Nuclear War is a terrible Possibility, but a possibility nonetheless
Hopefully this information will be unnecessary but here it is just in case...
Basic Information: There are volumes of information about nuclear weapons but to those who may be subjected to them there are less. A total nuclear war likely will exterminate us so in order for the many predictions to come true and for us to build a brave new world it has to be a limited nuclear war. This is only a superficial fortunate happenstance. One nuclear weapon is nothing less than devastating. With the right information a limited nuclear war can not only be survived but done so without lasting health effects or loss of life to you or your family.
Weapon types: There are many technical details about nuclear weapons but to the survivor there are only two. There are airburst detonations and ground burst detonations. Airburst detonations produce little of the deadly radioactive fallout that will kill the most people. These will be used on cities or industrial centers and detonated in the air to maximize surface damage... The other is the groundburst which incinerates thousands of square feet of the ground, turning it into a radioactive ash which is sucked high into the sky and falls like snow downwind killing people. This type of detonation will be used on military targets like missile silos or bases. For all intents and purposes the airburst is only dangerous to those in the area. The groundburst is dangerous for thousands of miles downwind. It is the groundburst that you must defend against. A terrorist weapon will be close to the ground and will create dangerous fallout... Unfortunately nuclear terrorism is an even greater possibility... Remember: Fallout can kill...
Effects: Near a nuclear explosion, there is heat which can severely burn you and start large fires and blast which can destroy buildings and throw debris much like a tornado. Then there is radiation. Small particles of ash and dust will fall like snow onto the ground and will emit invisible beams of energy, which is lethal radiation. You can be exposed to a fatal dose of radiation and not know it for days so it is insidious. Things may seem normal but the beams of energy are penetrating your cells and scrambling the DNA. This is the area which needs concentrating on because it can be defended against while the other two effects (blast and heat) are much harder to defend against and will kill less people.
Radiation Defense: The first thing you need is a decent basement or better yet a fallout or blast shelter, something below the ground will do. If you do not have anything like that go to someone else's basement. Likely they will not know what to do and you will be saving their lives as well. Dirt and concrete in sufficient amounts can lessen the effects of the radiation so that it can not kill you. Cover openings, basement windows, etc. with dirt and if more than a few feet of the walls of the basement are above ground level you may need to build another structure within the basement. A few feet of dirt or concrete between you and the radiation can save your life. If you stock food and water for about three weeks and stay in the shelter for that period of time the radiation outside will usually have disipated (a geiger counter can determine this)... At that point the danger is over in your area, as long as you avoid contaminated water or food. Open water is probably contaminated while well water should be fine. Open food will be contaminated while canned or wrapped food will be fine as long as you wash the dust off first.
Equipment: Yes, a pile of junk in the corner can save your life... You can never have enough medical supplies, especially medications needed by your family members. These things will be necessary in any situation where medical care is far away or nonexistent. Another item is a geiger counter, used for detecting and measuring alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. This is absolutely necessary for evaluating shelter and determining accumulated exposure, though you can survive without it if you are very careful... Beware, many geiger counters on the market can not handle the amounts of radiation that will be produced by radioactive fallout, but were designed for geological research, etc. Dosages: 150 rads, REMS, or roentgens will begin to make you sick and at about 500 hundred you are dead, taking about two weeks of sickness. Also it is cumulative, 150 rads per hour is 300 in two hours and three hours you are probably going to die. Also keep in mind that a accumulated dose of 150 rads will take about ten years off of your life.
The Complete Disaster Guide on the Survival Page has more detailed information on this subject. It also explains how to use a geiger counter and contains a graph, useful for designing your own shelter. The Easy and Effective Fallout Shelter Plans give you several shelters with detailed plans on how to make them and the amounts of materials you will need. All of this can be done by you at a relative minimum expense when you considerthe cost of premade shelters. Yes, they are easier but you will know nothing about them but will have to trust them with your life and the lives of your family. Also, it would be best to do it yourself or have a local contractor do it for you so that you may modify them for your specific needs.
