I think the purpose of a shelter like this was built more for protecting people against nuclear fallout, not against the preliminary blast. Of course, it would still be fairly worthless since there's no room for food or water or even the ability to stretch your legs, but I'm guessing it was contingent on the government finding a way to get rid of fallout rather quickly. #falloutshelter
@blash: Fallout gets rid of itself. The super-radioactive stuff that'll kill you quickly has a very short half-life. After a couple of weeks the radiation level would drop enough to be short-term survivable. At that point you'd evacuate or do a cleanup. #falloutshelter
@jepzilla: "a couple of weeks" - entirely my point. Can you see yourself living for weeks in a shelter that size with 3 other family members, no room to stretch out or store any food, let alone signal flares for evacuation? I didn't think so. #falloutshelter
@blash: It'd be cramped, but if the options were that, or die of radiation poisoning, I'd give it a shot.
Food wouldn't really concern me; in case of a nuclear war the only food you'd want to be eating would be canned (or otherwise sealed). You can pack a lot of canned food into a pretty small space. And it doesn't take a lot of food to survive when you're just sitting around. #falloutshelter
The protection factor is the ratio of the dose rate suffered by a person inside the shelter divided by the dose rate in the open. The protection factor changes as a function of time. This is because some of the short-lived isotopes such as 95Zr and 95Nb generate very high energy gamma photons, while the longer lived 137Cs have a lower photon energy.
As the wall is made thicker the average gamma photon energy for those photons which pass through the wall becomes higher. So each additional layer of concrete has a smaller effect on the dose rate.
I'm a big fan of the procrastinator's version. You know who you are- waiting until the night before the apocalypse to build your shelter. Luckily, you can still pile a bunch of shit on a table in your basement and end up a-ok*!
*most likely dying of starvation after killing all your pets for food and developing severe radiation sickness #falloutshelter
The thing I don't get about fallout shelters that are anything short of an underground city is what the exit strategy is. If you're hiding underground to escape the radiation, you're going to be down there a VERY long time before it's safe to come out. If you're in a little steel box like this, you'll starve to death within a month, get sick from no bodily waste disposal and die within a month, dehydrate and die within a week, or kill each other in a couple days because you're in a cramped steel tube.
You'd have a better chance of survival playing russian roulette with a 9mm with one in the chamber... #falloutshelter
@zenfluence: Most people cant drive my car (standard transmission), but it is a 4WD so you can get away via unconventional routes that the Zombies wont have blocked yet, so sure. #falloutshelter
@zenfluence: Protip: If you are within the nuclear fallout range, drive towards the bomb site. Faster, cleaner death. And if you happen to be near the blast radius before the nuke goes off, drive towards it. Bright flash, then nothing. Hands down the best way to die. #falloutshelter
@Curves: It would be interesting to see how many Giz readers do drive stick. Personally, I have been pretty much my whole adult life (43 now). All three cars I own are manual (and turbocharged), although we also have an automatic minivan. I always swore that my kids would learn to drive stick from the beginning. My oldest does, and the middle child just got her permit, so it's time to start teaching her.
More on-topic... If you weren't alive in the 60s and 70s, you probably can't really comprehend the Cold War. You know how freaked out people get about H1N1? Imagine if a lot of people considered nuclear annihilation a real and imminent threat. #falloutshelter
@Curves: Man, where do you live? I drove a stick and loved it till I moved to Seattle, where the hills and lights on a hill made me hate sticks. But, everytime I wanted another car, they kept showing me sticks! Sounds like we need to trade places #falloutshelter
@Curves: Yep, two of my cars are from the 80s, when there were more sticks around.
I wasn't directing the Cold War comment at you, Curves. I've gathered from previous posts that we are probably of about the same generation. It was directed at the posters who don't get why anyone would consider building a shelter like that.
Remember The Day After? I heard recently on the radio that that show was a big part of what drove Reagan to want to end the Cold War. Interesting. It certainly did scare the crap out of a lot of people I knew. #falloutshelter
@CSX321: Yes, I did see the Day After (I had nightmares for weeks!) and its part of the reason I have no desire to live through "The Big One". That and a book by Stehen King (I cant recall the name) where a disease killed most of the people on the planet (more nightmares). I am just not a post apocolyptic kinda girl I guess. #falloutshelter
It is radiation reducement factor. It has to be over 100 to be meaningful to stay down there. Radiation on the outside is 500 times higher than on the inside.
It is intended for you to stay there till the radiation fades out. Thats about a week after the blast.
(I kinda had WorlWar3 paranoia couple of years ago) #falloutshelter
@psychonaut2021: Secrets of the Pineal Gland: Hmm.... instead of a cookie, perhaps you could take us sailing, so we can look at the moon? #falloutshelter
@stevenajohnson: You got it! One of the best Simpsons episode in my book.
I love the part where Homer ask Hank Scorpio for some sugar, and Hank reaches into his pockets and just hands it to Homer, then ask if he would like some cream with that. Homer's reaction just makes me giggle so much.
Well about that cookie... How about I just click that heart icon under your avatar eh eh?? #falloutshelter
500 is the ratio of the amount of radiation one receives with no shelter versus one in a particular shelter. If they said it had a protection factor of 500, you would receive 500 times less radiation in it, than out. #falloutshelter
@Cash907Censored: No, you wouldn't suffocate: "Ventilation: A sheet metal intake vent 3 inches in diameter is provided together with a manual airblower for more than three persons. Air is vented through the sandbag closure at the entrance."
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Food wouldn't really concern me; in case of a nuclear war the only food you'd want to be eating would be canned (or otherwise sealed). You can pack a lot of canned food into a pretty small space. And it doesn't take a lot of food to survive when you're just sitting around. #falloutshelter
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As the wall is made thicker the average gamma photon energy for those photons which pass through the wall becomes higher. So each additional layer of concrete has a smaller effect on the dose rate.
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I'm a big fan of the procrastinator's version. You know who you are- waiting until the night before the apocalypse to build your shelter. Luckily, you can still pile a bunch of shit on a table in your basement and end up a-ok*!
*most likely dying of starvation after killing all your pets for food and developing severe radiation sickness #falloutshelter
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You'd have a better chance of survival playing russian roulette with a 9mm with one in the chamber... #falloutshelter
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Ahhh I see what you did there, that's not a revolver so... #falloutshelter
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More on-topic... If you weren't alive in the 60s and 70s, you probably can't really comprehend the Cold War. You know how freaked out people get about H1N1? Imagine if a lot of people considered nuclear annihilation a real and imminent threat. #falloutshelter
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(I have to order my cars built since you cant even find a stick on the lot any more.) #falloutshelter
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I wasn't directing the Cold War comment at you, Curves. I've gathered from previous posts that we are probably of about the same generation. It was directed at the posters who don't get why anyone would consider building a shelter like that.
Remember The Day After? I heard recently on the radio that that show was a big part of what drove Reagan to want to end the Cold War. Interesting. It certainly did scare the crap out of a lot of people I knew. #falloutshelter
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My second thought was DIY "EZ-Bake Oven." #falloutshelter
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It is intended for you to stay there till the radiation fades out. Thats about a week after the blast.
(I kinda had WorlWar3 paranoia couple of years ago) #falloutshelter
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"Scorpio; you're going to die".
Anyone who tells me where that's from gets a cookie. Hint hint, it's from an older cartoon. #falloutshelter
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Gemini, you're gonna die twice
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Haha! #falloutshelter
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I love the part where Homer ask Hank Scorpio for some sugar, and Hank reaches into his pockets and just hands it to Homer, then ask if he would like some cream with that. Homer's reaction just makes me giggle so much.
Well about that cookie... How about I just click that heart icon under your avatar eh eh?? #falloutshelter
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There, fixed that for you. #falloutshelter
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See, everything's good!
Oh, wait... #falloutshelter