Category: NBC

Which Vehicle Will Work? Choices For Post -TEOTWAWKI Transport by John in Central New York State

The following are a few comments on what might be a good vehicle at times of crisis, infrastructure failure, etc. Call it what you want – I don’t know what will, or will not happen in the future. This lack of knowledge makes it equally difficult to know what attributes might be needed in a car or truck. I live in a rural area of New York State – maybe 200 miles from New York City, 50-60 from the state capitol – Albany. My experience is that of a diesel mechanic, electrician, farmer, and house builder – mostly “old school” …


Letter Re: Robert A. Heinlein Didn’t Just Talk and Write About Preparedness

Dear Jim, I’m not sure if you have covered Robert A. Heinlein’s shelter that featured in his novel, “Farnham’s Freehold.” This site describes the house that Heinlein built in Colorado Springs before NORAD moved into the area And here’s an archived link of the shelter underneath, which included both air bottles and ventilation, escape routes, and antenna mounts.- Michael Z. Williamson


Product Review – RAD-60 Personal Dosimeter from Finland

Mr. Rawles: I recently purchased one of these units from Laurus Systems. Upon opening the package, imagine my pleasant surprise to find that this piece of electronic gear was made in Finland, not communist China! While a bit pricey at $375, it is definitely a piece of lab quality gear, but rugged enough for field use. Clean, compact, easy to read LED display. Pocket clip, audible alarm and powered by a standard AAA alkaline battery. Specifications: Radiation detected: Gamma and X-Ray Measurement range: Dose: 1 uSv – 9.99 Sv or 0.1 mrem – 999 rem Dose Rate: 5 uSv/h – …


Letter Re: Non-Nuclear Electro Magnetic Pulse Weapons

James: One tidbit I recently learned less than a week ago: non-nuclear EMP bombs are actually easy and cheap to make Its a permanent magnet, a coil, an antenna, and a bomb to push the magnet past the coil. The enormous electrical energy is released through the antenna causes a powerful EMP to be released, depending on the size of the device used. These tend to be heavy so I doubt you’ll see big ones flying around but a truck or railcar sized bomb would be really potent, possibly covering a dozen mile radius. Shipping containers probably won’t work that …


Two Letters Re: Build Your Fallout Shelter From Barter Goods, by Mr. Yankee

Jim: Regarding Mr. Yankee’s article: Salt in some water softeners is potassium chloride, not sodium chloride. Both are ‘salts’ but they behave differently. Be sure you are storing the sodium chloride variety.- SF in Hawaii   Mr Rawles, Hope this finds you and your family doing well. I’m not sure if this link has been disclosed in the past, and I am certainly no expert in this field, but this seems like a well thought out presentation for a fallout shelter. Keep up the good work, – R.C.


Two Letters Re: EMP Shielding for Electronics

Jim: Maybe I missed something during the acquisition of several undergrad degrees, including one in physics (actually, I probably missed several things)… but how exactly does a Faraday cage have any effect on uncharged particle emissions (neutrons) as suggested by the author of the article that you recently provided a link to? And since when did Einstein claim discovery of an element (Uranium) that was discovered in the 1700’s? His cages might work (hard to actually test anything vs. EMP without doing rather large scale experiments), but that sort of nonsense kinda damages his overall credibility. – Simple Country Doc …


Three Letters Re: Build Your Fallout Shelter From Barter Goods, by Mr. Yankee

Hi Jim. Just felt the need to re-emphasize the point you made with regard to Mr. Yankee’s ideas about an improvised fallout shelter. First, I applaud his view that one should not count on being able to pull together an adequate expedient shelter when the need arises. As simple in theory as it seems, in practice, few would end up with a shelter they would want to rely on to save the lives of their loved ones. Second, as far as the point you made, Jim, it is indeed very important to over-engineer any sort of structure that will be …


Build Your Fallout Shelter From Barter Goods, by Mr. Yankee

I am just paranoid enough in this uncertain world to think that I’d be better off with a fallout shelter than not. Oh sure, you can throw together an expedient shelter in a few hours, but I think I’d be farther ahead adding some mass to the ceiling and walls of a basement room. Here’s how I plan to do it and I think the plan will work for anyone with a similar situation. My basement is of poured concrete with no interior walls. My shelter will be created by converting the most earth shielded quarter of the basement into …


Letter Re: Touring Chernobyl By Motorcycle–20 Years After the Meltdown

Hi Jim, I just wanted to pass along this web site. I found it while surfing the net and thought you might be interested in the area 20 years after. As a side note I’ve read that some of this story/web site may not be totally factual. Such as she didn’t ride through there alone, but with a tour group, etc. I don’t have any more info, but even if she was with a tour, the readings look actual and so do the photos. Still interesting none the less. Take care, – Tom JWR Replies: Many thanks. This is of …


Letter From Rourke Re: Useful Web Site on Nuclear Weapons Targets and Effects

Dear Jim: Here are the main links that I have on my groups for nuclear fallout. These are good links I have compiled over time: Nuclear Blast Effects FAS Page (International) FAS Page (USA) A PBS Web Page Star Destroyer.net Narrative review of effects Nukefix web page Nuclear Fallout Maps for North America (FEMA based) at KI4U and at Richard Fleetwood’s SurvivalRing List of North American Targets (Also at SurvivalRing) Jet Stream Today (for high altitude fallout direction) Regards, – Rourke (Moderator of the Jericho Discussion Group.)


Letter Re: Emergency Shelter Air Filtration

Hey Jim, Just a couple of articles [over at the Alpha Rubicon site] that you might find interesting: Safe Room Fan and, HEPA Filter Regards, – S.C. JWR Replies: For any SurvivalBlog that might have overlooked it at my Links page, I highly recommend the wide variety of practical free references available at the Alpha Rubicon web site.


Letter Re: Emergency Shelter Air Filtration

Most of the modern home vacuum cleaners have pretty decent high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in them nowadays. Assuming you still have power (a big if) you could seal a room to the best of your ability and leave your vacuum cleaners running (with the air intakes off the floor). If you have a bag type, remember to put a new bag in. Presto, filtered air, McGyver style. If all you have is an older style vacuum cleaner with no filter, then put a damp rag (and keep it damp) over the air intake, but be careful not to …


Two Letters Re: Gas Masks, Fire, and Chlorine Gas

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Jim: Just something I would really like to beat to death, and that’s Chlorine, Fires and Gas masks. I just keep getting this really creepy feeling that there are a lot of folks out there that aren’t clued in on the limitations of gas masks and may kill themselves. First:, grass fires, forest fires and house fires. A gas mask will keep you from choking on the fumes and stop your eyes from watering but it will kill you! The mask will stop the particulate matter that irritates your eyes, throat and lungs but it will not make oxygen where …


Letter Re: TVP is a Poor Choice for Food Storage

Jim: Many commercially packaged storage food “package deals” load up on Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) for protein. I would eat TVP if I had to, but if you are considering buying food for storage, stick to eggs and meat. TVP comes from soybeans, and soybeans are not a good human food. To explain: Plants can be placed on a continuum from harmless fruits, vegetables and common grains, to poisonous plants like deathcap mushrooms. With the exception of fruits (seeds pass through our digestion and we ‘deposit’ them in remote locations thus propagating the plant species) , plants don’t want to …


Letter Re: Advice on Swedish Military Surplus Fallout Survey Meters

Hi Jim – You probably get an e-mail like this 10 times a day, but since reading that the Radetect and Nuk-Alert are worthless, I’m shopping for something to supplement the CD V-700 [Geiger counter] that I have. From what I’ve read the CD V-700 is good for checking if people or objects have become low-level contaminated, a different meter is needed for alerting and monitoring high-level exposure risks. Sportsman’s Guide currently lists three different meters, including a Swedish one that looks interesting. Do you have any intel on these? Thanks For Your Time – Steve M. JWR Replies: To …