location near you at Nuclear Blast Mapper. However, the smallest they depict there is from a 1 MT nuclear explosion and most of the typical size weapons in the nuclear arsenals today are smaller than that because of their increased accuracy and being MIRVed. In fact, any Russian attack is expected to be initiated by submarines because they can deliver their missiles to target much quicker than larger ICBM's and those submarines are armed primarily with 200 KT or smaller weapons. Also, understand that when they show areas of 3,000 REM total exposure they are talking about 7 days of accumulated and completely unprotected exposure in those highlighted areas for that full week. (That averages out to a dose of 429 R each day and assumes no protective action, either evacuation or sheltering, was ever taken during that whole week.) Also, when they state that it would take X number of years to return to normal peacetime background levels of radiation, that's true, but that doesn't mean it would be uninhabitable for all those many years. Natural peacetime background levels of radiation are very small, in fact, only about 360mR/year. Few would notice any ill effects from exposure to higher levels, in fact, airline crews receive about three times that amount every year just from natural cosmic radiation due to their high flying occupation. Other than right at ground zero, it would likely be safe enough in most all downwind fallout areas within a couple months and for most no protective sheltering would be needed beyond two weeks.
As with determining the valuation of any real estate there are three factors that are most important in making that determination: location, location, and location. So, too, with determining the risk level of your current residence and thus the level of protection required, its location is of primary concern.
Dr. Art Robinson, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine: "In case of nuclear war, those places that are downwind of major population centers and major military installations are most at risk from nuclear fallout. The safest areas are on the Pacific Coast and away from population centers because only the Pacific Ocean is upwind. However, a nuclear war might include invasion of the United States. In that case, the Rocky Mountain areas might be safest. Regarding nuclear terrorism, however, the risk is a little different. Coastal cities - especially high-profile ones like New York, Washington, and Los Angeles are most at risk."
Bottom Line: Obviously, the safest places to reside will vary on the nature of the nuclear threats you perceive to have the highest probability of occurring in your lifetime. For a future nuclear attack on mainland U.S.A., then all military targets are top on the list and most large cities would be secondary, with a few exceptions. But, for nuclear terrorist concerns, then the largest population centers would more likely be targets of first choice. In either case, the safest places would be most anywhere but large cities, especially those immediately adjacent to or downwind of military targets. Also, even for the populations of cities that survived an attack, the basic needs of water, food, medical and law & order could make for a miserable and quickly deteriorating nightmare. Obviously, not everyone can move to live & work in a rural location, but most people won't be reading this and fewer still will heed it. But, for many still, simply living 20 miles away from target locations will be all the difference in the world when combined with some of the simple preparations from the knowledge presented here. And, with some serious shelter preparations, living and surviving even much closer to potential future ground zeros is possible, too.
A: For locations in or close to probable targets, then protection from blast, fire and fallout would be required. For all other areas, more than 95% of the country, then only fallout need be of concern. Blast and fire protection require hardened, usually below ground structures, but even simple expedient backyard earthen shelters providing 15 psi integrity are survivable as close as 2 miles from a 1 MT surface blast. These home built and also prefab ready-to-bury blast shelters, that would survive the blast even closer to ground zero, are detailed later below.
For fallout protection, which will concern the greatest number of people, both those surviving within the blast zone and the much larger numbers downwind, perhaps for hundreds of miles, there is some very good news amongst all this.
Radioactive fallout is dangerous because it is giving off so much energy, but that also means it's quickly becoming less dangerous over time as it exhausts itself. In a very high fallout area close to ground zero, an hour after the explosion, that freshly arrived fallout could be, for example, 1000 R/hr and lethal to be exposed to it for as little as 30 minutes. But, in as few as 7 hours later it would only be 100 R/hr and in another 7 hours only 43 R/hr. From the Nuclear War Survival Skills book:
This degrading effect above, and also illustrated below, is called the "Seven-Ten Rule". For every seven times older the fallout becomes, it has also decayed to 1/10th of its strength. So, 90% of the gamma radiation is gone after the first 7 hours. Then, 90% of that remaining 10 percent is largely gone after two days. This is the 'good news' and why prompt sheltering is both effective and viable and should be seriously explored and embraced by all.
The myths of nuclear un-survivability, that will have many not even trying for lack of this simple and basic knowledge, holds the potential to become a national, though easily avoidable, tragedy and disgrace.
The 7-10 Rule illustration below is from the FEMA handbook Radiation Safety In Shelters:
Even starting with a high, close to ground zero, fallout exposure rate of 1000 R/hr, well within two weeks after an attack the occupants of most shelters there could be spending some time outside performing essential chores or attempting to acquire additional supplies, etc. After two weeks, most will be able to stop using the shelter altogether. For the majority of people even further downwind of ground zero the fallout has had even more time to decay before reaching those areas and also would be much more dispersed and thus the time required to be sheltered would be greatly reduced, too. (Exceptions, though, would be where rain showers had created 'hotspots' downwind or where multiple weapons had been used on important military targets.)
The example above of the close to ground zero 1000 R/hr fallout requiring as much as two weeks protective sheltering will not apply to much of the landmass here in the U.S. that will see less intense radioactive fallout. The following two charts from the 1986 FEMA publication "Radiological Instruments: An Essential Resource for National Preparedness" brings together both the distribution and decay rates of fallout over the total land mass here in the U.S. likely to be affected. They are assuming here a worst case and very large nuclear attack upon the U.S.
Note that the above charts and decay rates applies only to fission and fusion weapons and does not apply to the so-called "Dirty Bomb" or RDD (Radiological Dispersal Device). The reason it does not apply to an RDD is that they are expected to be made up of only a couple of the common and more easily obtainable commercial isotopes (such as Cobalt-60 or Cesium-137 or nuclear power plant fuel rods) that all have relatively long half-lives. Fortunately, though, they will likely not have contaminated as extensive an area as a fission or fusion nuclear bomb and effective prompt evacuation will likely be a more viable alternative to long-term sheltering. However, you might not be able to readily evacuate, especially with a mass exodus, and you may then be forced to shelter until you can more quickly evacuate later, and you do not know what exactly the nature of the future nuclear threats will be, so you need to still fully explore your sheltering options below.
Protection from external radiation, primarily gamma radiation in fallout, is provided by three factors:
Time: Effectively minimizing your exposure time and also 'waiting out' the natural decay of the fallout in a safe shelter.
Distance: Effectively maximizing your distance from the fallout, as the inverse square law applies here to distance. (When you double the distance between you and the fallout, you have decreased its intensity by a factor of four.)
Shielding: Effectively maximizing the amount of radiation absorbing material between you and the radiation source.
As an example of the above, everyone is familiar with a hot stove and getting burnt by it when careless. Too close to the flame, for too long a time, without a protective glove and you get burned. Same basic principle applies with radiation sources; too close for too long without protective shielding and you will be acquiring a higher total dose than you would have otherwise. But, promptly getting your family into a prepared shelter as well removed from where the fallout is being deposited as possible and designed with good barrier/shielding qualities that permits you all to wait out the natural decay of the fallout can be the difference between life & death.
Regardless of how intense the radioactive fallout is in your specific area, the protective effectiveness of your shelter will be largely based upon its shielding from gamma radiation, the most penetrating and destructive radiation you'll have to contend with. (And, to a lessor degree on any distance you can put between the fallout deposition and yourself.) Just as body armor protects a person from bullets, so too does mass between you and the fallout protect you from its gamma radiation. The more mass the better, whether it is lead, earth, concrete, water, etc. The amount of mass that'll absorb 1/2 of the gamma rays penetrating it is considered to have a Protective Factor (PF) of 2 as compared to an unprotected person in the open at the same location. If the mass is sufficient to stop 99% of the gamma radiation it would have a PF of 100 and if it stopped 99.9% it would be considered a PF of 1000 as it reduced the incoming radiation to only 1/1000th. The illustration below is from the FEMA handbook Radiation Safety In Shelters:
The bare minimum FEMA recommended PF to strive for is a PF40, which means that the mass was sufficient to reduce the incoming radiation to 1/40th of the dose you'd receive outside if unprotected. This would be barely sufficient protection in most all fallout areas requiring sheltering, and especially deficient for the heavier fallout nearer ground zero or in a rainout created hot spot downwind. It is considered woefully less than what's required by many experts. However, as you'll see below, it's too easy not to achieve PF's of 200, 300, or 400 or more and it would be prudent to do so. (Just 3.6 inches of packed earth reduces the gamma radiation penetration by half which means you have a PF of 2. With 18 inches you have a PF 32 and with 30 inches it's over PF 300 and with 3 feet of earth you are at about 1000 PF.)
The higher PF's are worth striving for because, for example, in a high-risk fallout area that had a two week total dose of around 10,000 R, you would need at least a PF100 shelter just to stay near a 100 R dose being received by each of the occupants over the two weeks. Adding just another 3.6" of earth covering and thus doubling that PF to 200 would cut that total dose received by your family to only 50 R each. Clearly, with the unknowns of exact targeting, number of weapons committed to each, variable winds, rainout hotspots and perhaps even missiles off target, if you are going to build a fallout shelter at all, it needs to be with as high a practical PF as achievable. Here is a comparison of different thicknesses of earth and the protection factors afforded from the Nuclear War Survival Skills book:
The denser and thicker the barrier substance, the better its shielding properties. Where every 3.6" of earth cuts the incoming gamma radiation in half, thus doubling the PF, it would only take 2.4" of concrete because it is even denser. Of course, earth is cheaper, but where concrete had been used in the construction of a shelter it'll be providing even additional barrier protection. Also, the tenth-value thickness, in inches, for steel is 3.3; for concrete, 11; for earth, 16; for water, 24; for wood, 38. That means that where you have those thicknesses you'll have only 1/10th as much gamma radiation pass through with that barrier material.
Dr. Art Robinson, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine: "Each American family should have as much emergency protection as its motivation and resources permit. A national shelter system with full chemical, biological, and nuclear protection - of 200 psi (permiting survival of ground-burst nuclear weapons within a mile) - could be built during a national program for about $500 per person. Instead, our government will doubtless just continue to raise the level of risk by spending this money instead on foreign adventures. Some families have provided this level of protection for themselves. The cost, on a one family basis is much higher. Since few families do this, I advocate the minishelter idea (the shelters you now offer). It gives good nuclear protection at a price and inconvenience many more families will pay. It does not provide chemical (not much of a risk) and biological (a high terrorist risk) protection. Families that do not install shelters should, at the very least, educate themselves about expedient measures by reading Nuclear War Survival Skills and obtaining a good radiation meter."
Bottom Line: As mentioned above, with all the unknowns and variables involved with pre-determining the possible fallout your family will need to be protected from, it is prudent to not just pray and hope for the best, but to have also prepared for the worst. Earth is a cheap, plentiful and effective fallout barrier material that can be utilized with numerous different shelter designs, as seen below.
You'll need to decide which best fits into your family level of concern, your current housing situation and location and available budget. Below, most all American families will find something that'll easily improve their odds of surviving 100 fold or more.
A: There are expedient (last minute) shelter plans, home built buried shelter plans and FEMA shelter plans, both for remote retreats, backyards or basements. There are also both cheap and expensive ready-to-bury completed shelters and even large survival underground shelters.
Review them all, learn from them all, and then choose which option would best fit your own family needs and resources.
Expedient Sheltering: Here are included all those last-minute sheltering options, both if events have overtaken you to where you are only now feeling the need for acquiring it quickly and/or if your restricted funds require exploring the low-cost sheltering options. The best resource for inexpensive last-minute fallout sheltering plans are to be found in the 280 page book Nuclear War Survival Skills. Read or print it out free on-line at that link and/or a hard copy can be purchased here.
Q: What Plans or Ready-Made Shelters are Available?
In it you'll discover not only the plans for numerous expedient shelters, but the principles behind all fallout shelters and many other essential aspects to sheltering and survival in nuclear fallout. Written by Cresson H. Kearney, the author of the original Oak Ridge National Laboratory edition. The Contents page of the new updated and expanded 2001 edition is below:
While a fallout shelter can be built anywhere, you need to see what your best options are at home or nearby locally. You want to maximize both the distance from where the fallout will likely be settling and the shielding material (mass) you already have there that could readily be incorporated to better surround and shield your fallout shelter.
Some structures already provide significant shielding or partial shielding that can be enhanced for adequate protection. If you do not have a basement available, you can still use the techniques shown below in any above ground structure, but you'll need to use more mass to achieve the same level of shielding. You may consider using other solid structures nearby, especially those with below ground spaces, such as commercial buildings, schools, churches, below ground parking garages, large and long culverts, tunnels, etc.. Some of these may require permissions and/or the acquiring of additional materials to minimize any fallout drifting or blowing into them, if open ended. Buildings with a half-dozen or more floors, where there is not a concern of blast damage, may provide good radiation protection in the center of the middle floors. This is because of both the distance and the shielding the multiple floors provide from the fallout on the ground and roof.
Bottom Line: choose a structure nearby with both the greatest mass and distance already in place between the outside, where the fallout would settle, and the shelter inside.
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If you have a basement in your home, or at a nearby relatives' or friends' house that you can use, your best option is probably to fortify and use it, unless you have ready access to a better/deeper structure nearby. For an expedient last-minute basement shelter, push a heavy table that you can get under into the corner that has the soil highest on the outside. The ground level outside ideally needs to be above the top of the inside shelter. If no heavy table is available, you can take internal doors off their hinges and lay them on supports to create your 'table'. Then pile any available mass on and around it such as books, wood, cordwood, bricks, sandbags, heavy furniture, full file cabinets, full water containers, your food stocks, and boxes and pillow cases full of anything heavy, like earth. Everything you could pile up and around it has mass that will help absorb and stop more radiation from penetrating inside - the heavier the better. However, be sure to reinforce your table and supports so you do not overload it and risk collapse. |
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Leave a small crawl-through entrance and more mass there that can be easily pulled in after you to seal it up. Have at least two gaps or 4-6" square air spaces, one high at one end and one low at the other. Use more if crowded and/or hotter climate. A small piece of cardboard can help fan fresh air in if the natural rising warmer air convection current needs an assist moving the air along. This incoming air won't need to be filtered if the basement has been reasonably sealed up, however any windows or other openings will require some solid mass coverage to assure they stay sealed and to provide additional shielding protection for the basement. With more time, materials, and carpentry or masonry skills, you could even construct a more formal fallout shelter, such as the lean-to shown to the right, but you should pile up much more mass than what little is shown here. An effective fallout shelter constructed in a basement may reduce your radiation exposure 100-200 fold. Thus, if the initial radiation intensity outside was 500 R/hr (fatal in one hour), the basement shelter occupants might only experience 5 R/hr or even less, which is survivable, as the radiation intensity will be decreasing with every passing hour. |
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Adding mass on the floor above your chosen basement corner, and outside against the walls opposite your shelter, can dramatically increase your shielding protection. Every inch thicker adds up to more effective life-saving radiation shielding. As cramped as that crawl space fallout shelter might seem, the vital shielding provided by simply moving some mass into place could be the difference between exposure to a lethal dose of radiation and the survival of your family. The majority of people requiring any sheltering at all will be many miles downwind, and they will not need to stay sheltered for weeks on end. In fact, most people will only need to stay sheltered full-time for a few days before they can start coming out briefly to attend to quick essential chores. Later, they can begin spending ever more time out of the shelter daily, only coming back in to sleep. As miserable as it might seem now, you and your family can easily endure that, especially compared to the alternative. |
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And, it's really all too easy here to build a fallout shelter, and to do so very effectively, not to get it done...
The above section is from our comprehensive, last-minute, FREE public guide...
WHAT TO DO IF A NUCLEAR DISASTER IS IMMINENT!
If/when the the country is ever in a mass panic again,
Or, If No Basement...
You could do a combination tornado/fallout shelter in the backyard, if the ground isn't now frozen where you are. With 30" of earth covering alone you would achieve a PF of 300 and occupants would receive less than 1/300th of the gamma-ray dose of fallout radiation that they would otherwise have received out in the open.
A fairly expedient (pretty cheap/fast) option for outside shelter building, especially for all those without basements, is to acquire a section of, under the road rated, corrugated culvert pipe of at least 4' diameter. It's very common, cheap, and you might even find some for next to nothing at your local metal junk yard that you could take home in the back of a long-bed pick-up (if 12' long or less) or on a boat trailer.
Have a hole dug at least as deep as half the diameter of the pipe in an area without a high water table that has good drainage. Roll it in and wall up the ends with cemented block, railroad ties, or even a couple sheets of reinforced plywood a little longer than the diameter, but leaving you an entrance/exit and air shaft at both ends at the top half that's still above ground. (If you've got the expertise/welder or money, and time, you could go ahead and have 10 gauge steel bulkheads welded on each end instead.) Whatever you use, have these end walls extend up past and above the culvert for 2' - 3' for holding back the dirt at the ends you'll later put atop the shelter.
You won't have enough excavation dirt (from the hole you created) to cover the shelter back over to a 2-3' level and still assure the grade atop is gradual enough to thwart future erosion, so you'll need to get some more from elsewhere in your yard or bring in some with pick-up truck loads, etc.
You'll also need sandbags full or solid masonry blocks to pre-position them at one end to pull/lift/push into place when you all get inside. Have one end already stacked solid with them, except for a small air gap at top and have the other end sealed up, too, except for enough room to wiggle in for the largest member of your family. The reason we have created two potential entrances, with removable blocks or bags, is so we also have two potential exits, if part of your house or a tree later fell on one end.
There's a lot of refinements that can make this more permanent, and better assure water doesn't get into the shelter before you do, etc. But, the point is, you can get creative with encasing mass all around your family for little time/money/effort.
Cramped and miserable for a couple days, yes, assuredly, but it'll be a story of survival your family will be around for to recount for years ahead together, especially when compared to the alternative fate of being above ground and exposed to the full intensity of radioactive fallout in those most dangerous first couple days!
FEMA Shelter Plans: For over 40 years the U.S. Federal Government has produced volumes of information and plans on fallout shelters and related topics. Some of the best material dates back to the sixties days of Duck & Cover drills. The single best collection anywhere of these documents and plans, and much more, can be found at Civil Defense Now!. Here are just a few of the many files you'll find there:
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Underground Shelter (646k pdf file)
Aboveground Shelter (819k pdf file) Modified Ceiling Shelter (537k pdf file) Basement Block Shelter (226k pdf file) Basement Tilt-Up Shelter (326k pdf file) Lean-to Shelter (288k pdf file) |
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Homebuilt Buried Tank Shelters:
| Two proven designs from the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine that built five full-scale civil defense shelter displays for FEMA and for the states of Pennsylvania, Utah, Arizona, and Idaho and also carried out other educational activities in cooperation with FEMA. Their plans have been utilized by many and OISM has been in the forefront of Civil Defense research and education since the mid-eighties. |  |
#1
The large tanks (8' X 28') are designed for a maximum of 30 occupants to provide blast protection up to 200 psi and buried 8' deep will ensure a Protection Factor (PF) well in excess of 10,000. Many have been constructed out of cleaned out old fuel tanks. A larger 10,000 gallon tank, for instance, could sleep 40 people at one time. Cost today with simply handing the plans to a local fabricator would run around $8,000.00, double that with the top of the line chem/bio/nuke ventilation, lighting and other support systems to fully outfit it for long term use.
Engineering blueprint plans (6 drawings 24" X 36" with specifications for a variety of sizes and types) and a video are available for $55.00 here.
#2
Another popular design by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine is their proven Mini-Blast Shelter. This design fills the void for a smaller and cheaper family blast and fallout protection shelter. It is rated at 50 psi and provides well in excess of 1000 PF when buried with three feet of earth cover. This shelter offers its occupants a good chance of survival of air burst explosions of most currently deployed nuclear weapons from a horizontal distance of one to two miles, and excellent fallout protection.
It's small and cramped with only a 4' diameter by 12' long, but for many locations it'll be endurable enough for those most dangerous high levels of fallout radiation in the first 24 hours. Built by a local fabricator you could have it made for under $1,500 and well less than half that if you could do the welding and fabrication work yourself. Free construction instructions and a further description of this shelter can be seen here.
Nuclear Survival Community Group Shelter: The best known, largest and most comprehensive group fallout shelter is the ARK II founded by Bruce Beach 90 miles NW of Toronto, Canada. Here 500 people from all over North America will make there way to this 42 buried bus self-sufficient community prepared to sustain their members for up to six months directly and support rebuilding beyond that.
See the layout drawing of the Ark II community shelter
here
Contact Bruce Beach to explore joining his community at survival@webpal.org.
Ready-To-Bury Blast & Fallout Shelters - Premier: The premier fallout shelter manufacturer in the U.S. today is Utah Shelter Systems. They are steel culvert construction, 8-10' foot diameter and 30-50' long, costing from $25,000 - $30,000 with approximately a six-month waiting period. Options include state-of-the-art chem/bio/nuke filter ventilation, water, sanitation, lighting and other support systems to fully outfit it for long term use.
Ready-To-Bury Blast & Fallout Shelters - Premier, Expensive: High quality state-of-the-art, but very expensive, shelters are available from Radius Engineering. They are paraboloid shelters constructed of structural fiberglass manufactured to underground storage tank standards. Numerous different models available and the nuclear blast/fallout capable units start at $35,000 before accessories. Options include state-of-the-art chem/bio/nuke filter ventilation, water, sanitation, lighting and other support systems to fully outfit it for long term use.
Ready-To-Bury Cargo Container Shelters - Inexpensive: We've had a lot of people ask us about utilizing cargo containers for shelters. With the proper reinforcement to handle the heavy earth covering, they are a viable alternative worth exploring. Here is one outfit that we've found specializing in both doing it all for you, or they are available for long-distance consulting for the Do-It-Yourselfers. See more details at ContainerUnderground.com.
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Ready-To-Bury Blast & Fallout Shelters - Inexpensive: This is the pre-built ready-to-bury completed Mini Blast & Fallout Shelter designed by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine listed above with the link to the free instructions for doing it yourself. Fabricated here at KI4U, Inc., utilizing galvanized corrugated steel (14 gauge rated for under road use type) of 4' diameter and 12' long with 3' high double entry/exit risers with double welded (inside & outside) 10 gauge steel plate bulkheads and 1/4" steel blast doors. With this pre-built, pickup truck delivered, shelter and less than two hours of backhoe work later it's in-place in (beneath) your backyard. $3,200.00 FOB Central Texas, call (830) 672-8734 for more information and availability. We try to keep a dozen in inventory here.
In Summary: Your first indication of an initial nuclear detonation may be with their characteristic blinding bright flash. The first effects you may have to deal with before radiation, depending on your proximity to it, are blast and thermal energy. Promptly employing the old "Duck & Cover" strategy will save many from avoidable flying debris injuries and also minimize thermal burns. Think tornado strength wind destruction descending upon you as you quickly dive behind any solid object or into any available depression. A 500 KT blast, 2.2 miles away, will be arriving about 8 seconds after the detonation flash with about a 295 mph wind blast that'll last about three seconds. An even larger 1 MT blast, but 5 miles away, would arrive in about 20 seconds.
But, the majority of people that will be affected, will be well downwind of ground zero, perhaps hundreds of miles away, and need only fallout protection.
If you had pre-planned to shelter, instead of evacuating, you would have had several options. First, you may explore if any buildings in your community have been identified as Civil Defense Shelters. Less emphasis has been placed on these in the past few years. However, if you look around and contact government agencies, before an emergency develops, you may find buildings marked with the signs identifying these shelters.
Additionally, you should become aware of other potential sheltering options in your area and along regularly traveled routes. Tunnels, subways, caves, culverts, overpasses, ditches, ravines and heavily constructed buildings. In the case of existing buildings, below ground basements give the best protection. With minimum effort, windows and overhead floor can be sandbagged or covered with dirt to provide additional protection.
The important thing to remember is to put as much mass and distance between you and the source of the radiation and then allow sufficient time to pass for the radiation to die down to a tolerable level.
Your other choice is to provide your own shelter. Kearny's book, "Nuclear War Survival Skills," again available free on-line here, provides plans and instructions on how to do this at home or at a remote location, even if caught out on the road.
Amongst expedient last-minute sheltering options at home you need to know and be prepared to implement the basement plans detailed above.
Think what you might could accomplish, if you started now well before any nuclear emergency, to explore your available options and built (or at least acquired the materials for) a mass encased small fallout shelter in your own basement. Or, a combination tornado/fallout shelter in the backyard. With 30" of earth covering alone you would achieve a PF of 300 and occupants would be receiving less than 1/300th of the gamma-ray dose of fallout radiation that they would otherwise have received out in the open.
Bottom Line: Buy a shelter, build a shelter, join/support a community shelter and/or move to a remote area
unlikely to be on any countries or terrorists target map (or downwind of one), it doesn't matter, just do it - NOW! It's family
insurance, just like medical or life insurance, you get it even though you hope/pray never to have to use it. You know yourself,
you know your propensity to procrastinate, or not, so, if needed, rationalize an excuse to do it now, not to put it off. Call it a tornado
or hurricane shelter, safe room, root/wine cellar, storage locker, whatever, but know when the "We interrupt this program for a
Special Bulletin..." comes across the TV or radio and your family looks to you, you will be prepared for the worst and survive it.
"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs 22:3
P.S.- Some Additional Notes about keeping your Livestock, Farm, Crops & Land Safe from Fallout...
PROTECTING LIVESTOCK
How will fallout affect unprotected livestock, that is, animals in fields, postures, and other open areas?
Fallout may be dangerous to cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and other livestock as well as to human beings. Radioactive materials in fresh fallout can contaminate the immediate environment and give off rays that can penetrate deep into the body. This is the major source of danger for livestock. Animals can also suffer skin burns if fallout settles in the coat. Skin burns could produce considerable discomfort, but would not endanger the lives of the animals.
Animals are about as sensitive to radiation damage as human beings; to survive, animals need the same protection as human beings.
When livestock must graze on fallout-contaminated pasture, supplemental feeding from non-contaminated forage can materially reduce the daily dose of radioactive material the animals will eat. Stored or stacked hay, ensilage from either silo or trench, and stored grain are safe supplemental feeds when they are protected from fallout contamination. When no shelter is available and when the level of radiation is only moderate, or food resources are scant, growers should, if possible, supply supplemental feeding and limit the grazing time.
When meat and dairy animals eat contaminated feed, some radioactive elements are absorbed into their bodies. Thus, man's food supply of animal products can become contaminated with radioactivity.
How will fallout affect sheltered livestock?
Livestock housed in barns and other farm buildings during fallout have a better chance of surviving effects of radiation than those that are not sheltered. A reasonably well-built shelter reduces intensity of external radiation and prevents fallout from settling on the animals' bodies. It also prevents animals from eating contaminated feed.
What Is the best way to protect livestock from fallout?
Move them indoors as soon as possible. If you do not have adequate facilities to house all animals, put some of them near farm buildings or in a small dry lot. Under these conditions the amount of space per animal in a barn should be reduced to the point of overcrowding. The limiting factor is ventilation and not space. The advantage is that the animals tend to shield each other enough that more will survive under crowded conditions than under normal housing. Large, protected self-feeders and automatic live- stock waterers can supply uncontaminated feed and water.
Areas within movable fences, and other small fenced areas that have covered feeders or self-feeders, can provide emergency confinement for farm animals after early external radiation intensity has decreased through decay.
Empty trench silos can be converted to livestock shelters by constructing a roof over the trench and covering it with earth.
Once fallout occurs, you should not attempt to protect livestock unless local civil defense authorities tell you that you will he safe when doing so.
Get your dairy cattle under cover first.
What water can I give livestock after fallout?
Water from a covered well, tank, or cistern, or from a freely running spring, is best. River water or pond water is less safe, but if necessary, it could be used after fallout has occurred. In a few days it would be safe. If, however, it should rain during this time, livestock should not be permitted access to pond water for an additional few days.
Usually, fallout particles would settle promptly and soluble radioactive materials would diffuse in the water, reducing the contamination at the surface. If the water was constantly replenished from an uncontaminated source, radioactivity would be diluted rapidly.
To prevent contamination from fallout, do not add water to covered tanks unless the water is from a protected well or spring; first use the water originally present in the tanks.
Could I use water in an exposed pond?
Water in an exposed pond would be contaminated, but usually the level of contamination would decrease rapidly. Such water could be used for surface irrigation. It could also he used to wash off farm buildings and unsheltered livestock. Obtain drinking water for livestock from another source if possible.
What feed can I give livestock after fallout?
To protect feed adequately, cover it. Fallout is like dust or dirt; a cover will prevent it from coming in contact or mixing with the feed.
Grain stored in a permanent bin, hay in a barn, and ensilage in a covered silo are adequately protected. They can be used as soon as it is safe to get to them following fallout.
A haystack in an open field can be protected with a tarpaulin or similar covering.
If possible, give your livestock feed that does not contain fallout material. Fallout particles that settle on hay, silage, or a stack of feedbags will contaminate only the outer parts. You can remove the outer layers or bags, and use the inside feed that is unaffected.
You will be notified if local civil defense and agricultural authorities who measure concentrations of fallout consider the forage growing in your area is harmful. However, this advice might come too late in heavily contaminated areas. As a precautionary measure, house the livestock and do not let them graze.
You may have to give cows contaminated feed if no other feed is available. The milk from these cows should not be used by children, but when the cows are back on clean feed, the amount of radioactive material in their milk will progressively diminish.
What can I do with contaminated feed?
How long feed should be stored depends on the type and concentration of the radioactive materials. If you have an alternate supply, do not use contaminated feed until told by authorities that it is safe to do so; then be sure to follow the precautions they may recommend.
Should dairy cows receive special treatment?
Yes. Because radioactive materials can be transferred to milk, which will be a critical product during an emergency, make a special effort to protect cows from fallout. Remove milking cows from pasture and feed them stored rations during the period of fresh fallout and for several weeks after. In this way, you will prevent iodine 131 from occurring in the milk, or reduce it to insignificant levels.
Give cows preferred shelter and clean feed and water. If you can, milk them before fallout occurs; you may not be able to do so for several days afterward. If you have calves on the farm turn them in with the cows. This will help prevent mastitis and conserve all the feed for the cows. Reduce amounts of water and concentrated feed to maintenance levels.
Construction plans are available through State extension agricultural engineers for a combination dairy barn and family fallout shelter. Although construction of this type is costly, such a facility might be considered for the protection of highly valued breeding stock.
The plans are designed in accordance with milk production ordinances. They provide for (1) a year-round production Unit that requires minimum change for emergency use, (2) a built-in family fallout protection area that allows the operator to care for animals during a fallout emergency, (3) all stored feed that is manually accessible to be inside the barn, (4) stored hay and straw for use as shielding, (5) temporary housing, feed, and water for other livestock, (6) an auxiliary generator for assuring electric power, and (7) a water supply inside the barn.
What measures should be taken to protect poultry?
Measures for protecting poultry are the same as those recommended for other farm animals.
Poultry are somewhat more resistant to radiation than other farm animals. Since most poultry are raised under shelter and given feed that has been protected or stored, and since poultry can be grown rapidly, they are one of the more dependable sources of fresh foods of animal origin that may be available following a nuclear attack.
Hens that eat contaminated feed will produce eggs that contain some radioactive elements. Radioactivity in eggs decreases shortly after the hens are removed from the contaminated environment and given uncontaminated feed and water.
What animal food products are safe to market after fallout?
You will receive specific instructions from local civil defense authorities based on the amount of fallout received. Do not destroy any animal food products unless spoilage has made them inedible. Milk should be safe to use if it is from cows that are adequately sheltered and protected and are fed rations of stored and protected feed and water. Milk from a fallout area where cows are not adequately protected or fed stored feed should not be given to children until civil defense authorities approve. Milk contaminated with iodine 131 can be processed into butter, cheese, and powdered or canned milk, and stored for a period of time to allow the radioactivity to decay.
Food animals whose bodies have been exposed to external radiation can be used for food if they are slaughtered before the onset of signs of radiation sickness. Also, they can be used after they have recovered from the ensuing illness. The same rules that govern the slaughter of animals sick from any cause should be followed. Care must be taken to prevent edible parts of the carcass from being contaminated by radioactive materials contained on the hide and in the digestive system.
What do I do if animals die from fallout radiation?
Some of your animals may be affected so severely by radiation from fresh fallout that they will die in a few days or weeks after being exposed. Do not slaughter any of your livestock unless you are told to do so by local civil defense authorities or USDA county defense boards. Bury animals that die. These carcasses usually are not dangerous to surviving people or animals by the time it is safe to work outside.
Is it possible to decontaminate livestock and farm buildings that have been exposed to fallout?
If there is fallout on the animals’ skins, the radioactive material can be washed off with water. It is not necessary to use clean water sources for this purpose. Take care to avoid contamination runoff.
Civil defense authorities or USDA county defense boards may advise you on decontamination procedures for your farm buildings. In handling animals, wear coveralls, gloves, and boots to prevent contaminating yourself. Cleaning or disinfecting buildings will not destroy radioactivity. However, cleaning can be useful in moving radioactive materials to a place where radiation will be less harmful. In cleaning, be careful to avoid contaminating yourelf.
PROTECTING LAND AND CROPS
What are the main consequences of heavy concentration of fallout on crop and pasture lands?
! Farm workers may not be able to manage and cultivate land safely for some time, because of radiation hazard.
! It may not be advisable to permit animals to graze, because of the danger of radiation.
! Fresh fallout would provide surface contamination on all plants, resulting in potential hazard to human beings and animals consuming them.
! Radiation from fallout deposited on the leaves or the ground may damage the crop.
How long would fallout affect cultivated and non-cultivated lands?
It would depend on the abundance and type of radioactive materials in a given area. In the event of nuclear attack, radioactive iodine would be the most critical single factor in the contamination of milk during the first few weeks. After the first 60 days, the principal hazard would arise from strontium 89 and strontium 90. Strontium 89, however, will have virtually disappeared 17 months after its formation.
Like other radioactive isotopes of fallout, strontium 90 falls on the surface of plants and can be consumed with foods and forage. Some of it is deposited directly on the soil or washed into it, remaining indefinitely, for all practical purposes, in the top several inches of uncultivated land. Because it is chemically similar to calcium, radioactive strontium would be absorbed by all plants. Plants growing in soils deficient in calcium would absorb more radioactive strontium than those growing in soils abundant in calcium, other conditions being equal.
Are there soil treatments for reducing the fallout hazard on land?
Yes, but soil treatments should be given only after responsible authorities have carefully evaluated the situation and declared a state of emergency. The most effective treatment could be costly, and suitable only for intensively used land.
Other methods involve changes in generally accepted farm practices. Some measures could be simply an improvement over local conditions and procedures. For example, liming of acid soils could reduce the uptake of radioactive strontium in crops grown on those soils.
USDA soil scientists in the USDA county defense boards will provide guidance to farmers in determining best utilization of their land following nuclear attack.
Any use of the land must wait until external radiation levels are low enough for persons to work safely outdoors.
Would fallout permanently affect pasture grass and forage crops?
If fallout is extremely light, the pasture would be usable immediately. It is difficult to set an exact external dose rate at which it would be safe to return the animals to pasture, but if the dose for the first week of stay did not exceed 25 roentgens all animals would survive and could be handled with safety.
If fallout is heavy, external radiation would prohibit use of the pasture. A heavy deposit of fallout would spread short-lived and long-lived radioactive particles on the pasture and forage crops. Radiation might cause visible injury to plants. Some plants might die.
Existing growths of alfalfa and other forage crops might not be usable because of radiation hazard. If a radiation survey should indicate that contamination level is high, existing growth should be removed as close to the ground as possible and discarded; succeeding growths should be used only after examination for radioactivity. If the soil is acid, a top-dressing of lime would help reduce uptake of radioactive strontium in succeeding growths.
Livestock could be allowed to graze on lightly contaminated pasture after a waiting period that varies from one to a few weeks, the length of time depending on the degree of contamination.
Once it is safe to work the land, a periodic check on pasture and produce in affected areas would provide the best safety guide to their use.
Would fallout affect my system of farming?
It could. Seriously contaminated land may need to lie fallow for as long as a season. After this, fallout may require a change to non-food crops or to food crops that do not absorb large amounts of radioactive materials from the soil. Alfalfa, clover, soybeans, and leafy vegetables have a greater tendency to absorb long-lived radioactive strontium than cereal grains, grasses, corn, potatoes, and fruits. Guidance on suggested crops to plant will come from USDA county defense boards.
Would fallout reduce economic productivity of crop and pasture lands?
Fallout might reduce such productivity in several ways: (1) Crop and soil management could be impeded because of danger from external radiation; (2) some crops might be killed by contamination; (3) other crops might become contaminated to a degree where they would be unmarketable; and (4) economic value of food grown on contaminated land might be less than that of other competitive crops.
What are the effects of fallout on growing vegetables?
Growing vegetables that are exposed to heavy fallout may become highly contaminated. Leaves, pods, and fruits that retain fallout material should be cleaned before being eaten. Washing is probably the most effective measure, just as it is the best way to clean garden foods that get dirty from any other cause. Radiation from heavy fallout may affect plant growth. Roots and tubers absorb little contamination from fallout before it is mixed with the soil. The normal cleaning or peeling of underground vegetables such as potatoes or carrots would be adequate for removing fallout.
What are the effects of fallout on fruits?
If fallout is heavy, ripe fruits may be lost because of the personal hazard involved in harvesting them. Fruits that do not have to be picked immediately can be saved. They should be washed before they are eaten.
Would fallout limit use of plants for human food?
It depends on the extent of radioactivity. Leafy vegetables, such as lettuce, should not be eaten unless they are thoroughly washed, or are known to be free of hazardous amounts of radioactive materials.
What special precautions should be taken for workers in the fields?
You should remain indoors until danger from fallout has diminished and you have learned from local officials that it is all right to work outdoors.
EMERGENCY DEFENSE SERVICES
By order of the President, the Secretary of Agriculture has put into effect defense services to protect farmer; their families, their livestock, and their agricultural productivity in event of a national emergency. The wide scope of these services enables them to function at all levels, national, State, county, and farm.
County Defense Boards
In preparing for a national emergency, the farmer may obtain guidance and assistance from his USDA county defense board. More than 3,000 of these boards are operating throughout the Nation. The USDA county defense boards receive direction from USDA State defense boards.
A USDA county defense board is composed of key USDA representatives in the county. The county office manager of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service usually serves as chairman. Other board members may include representatives of the Cooperative Extension Service, the Farmers Home Administration, and the Soil Conservation Service. Representatives of the Forest Service, the Agricultural Research Service, and the Consumer and Marketing Service, where available, are also members of the board.
Each USDA county defense board is equipped to serve the farmer in many ways. In most counties, the board chairman is responsible for food production programs. He will see that guidance is available in emergency farming practices and in conserving farm equipment, fuel, and manpower; he also will help obtain essential services or material.
The Soil Conservation Service member of the board will advise and assist in the proper use of land and water; and the Farmers Home Administration member will help the farmer in credit problems that may arise. The county extension agent will provide education on survival practices and protective measures for the farmer, his family, and his livestock.
The board chairman, or one of the board members, will advise farmers regarding other programs of USDA agencies that are not represented on the board. This might include, for example, assistance in protection of livestock and crops against the spread of disease or rural fire defense. Generally, the board chairman is responsible for USDA programs relating to food processing, storage, and distribution.
USDA county defense boards will work closely with and support county authorities. Farmers can look to their local county civil defense officials as well as USDA county defense boards for guidance in national emergency programs.
Radiological Monitoring
Radiological monitoring is measurement of the levels of exposure by radiation present in nuclear fallout. Special instruments and people trained in their use are required for this work.
Monitoring services would be needed in the early period following a nuclear attack to determine intensity of radiation on the farm. If this intensity were high, monitoring services would be needed later to determine when farming activities should be resumed. Examples of this monitoring service are detection and measurement of radiological contamination of farmlands, harvestable crops, forest land, and water and protection and handling of farm animals.
State and local governments are responsible for establishing comprehensive radiological monitoring systems in inhabited and habitable areas to measure and report radiation intensities. This monitoring provides the basis for survival and recovery. USDA is directly responsible for certain specialized monitoring:
! At major meat and poultry inspection installations.
! Of forest lands, agricultural lands, and water.
! Of federally owned stored food.
One or more USDA monitoring stations are established in each county in the United States. They provide capability to perform monitoring assigned to USDA, and they will also supply part of the radiological information needed for planning and directing local survival and recovery operations.
Office of Civil Defense guidance and the USDA Radiological Monitoring Handbook provide details for the necessary coordinated effort at the county level. Simply stated, county civil defense and the USDA county defense boards are responsible for joint planning and postattack advice to the farm population on precautions to take to minimize radiation exposures associated with farm work; county civil defense is responsible for most of the monitoring, reporting, and analysis of the data; and the USDA county defense board applies USDA guidance adjusted to local conditions in recommending appropriate:
! Care or disposition of livestock.
! Use of agricultural lands and water.
! Use or disposition of agricultural commodities.
If you have a question about the detection of harmful radiation, you should contact your local civil defense official or the chairman of your USDA county defense board.
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