protect and survive

[Trainee neophyte]

I too once built a kind of secret cellar for my young wife. Well, strictly speaking she wasn't my young wife, not as such. But it's perfectly possible to surmise that she was someone's young wife I suppose.
Personally I didn't use air bricks but thermalites and 3:1 to cover the vents. You'd be surprised how far certain smells can travel when left to ... linger... Watch that pointing everyone!
Anyway, that's all in the past and I'm quite better now.
We all are. We have a certificate.

There is always one who has to be difficult.
Why could you not lay a new patio like everyone else??

The simplest option is to either keep pigs, or know someone who keeps pigs. Not that I would know about that sort of thing. My preparation is to live a very long way from anything important. Oh, and tin foil. Lots and lots of tin foil.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Some cheery reading for householders of the day ;-)

Some musical accompaniment from the same era - who remembers this?

[youtube]LwRvWpsiM2w[/youtube]

Damn! Everyone's cheerful tonight!

 

[Eric The Viking]

Two weeks or so before we got married, I worked on the final mix of "Threads"* for two days (2x 12 hour shifts). I had nightmares about it on our honeymoon and occasionally for some months afterwards, the images were so strong.

In one break, I asked the producer who he thought might actually start a nuclear war. He said, "The French: everybody else is too sensible to do it deliberately"**.

And thus it has proved so far.

Phew.

E.

**I paraphrase, but it was a long time ago.

*Nuclear War comes to Sheffield. Google it.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I don't need to google Threads, some of my schoolmates were extras in it. Barry Hines went to the school I did. I think his son was one of our year.

You may laugh at those advice leaflets, but I have met a man who survived the bombing of Nagasaki by hiding under his desk. Protection from the building, if not the radiation

 

[Garno]

Two weeks or so before we got married, I worked on the final mix of "Threads"* for two days (2x 12 hour shifts). I had nightmares about it on our honeymoon and occasionally for some months afterwards, the images were so strong.

In one break, I asked the producer who he thought might actually start a nuclear war. He said, "The French: everybody else is too sensible to do it deliberately"**.

And thus it has proved so far.

Phew.

E.

**I paraphrase, but it was a long time ago.

*Nuclear War comes to Sheffield. Google it.

I still remember "Threads", based in Sheffield if I recall correctly.
Scared us all.

 

[fezman]

In the 70's I remember all the stuff about getting a couple of doors and creating a shelter in your house. My parents improvised on the advice on the TV and planned to move the sofa about 4 feet from the wall, then lean a couple of doors behind that to form a shelter a la https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6U9T3R3EQg . We even practised it once!! Me (aged 6-10) i was out playing football and would have only been upset if it meant I had to "come in" and curtail my footballing.

All this given we had a WW2 underground shelter at the bottom of the garden that would have been much more suited!! My dad and I later demolished this in the mid 80's - the roof was reinforced concrete - with an old iron or steel bedstead!! It was an absolute PITA to bring down too.

Anyhoo, it wouldn't have made much difference, as we lived close to Sheffield, a major industrial city at the time - expected to be targetted, and either the fireball or air blast or 3rd degree burns would have meant we would be dead in about 3 minutes. Not to mention the fallout that if we had survived the blast, we would be in a world of pain trying to survive.

 

[Garno]

They reckoned if you could hear the sirens giving the four minute warning then you would probably be dead in under four minutes. The home bunkers would of done nothing to save you.
They were genuinely worrying times.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I was born half a mile from a nerve gas factory. No one took the slightest bit of notice - my grandfather worked there and reckoned the only reason it was under the official secrets act was so people didn't realise how much money was wasted there.

 

[doctor Bob]

Extra layers of tin foil needed, it split on me today ....................... :lol: :lol:

 

[bourbon]

Having been to hack green secret nuclear bunker (sign posted off the M6) I think my instinct would be to go towards the blast. Don't think I would want to survive the initial blast, then die of radiation poisoning.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Having been to hack green secret nuclear bunker (sign posted off the M6) I think my instinct would be to go towards the blast. Don't think I would want to survive the initial blast, then die of radiation poisoning.

Many people in Hiroshima/Nagasaki who survived the blast, also survived the radiation. A massive dose will kill you, but anything other than immediately fatal <may> be survivable. Long term cancer rates will go up, but not to the extent that everyone will die.

Did you know that the Cuban missile crisis was created because NATO put nuclear tipped missiles in Turkey, and Russia was merely evening up the MAD playing field? Most people assume it was all the evil Russians, but it was actually the evil NATO. Worth considering, now NATO is back to surrounding Russia with intermediate range nuclear missiles. Good job they never learn, isn't it?

 

[Benchwayze]

There's lots to learn about NATO that certain people don't want us to know!

 

[doctor Bob]

I have a shipping container with my gardening machinery in there. Would it be any good for protection against radiation. I'm in the country 30 miles from central london, nothing important nearby and out in the country?

 

[Garno]

I have a shipping container with my gardening machinery in there. Would it be any good for protection against radiation. I'm in the country 30 miles from central london, nothing important nearby and out in the country?

Not sure you would survive the dreaded S.C.S.M's they have, These Shipping Container Seeking Missiles are sent moments after the main nuclear bombs land

 

[doctor Bob]

I have a shipping container with my gardening machinery in there. Would it be any good for protection against radiation. I'm in the country 30 miles from central london, nothing important nearby and out in the country?

Not sure you would survive the dreaded S.C.S.M's they have, These Shipping Container Seeking Missiles are sent moments after the main nuclear bombs land

I will make an inflatable decoy shipping container as a decoy. Thanks for the info.
How long will I need to lock myself in for?

 

[RogerS]

There is always a happy ending though !

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... ear-bunker

Also, at the old BBC Training Centre at Wood Norton near Evesham, in the late 60's - early '70's they carried out a major civil works to build a nuclear bunker to act as the broadcasting hub to the nation in the event of a nuclear war. The rumours regarding the size and scale of the project were legendary. Tales of 'the tallest tower crane in the UK and the jib only just cleared the top of the shaft' to 'lorries carting away spoil 24/7 for years'. No-one was allowed inside.

Then in the late '70's, it was decided that the studios inside could be used for training purposes. At last...we could go inside ! To our great disappointment it was tiny and only two floors deep. Not only that, the muppets had forgotten to put a lock on the inside of the main doors so anyone could go in once people were inside. And to compound their errors, they'd connected the aircon in reverse and so instead of maintaining a filtered high pressure inside, it just sucked in all the radioactive air from outside. #-o

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I have a shipping container with my gardening machinery in there. Would it be any good for protection against radiation. I'm in the country 30 miles from central london, nothing important nearby and out in the country?

Put your details in here and find out: https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

Even better, put in the details of your mother-in-law, or whoever you a less than fond of.

Pick a bomb,and see what's left. (hammer)

For example:

Effects radii for 2.3 megaton airburst* (smallest to largest): ▼
Fireball radius: 1.35 km (5.71 km²)
Maximum size of the nuclear fireball; relevance to lived effects depends on height of detonation. If it touches the ground, the amount of radioactive fallout is significantly increased. Minimum burst height for negligible fallout: 1.21 km.
Air blast radius (5 psi): 9.28 km (271 km²)
At 5 psi overpressure, most residential buildings collapse, injuries are universal, fatalities are widespread. Often used as a standard benchmark for medium damage in cities. Optimal height of burst to maximize this effect is 4.12 km.
Thermal radiation radius (3rd degree burns): 17.5 km (963 km²)
Third degree burns extend throughout the layers of skin, and are often painless because they destroy the pain nerves. They can cause severe scarring or disablement, and can require amputation. 100% probability for 3rd degree burns at this yield is 11.9 cal/cm2.
Air blast radius (1 psi): 26.1 km (2,140 km²)
At a around 1 psi overpressure, glass windows can be expected to break. This can cause many injuries in a surrounding population who comes to a window after seeing the flash of a nuclear explosion (which travels faster than the pressure wave). Often used as a standard benchmark for light damage in cities. Optimal height of burst to maximize this effect is 6.17 km.
*Detonation altitude: 4,120 m. (Chosen to maximize the 5 psi range.)

Aren't there more fun things to talk about?

 

[Trainee neophyte]

How long will I need to lock myself in for?

Until the nice man from the ministry says it's is safe for you to come out. Do not go making decisions on your own - we have extremely competent civil servants whose job it is, is to ensure the safety and comfort of the general public, or ordinary people, as the BBC likes to patronise them.

Remember, the nice man from the government is here to help. =D>