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1. Web page of a Swiss news organization for a detailed look at the way the Swiss have prepared for sheltering their population from fallout.

   https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/prepared-for-anything_bunkers-for-all/995134

2. Regarding the article on not jumping into a car after a nuclear explosion, I would disagree. Look at the fallout map – getting out of the fallout zone is a matter of driving 20 or 30 miles. The fallout for a majority of that area won’t arrive for an hour.

   If your car still works, I would immediately head out of the downwind area. Of course this depends if you are in the heart of a city, where an instant traffic jam may hamper your escape. If in a suburban area, getting out should be fairly easy if you have already run your bugout routes.

   Yes, you should have a redoubt in a rural area and head to that. Hunkering down in a fallout zone has its own extreme hazards as well, like the two-legged kind.

3. The advice “never get in a car “[in response to a nearby nuclear explosion is superficial and may kill as many people as it saves.

   It reflects the government’s attitude that people are morons and the purpose of FEMA is to just to save part of the herd and accept the idea that much of the herd will be culled. Which leaves more food supplies for our masters.

   The article contradicts itself — one moment talking about a very small 10 kt nuclear detonation and then talking about 100 mph winds.
   Fallout in CONUS will likely encounter 100 mph winds only if it is a very powerful (e.g, 1 megaton) explosion that throws fallout miles into the atmosphere.

   It is true that fallout is most intense in the first few hours after an explosion — the 7-10 rule. Declines by a factor of 10 for every 7 fold increase in time. If 1000 rads at hour 1 then 100 rads at hour 7 and 10 rads at hour 49 (7×7). And being out in the open is definitely bad in the first day.

   But shelter is likely to be inadequate and you are stuck once you take shelter. Whereas moving crosswise to the effective wind could take you out of the path of the intense fallout into an area of less intense fallout where low levels of shielding will still be adequate. If you are upwind, moving farther upwind before much of the fallout descends could take you out of the danger zone altogether. Having an emp-protected Geiger counter like the Nukalert would be helpful in warning you if it is time to stop running and find a bolthole.

   The article is true that winds at higher altitudes may blow in a different direction than surface winds — but it is unlikely they are blowing in the completely opposite direction — more likely sideways left or right — giving an overall spiral effect. And it takes time for the fallout to descend. However, local rainfall or snow is bad news since it can pull fallout out of the sky and create intense hotspots, especially in drainage channels.

   The Army field manual 3-11 , joint with the other services, explains how one evaluates information to determine the danger zones and what course of action to take depending on one’s location.

   http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/army/fm/3-11-3/fm3-11-3_c1.pdf

   While we don’t get military messages with effective wind vectors, similar info is available on the internet for pilots. A habit of checking each morning will give a reasonable wind vector for the day.

   Plus one can look at the wind rose for a CONUS area for different times of the year, identify local targets and have a pretty good idea of where fallout will go if the area is hit. Although discarding the wind rose and computing actual wind vectors several times a month will give an even better idea. On the east coast, for example, the prevailing winds from the northwest are replaced in the summer by winds from the south and even east as storm fronts pass.

   On the east coast, by the strangest coincidence, fallout is most likely to hit low income areas in the southeast zones of our major cities and spare the high income areas in the northwest areas.
   In Washington DC, for example, low income Prince Georges county is likely to be screwed whereas high income Fairfax County ( and the CIA’s intel complex/contractors) is likely to receive much less. The even wealthier horse country of Facquier County will get off even more lightly unless the Russians try to dig out the Mount Weather bunker.

   Similarly, in Philadelphia , low income Camden NJ is likely to take it in the shorts whereas the wealthy Main Line –and even wealthier horse country in the Newtown Square area — are likely to receive less.

   But that general pattern can change on some days when a storm front is passing. So the odds are strongly rigged in favor of the rich but it not an entirely sure thing. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, our enemies’ targeteers don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.

   Finally, it should be noted that little to no fallout is generated in air bursts –which the Russians and Chinese are likely to use against some urban areas because the blast radius can be up to twice the distance of a surface burst and the thermal pulse can ignite fires much farther out.

4. Ignorance and sloth are going to be the biggest problem. A group near our location is defacating in five gal pails and allowing them to collect rather than erecting an outhouse or renting a port-a-potti. No water or sanitation will kill as quick as radiation. This condition is from lazy ness, one of the group members supposedly belongs to Mensa. Topically this group is part of the gimme more crowd and expect the town to accept them.

5. PS
   HEre is the Winds Aloft info for pilots:

   http://aviationweather.gov/windtemp/data?level=l&fcst=06&region=bos&layout=on
   (surface to 39000)

   http://aviationweather.gov/windtemp/data?level=l&fcst=06&region=bos&layout=on
   (45000 and 53000 feet)

   Note that you choose a major airport from your part of the country to get data for surrounding airports.

   Note the Plot button — use that and you can quickly make a round estimate of the overall effective wind vector from the winds at different altitudes. The Army FM 3-11 describes how to sum the vectors to get a more effective vector. Note that high kiloton nukes throw fallout up far higher in the atmosphere than do low kiloton nukes and so a different effective wind vector is calculated for each explosive range of interest –e.g, one for 100 kiloton nudets and another for 1 megaton nudets.

6. I can’t find if the pee-in-the-pool researchers considered if ACE goes out via sweat (not everyone showers), not just urine. Did they check birth control pill hormones which women emit, and in some places are turning male fish female because sewage treatment doesn’t affect them.

7. Civil Defense Community Fallout Shelter Supplies
   http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/shelsupp.html

   Civil Defense Community Fallout Shelter Water Drums
   http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/cdmuseum2/supply/water.html

   Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Food Rations
   http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/cdmuseum2/supply/food.html

   Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Sanitation Kits
   http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/cdmuseum2/supply/sankits.html

   Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Medical Kits
   http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/cdmuseum2/supply/medical.html

   Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Radiation Kits and Instruments
   http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/cdmuseum2/supply/radkits.html

   Package Ventilation Kits
   http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/cdmuseum2/supply/pvks.html

8. Don-great info, very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

9. Excellent article. I would like to see some data on the effects of radiation from our nuclear power plants. In a cascading grid down scenario, if we have a melt down. What types of radiation could we expect and what kind of half life for each. Is it reasonable to assume we could not shelter in place for such an occurrence?

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