How far away do you need to be from DC to be safe from a nuclear attack?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most insane threads I've ever read on DCUM.

All you paranoid folk must know nothing about nuclear war!!

Mutually Assured Destruction means just that. No one will survive. The planet will not survive. Everything and everyone on the planet will die.

Sorry, but that’s just not true. Lots of people will still survive. The planet will absolutely survive. The most dangerous radioactive materials in fallout are essentially gone after about 4-8 weeks. A few types of long lasting isotopes will remain but they aren’t nearly as radioactive as the other materials in fallout. You can read about this stuff on wiki. I did a lot of reading about this stuff last night. The radiation is very high in the first few days, then starts to reduce quickly. There’s a mathematical formula for it called the 7-10 rule. Google it.

Where did you read this?

A large scale nuclear attack between the USA and Russia would mean a nuclear winter that would kill most of the human race. If that wasn’t in the materials you read, they aren’t reliable. Period.

Sorry. You’re misinformed. Physics just doesn’t work out that way. Nuclear bombs aren’t magic. They’re just bombs - with some interesting side effects that subside on an entirely predictable mathematic timetable. 4-8 weeks is entirely correct in terms of fallout. Iodine 131, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 require more time but are produced in far smaller quantities relative to the more energetic isotopes produced in a fission cycle, which are the primary dangers from fallout. Localized neutron activation in otherwise stable elements is another source of intermediate length contamination, but it is very localized, confined to the area of neutron flux at the moment of the fission/fusion cycle.

“Nuclear winter” was a term created by Carl Sagan and embraced by Hollywood script writers. It has no basis in reality. A large scale exchange would put enough soot, smoke and dust into the air to cloud skies for a short time, but that’s all. Many volcanic eruptions in the last millennia have put far more ash into the atmosphere than every nuclear weapon on earth possibly could.

The most recent guidance that the government puts out now is so different from just 10 years ago and of course from back in the 1980s. They used to suggest plastic sheeting and taping up your home and planning to shelter for several weeks. Now they say just move to the center away from windows and stay inside for 48 hours.

I tend to think the guidance was updated based on better knowledge so while I think there are still tons of unknowns, there guidance sounds more grounded today.

But if the pandemic taught us anything it's that the government would seriously scramble in an emergency and it would take them years to get a place of reasonably being able to offer citizens help.

Also supply chain disruptions would be way more impactful than we all realized and of course we hoard stuff and we are mean to each other. I think we have very little hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most insane threads I've ever read on DCUM.

All you paranoid folk must know nothing about nuclear war!!

Mutually Assured Destruction means just that. No one will survive. The planet will not survive. Everything and everyone on the planet will die.

Sorry, but that’s just not true. Lots of people will still survive. The planet will absolutely survive. The most dangerous radioactive materials in fallout are essentially gone after about 4-8 weeks. A few types of long lasting isotopes will remain but they aren’t nearly as radioactive as the other materials in fallout. You can read about this stuff on wiki. I did a lot of reading about this stuff last night. The radiation is very high in the first few days, then starts to reduce quickly. There’s a mathematical formula for it called the 7-10 rule. Google it.

Where did you read this?

A large scale nuclear attack between the USA and Russia would mean a nuclear winter that would kill most of the human race. If that wasn’t in the materials you read, they aren’t reliable. Period.

Sorry. You’re misinformed. Physics just doesn’t work out that way. Nuclear bombs aren’t magic. They’re just bombs - with some interesting side effects that subside on an entirely predictable mathematic timetable. 4-8 weeks is entirely correct in terms of fallout. Iodine 131, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 require more time but are produced in far smaller quantities relative to the more energetic isotopes produced in a fission cycle, which are the primary dangers from fallout. Localized neutron activation in otherwise stable elements is another source of intermediate length contamination, but it is very localized, confined to the area of neutron flux at the moment of the fission/fusion cycle.

“Nuclear winter” was a term created by Carl Sagan and embraced by Hollywood script writers. It has no basis in reality. A large scale exchange would put enough soot, smoke and dust into the air to cloud skies for a short time, but that’s all. Many volcanic eruptions in the last millennia have put far more ash into the atmosphere than every nuclear weapon on earth possibly could.

The most recent guidance that the government puts out now is so different from just 10 years ago and of course from back in the 1980s. They used to suggest plastic sheeting and taping up your home and planning to shelter for several weeks. Now they say just move to the center away from windows and stay inside for 48 hours.

I tend to think the guidance was updated based on better knowledge so while I think there are still tons of unknowns, there guidance sounds more grounded today.

But if the pandemic taught us anything it's that the government would seriously scramble in an emergency and it would take them years to get a place of reasonably being able to offer citizens help.

Also supply chain disruptions would be way more impactful than we all realized and of course we hoard stuff and we are mean to each other. I think we have very little hope.

Plastic sheeting still makes sense, because fallout is basically airborne dust that emits radiation, either as a Gamma ray, neutron, or an Alpha or Beta radiation. Plastic can’t do anything to stop neutrons or Gammas, but it will definitely block Alpha and diminish Beta penetration. And if you can keep the dust out in the first place, you have much less “hot” stuff in your area of shelter. Running a hepa filtering device inside will also help - as long as you have extra filters on hand and can dispose of the filters that have absorbed contaminated dust. And 48 hours isn’t long enough to stay inside. At 49 hours, radiation is down to about 10% of the level it was immediately post-blast. But that could still be highly dangerous if the initial level was lethal to begin with. For example, during testing of hydrogen bombs in the 60’s, the level of radiation in the crater created by the explosion tested 1-hour after detonation was about 30 rads per hour. 5 rads of exposure over a short period of time is generally considered lethal. So even a 10-minute exposure to radiation of that strength would be enough to kill most people. After another 48 hours, the levels are down to 3 rads per hour - 10% of what they were initially - but after just an hour and 20 minutes, you will have still received a lethal dose of radiation. Staying sheltered for another 21 days will allow for levels to fall to a fraction of the 3 rad per hour figure, since the decay rate falls exponentially over time. At 8 weeks radiation levels for Gammas, Alpha and Beta are mostly down to background levels again, with the exception of iodine, cesium and strontium, and any activated neutron sources. But those are relatively insignificant compared to the really highly radioactive stuff in the hours/days immediately post-blast. The more unstable an isotope is, the more radioactive it is. And really, really radioactive stuff doesn’t stay that way long because it’s decaying so fast -which is why it’s so radioactive to begin with. And that’s why it’s so important to be prepared to shelter for a minimum of 3-4 weeks in an area of moderate contamination, and up to 7-8 weeks in a place with severe contamination. But if you can do that your odds of survival are very, very high. Like 99th percentile-high. But supply chain disruptions and lack of basic infrastructure, utilities or food will be an enormous problem that will likely kill even more people than the blasts or after effects themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most insane threads I've ever read on DCUM.

All you paranoid folk must know nothing about nuclear war!!

Mutually Assured Destruction means just that. No one will survive. The planet will not survive. Everything and everyone on the planet will die.

Sorry, but that’s just not true. Lots of people will still survive. The planet will absolutely survive. The most dangerous radioactive materials in fallout are essentially gone after about 4-8 weeks. A few types of long lasting isotopes will remain but they aren’t nearly as radioactive as the other materials in fallout. You can read about this stuff on wiki. I did a lot of reading about this stuff last night. The radiation is very high in the first few days, then starts to reduce quickly. There’s a mathematical formula for it called the 7-10 rule. Google it.

Where did you read this?

A large scale nuclear attack between the USA and Russia would mean a nuclear winter that would kill most of the human race. If that wasn’t in the materials you read, they aren’t reliable. Period.

Sorry. You’re misinformed. Physics just doesn’t work out that way. Nuclear bombs aren’t magic. They’re just bombs - with some interesting side effects that subside on an entirely predictable mathematic timetable. 4-8 weeks is entirely correct in terms of fallout. Iodine 131, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 require more time but are produced in far smaller quantities relative to the more energetic isotopes produced in a fission cycle, which are the primary dangers from fallout. Localized neutron activation in otherwise stable elements is another source of intermediate length contamination, but it is very localized, confined to the area of neutron flux at the moment of the fission/fusion cycle.

“Nuclear winter” was a term created by Carl Sagan and embraced by Hollywood script writers. It has no basis in reality. A large scale exchange would put enough soot, smoke and dust into the air to cloud skies for a short time, but that’s all. Many volcanic eruptions in the last millennia have put far more ash into the atmosphere than every nuclear weapon on earth possibly could.

The most recent guidance that the government puts out now is so different from just 10 years ago and of course from back in the 1980s. They used to suggest plastic sheeting and taping up your home and planning to shelter for several weeks. Now they say just move to the center away from windows and stay inside for 48 hours.

I tend to think the guidance was updated based on better knowledge so while I think there are still tons of unknowns, there guidance sounds more grounded today.

But if the pandemic taught us anything it's that the government would seriously scramble in an emergency and it would take them years to get a place of reasonably being able to offer citizens help.

Also supply chain disruptions would be way more impactful than we all realized and of course we hoard stuff and we are mean to each other. I think we have very little hope.

Plastic sheeting still makes sense, because fallout is basically airborne dust that emits radiation, either as a Gamma ray, neutron, or an Alpha or Beta radiation. Plastic can’t do anything to stop neutrons or Gammas, but it will definitely block Alpha and diminish Beta penetration. And if you can keep the dust out in the first place, you have much less “hot” stuff in your area of shelter. Running a hepa filtering device inside will also help - as long as you have extra filters on hand and can dispose of the filters that have absorbed contaminated dust. And 48 hours isn’t long enough to stay inside. At 49 hours, radiation is down to about 10% of the level it was immediately post-blast. But that could still be highly dangerous if the initial level was lethal to begin with. For example, during testing of hydrogen bombs in the 60’s, the level of radiation in the crater created by the explosion tested 1-hour after detonation was about 30 rads per hour. 5 rads of exposure over a short period of time is generally considered lethal. So even a 10-minute exposure to radiation of that strength would be enough to kill most people. After another 48 hours, the levels are down to 3 rads per hour - 10% of what they were initially - but after just an hour and 20 minutes, you will have still received a lethal dose of radiation. Staying sheltered for another 21 days will allow for levels to fall to a fraction of the 3 rad per hour figure, since the decay rate falls exponentially over time. At 8 weeks radiation levels for Gammas, Alpha and Beta are mostly down to background levels again, with the exception of iodine, cesium and strontium, and any activated neutron sources. But those are relatively insignificant compared to the really highly radioactive stuff in the hours/days immediately post-blast. The more unstable an isotope is, the more radioactive it is. And really, really radioactive stuff doesn’t stay that way long because it’s decaying so fast -which is why it’s so radioactive to begin with. And that’s why it’s so important to be prepared to shelter for a minimum of 3-4 weeks in an area of moderate contamination, and up to 7-8 weeks in a place with severe contamination. But if you can do that your odds of survival are very, very high. Like 99th percentile-high. But supply chain disruptions and lack of basic infrastructure, utilities or food will be an enormous problem that will likely kill even more people than the blasts or after effects themselves.

So basically the only people who will survive are those who prepped a man 7-8 week food and water supply or who can spend that period in a grocery store. Message here: run to the nearest grocery and live there for the duration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very glad I live in unfashionable flyover.

You’re going to have to survive with a bunch of MAGA lunatics running around. Good luck.

The MAGA people I see around me are all decent, capable, law abiding family people. I don't agree with their politics but some of you have a very warped perspective of Trump voters in flyover.

+1 and I am not a Trumper

+1 and not a Trumper either, but people like the PP above NEED to brand people who support MAGA as lunatics so it can justify their own vicious hatefulness. Makes them feel good about themselves.

Nope. MAGA actions speak for themselves.

Your schtick is getting worn out.

I didn’t vote for Trump, but I will also acknowledge we didn’t have 22 page thread about a possible Russian nuclear attack during his presidency, either.

I have a serious case of buyer’s remorse with Joe Biden. I now look at the Trump-era fondly. I feel awkward admitting it, because I hate being wrong. But that’s how I feel.

GMAFB. You are blaming Biden for this?

“I voted for Biden but…” Sure you did. Liar.

NP. Fact remains we didn't have a potential nuclear war looming over us when Trump was president. He took a strong stance against Putin and put sanctions on the pipeline being built between Russia and Europe and warned of Europeans becoming too energy dependent on Russia. He called out NATO for taking advantage of the US, which NATO was doing. There are many, many, many things I disagree with Donald Trump but much of his foreign policy was actually on target. Despite all this, Trump got pilloried in the presses. But had the Germans and other nations not been so short sighted and shut down their nuclear plants in exchange for becoming energy dependent on Russia, had all the NATO countries lived up to their military spending obligations, Putin wouldn't be thinking the West is weak and divided and invading Ukraine. It's not to Joe Biden's credit that he removed the sanctions Trump put on the Russian pipeline. Nor do I think it was wise to have all the US embassies fly BLM and rainbow flags in despotic regions. In case you hadn't noticed, both Russia and China have been increasingly dismissive and aggressive since Biden took office and it's not hard to see why they may be thinking the US is weak.

You people are GD *delusional.* Astonishing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very glad I live in unfashionable flyover.

You’re going to have to survive with a bunch of MAGA lunatics running around. Good luck.

The MAGA people I see around me are all decent, capable, law abiding family people. I don't agree with their politics but some of you have a very warped perspective of Trump voters in flyover.

+1 and I am not a Trumper

+1 and not a Trumper either, but people like the PP above NEED to brand people who support MAGA as lunatics so it can justify their own vicious hatefulness. Makes them feel good about themselves.

Nope. MAGA actions speak for themselves.

The actions of those that would prefer American not to be great are pretty clear.

The Trumper idea of what a “great America” looks like is an abject joke. They are willfully ignorant, reactionary, deluded, selfish morons.

Awww you mad? Because Biden is doing WONDERS for us right now, huh? I’ll take some mean tweets any day over this absolute moron we have in office right now.

Oops! You parroted ignorant scripted Right Wing soundbites. How embarrassing for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very glad I live in unfashionable flyover.

You’re going to have to survive with a bunch of MAGA lunatics running around. Good luck.

The MAGA people I see around me are all decent, capable, law abiding family people. I don't agree with their politics but some of you have a very warped perspective of Trump voters in flyover.

Nope. Hi, Trumper! Let me guess, anonymous board so you “voted for Biden.” Suuuuuuure you did.

DP

I live in MD, so I can vote my conscience. I wrote in Bernie (again), because the party shafted him (again). Given the hypothetical choice right now between Joe Biden and Trump, I’d now prefer to have Trump. I’m sorry that angers you but that’s how I feel. At this point I’m definitely willing to admit that I felt safer during Trump.

Hey there dummy. Did you notice your orange hero Trump is championing the aggressor that precipitated this thread?

I didn’t insult anyone in my post. I would like you to apologize to me and others here for your incivility, please.

Be better.

No one is apologizing to you. Grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very glad I live in unfashionable flyover.

You’re going to have to survive with a bunch of MAGA lunatics running around. Good luck.

The MAGA people I see around me are all decent, capable, law abiding family people. I don't agree with their politics but some of you have a very warped perspective of Trump voters in flyover.

+1 and I am not a Trumper

+1 and not a Trumper either, but people like the PP above NEED to brand people who support MAGA as lunatics so it can justify their own vicious hatefulness. Makes them feel good about themselves.

Nope. MAGA actions speak for themselves.

Your schtick is getting worn out.

I didn’t vote for Trump, but I will also acknowledge we didn’t have 22 page thread about a possible Russian nuclear attack during his presidency, either.

I have a serious case of buyer’s remorse with Joe Biden. I now look at the Trump-era fondly. I feel awkward admitting it, because I hate being wrong. But that’s how I feel.

GMAFB. You are blaming Biden for this?

“I voted for Biden but…” Sure you did. Liar.

NP. Fact remains we didn't have a potential nuclear war looming over us when Trump was president. He took a strong stance against Putin and put sanctions on the pipeline being built between Russia and Europe and warned of Europeans becoming too energy dependent on Russia. He called out NATO for taking advantage of the US, which NATO was doing. There are many, many, many things I disagree with Donald Trump but much of his foreign policy was actually on target. Despite all this, Trump got pilloried in the presses. But had the Germans and other nations not been so short sighted and shut down their nuclear plants in exchange for becoming energy dependent on Russia, had all the NATO countries lived up to their military spending obligations, Putin wouldn't be thinking the West is weak and divided and invading Ukraine. It's not to Joe Biden's credit that he removed the sanctions Trump put on the Russian pipeline. Nor do I think it was wise to have all the US embassies fly BLM and rainbow flags in despotic regions. In case you hadn't noticed, both Russia and China have been increasingly dismissive and aggressive since Biden took office and it's not hard to see why they may be thinking the US is weak.

The goal for each NATO country to reach 2% of their GDP was for 2024. Considering 2024 hasn’t yet happened, you can’t really say they didn’t live up to their obligations. Also, Trump started to dismantle NATO and ruin our relationships with our allies. If one wants to make baseless claims like you are, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to make the excuse that the members who had yet to project the 2% goal weren’t motivated to do so because they were worried about the state of NATO’s future due to Trump’s destructible behavior. He said multiple times he’d like to pull out of NATO. When someone asked him if he would adhere to Article 5, undoubtedly the most important aspect of NATO, if an ally was attacked, he responded, “That’s a good question isn’t it? I don’t know, it’s something I need to consider. The fact that he even answered the question in that manner proves he doesn’t know $hit about foreign policy, or any policy really, at all whatsoever. It would render NATO useless. And for anything to work, aside from signed contracts, treaties, agreements, etc. one also needs to adhere to the honor code. We already know Trump doesn’t give a crap about the rule of law, so acting like he would follow any sort of honor code is a flipping joke. Would you support pulling out of NATO?? Because that’s seemingly what you’re implying.

Further, Putin thinks the West is weak and divided because he helped to make it to at way. You’re living in la-la land if you think this is just an opportunity born out of convenience rather than a deliberate action on Putin’s part. Also, this “weakness” talk everyone keeps spewing is getting tiring. If you think Trump showed any strength, well…HAHAHAHAHA. You may be dumber than he is! He threw a temper tantrum over losing an election and TO THIS DAY, he is still crying about it. In fact, the other day on Fox he told Laura Ingraham that the reason for the Russia-Ukraine crisis is because of “the rigged election”. He refused to go to Biden’s inauguration. Anytime he was criticized it was “fake news”. The press was “constantly out to get him” according to him because he couldn’t handle anything less than groveling and praise, let alone constructive criticism. He fired anyone in his administration who wasn’t “loyal” enough in his eyes. He’s poisoned the Republican Party and continues to do so anytime someone in the party finds a spine and decides rightfully to defend the constitution instead of the orange blob of flubber with a bad hairdo. He does all of this because HE.IS.WEAK. Make no mistake, there’s not a single strength that trump possesses.

What a joke. So Western Europe didn't want to fund their own defense because Trump might not follow through and defend them? Doesn't sound real brilliant.

Yes, Merkel, Macron and Johnson hated Trump. He declared that he would act in America's interest, rather than "lead from behind" those three like Obama did. Of course they hated him. But frankly, I totally agree that NATO does not serve our interests. We bear the cost of defending Europe, subsidize their welfare state lifestyles and they undercut that defense by making deals with Russia AND routinely opposing US interests elsewhere (Iran especially) for $$. We need to let the European Union fund their own defense. They have a larger population than we do and a GDP that is close to ours (and lots bigger than Russia's.) We get nothing from the deal except arms sales.

Oh, please. If you don’t understand that Trump acted in no one’s interest, ever, but his own, you have a sub 70 IQ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most insane threads I've ever read on DCUM.

All you paranoid folk must know nothing about nuclear war!!

Mutually Assured Destruction means just that. No one will survive. The planet will not survive. Everything and everyone on the planet will die.

Sorry, but that’s just not true. Lots of people will still survive. The planet will absolutely survive. The most dangerous radioactive materials in fallout are essentially gone after about 4-8 weeks. A few types of long lasting isotopes will remain but they aren’t nearly as radioactive as the other materials in fallout. You can read about this stuff on wiki. I did a lot of reading about this stuff last night. The radiation is very high in the first few days, then starts to reduce quickly. There’s a mathematical formula for it called the 7-10 rule. Google it.

Where did you read this?

A large scale nuclear attack between the USA and Russia would mean a nuclear winter that would kill most of the human race. If that wasn’t in the materials you read, they aren’t reliable. Period.

Sorry. You’re misinformed. Physics just doesn’t work out that way. Nuclear bombs aren’t magic. They’re just bombs - with some interesting side effects that subside on an entirely predictable mathematic timetable. 4-8 weeks is entirely correct in terms of fallout. Iodine 131, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 require more time but are produced in far smaller quantities relative to the more energetic isotopes produced in a fission cycle, which are the primary dangers from fallout. Localized neutron activation in otherwise stable elements is another source of intermediate length contamination, but it is very localized, confined to the area of neutron flux at the moment of the fission/fusion cycle.

“Nuclear winter” was a term created by Carl Sagan and embraced by Hollywood script writers. It has no basis in reality. A large scale exchange would put enough soot, smoke and dust into the air to cloud skies for a short time, but that’s all. Many volcanic eruptions in the last millennia have put far more ash into the atmosphere than every nuclear weapon on earth possibly could.

Okay, good luck with that. Enjoy the post apocalyptic hellscape following large scale nuclear war between us and Putin. You’re quite welcome to my share of the canned foods, I hope not to survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most insane threads I've ever read on DCUM.

All you paranoid folk must know nothing about nuclear war!!

Mutually Assured Destruction means just that. No one will survive. The planet will not survive. Everything and everyone on the planet will die.

Sorry, but that’s just not true. Lots of people will still survive. The planet will absolutely survive. The most dangerous radioactive materials in fallout are essentially gone after about 4-8 weeks. A few types of long lasting isotopes will remain but they aren’t nearly as radioactive as the other materials in fallout. You can read about this stuff on wiki. I did a lot of reading about this stuff last night. The radiation is very high in the first few days, then starts to reduce quickly. There’s a mathematical formula for it called the 7-10 rule. Google it.

Where did you read this?

A large scale nuclear attack between the USA and Russia would mean a nuclear winter that would kill most of the human race. If that wasn’t in the materials you read, they aren’t reliable. Period.

Sorry. You’re misinformed. Physics just doesn’t work out that way. Nuclear bombs aren’t magic. They’re just bombs - with some interesting side effects that subside on an entirely predictable mathematic timetable. 4-8 weeks is entirely correct in terms of fallout. Iodine 131, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 require more time but are produced in far smaller quantities relative to the more energetic isotopes produced in a fission cycle, which are the primary dangers from fallout. Localized neutron activation in otherwise stable elements is another source of intermediate length contamination, but it is very localized, confined to the area of neutron flux at the moment of the fission/fusion cycle.

“Nuclear winter” was a term created by Carl Sagan and embraced by Hollywood script writers. It has no basis in reality. A large scale exchange would put enough soot, smoke and dust into the air to cloud skies for a short time, but that’s all. Many volcanic eruptions in the last millennia have put far more ash into the atmosphere than every nuclear weapon on earth possibly could.

The most recent guidance that the government puts out now is so different from just 10 years ago and of course from back in the 1980s. They used to suggest plastic sheeting and taping up your home and planning to shelter for several weeks. Now they say just move to the center away from windows and stay inside for 48 hours.

I tend to think the guidance was updated based on better knowledge so while I think there are still tons of unknowns, there guidance sounds more grounded today.

But if the pandemic taught us anything it's that the government would seriously scramble in an emergency and it would take them years to get a place of reasonably being able to offer citizens help.

Also supply chain disruptions would be way more impactful than we all realized and of course we hoard stuff and we are mean to each other. I think we have very little hope.

Plastic sheeting still makes sense, because fallout is basically airborne dust that emits radiation, either as a Gamma ray, neutron, or an Alpha or Beta radiation. Plastic can’t do anything to stop neutrons or Gammas, but it will definitely block Alpha and diminish Beta penetration. And if you can keep the dust out in the first place, you have much less “hot” stuff in your area of shelter. Running a hepa filtering device inside will also help - as long as you have extra filters on hand and can dispose of the filters that have absorbed contaminated dust. And 48 hours isn’t long enough to stay inside. At 49 hours, radiation is down to about 10% of the level it was immediately post-blast. But that could still be highly dangerous if the initial level was lethal to begin with. For example, during testing of hydrogen bombs in the 60’s, the level of radiation in the crater created by the explosion tested 1-hour after detonation was about 30 rads per hour. 5 rads of exposure over a short period of time is generally considered lethal. So even a 10-minute exposure to radiation of that strength would be enough to kill most people. After another 48 hours, the levels are down to 3 rads per hour - 10% of what they were initially - but after just an hour and 20 minutes, you will have still received a lethal dose of radiation. Staying sheltered for another 21 days will allow for levels to fall to a fraction of the 3 rad per hour figure, since the decay rate falls exponentially over time. At 8 weeks radiation levels for Gammas, Alpha and Beta are mostly down to background levels again, with the exception of iodine, cesium and strontium, and any activated neutron sources. But those are relatively insignificant compared to the really highly radioactive stuff in the hours/days immediately post-blast. The more unstable an isotope is, the more radioactive it is. And really, really radioactive stuff doesn’t stay that way long because it’s decaying so fast -which is why it’s so radioactive to begin with. And that’s why it’s so important to be prepared to shelter for a minimum of 3-4 weeks in an area of moderate contamination, and up to 7-8 weeks in a place with severe contamination. But if you can do that your odds of survival are very, very high. Like 99th percentile-high. But supply chain disruptions and lack of basic infrastructure, utilities or food will be an enormous problem that will likely kill even more people than the blasts or after effects themselves.

After 8 weeks, then what? No animals will be left alive to eat. You'll be fighting for scraps with the MAGA preppers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very glad I live in unfashionable flyover.

You’re going to have to survive with a bunch of MAGA lunatics running around. Good luck.

The MAGA people I see around me are all decent, capable, law abiding family people. I don't agree with their politics but some of you have a very warped perspective of Trump voters in flyover.

+1 and I am not a Trumper

+1 and not a Trumper either, but people like the PP above NEED to brand people who support MAGA as lunatics so it can justify their own vicious hatefulness. Makes them feel good about themselves.

Nope. MAGA actions speak for themselves.

Your schtick is getting worn out.

I didn’t vote for Trump, but I will also acknowledge we didn’t have 22 page thread about a possible Russian nuclear attack during his presidency, either.

I have a serious case of buyer’s remorse with Joe Biden. I now look at the Trump-era fondly. I feel awkward admitting it, because I hate being wrong. But that’s how I feel.

GMAFB. You are blaming Biden for this?

“I voted for Biden but…” Sure you did. Liar.

NP. Fact remains we didn't have a potential nuclear war looming over us when Trump was president. He took a strong stance against Putin and put sanctions on the pipeline being built between Russia and Europe and warned of Europeans becoming too energy dependent on Russia. He called out NATO for taking advantage of the US, which NATO was doing. There are many, many, many things I disagree with Donald Trump but much of his foreign policy was actually on target. Despite all this, Trump got pilloried in the presses. But had the Germans and other nations not been so short sighted and shut down their nuclear plants in exchange for becoming energy dependent on Russia, had all the NATO countries lived up to their military spending obligations, Putin wouldn't be thinking the West is weak and divided and invading Ukraine. It's not to Joe Biden's credit that he removed the sanctions Trump put on the Russian pipeline. Nor do I think it was wise to have all the US embassies fly BLM and rainbow flags in despotic regions. In case you hadn't noticed, both Russia and China have been increasingly dismissive and aggressive since Biden took office and it's not hard to see why they may be thinking the US is weak.

The goal for each NATO country to reach 2% of their GDP was for 2024. Considering 2024 hasn’t yet happened, you can’t really say they didn’t live up to their obligations. Also, Trump started to dismantle NATO and ruin our relationships with our allies. If one wants to make baseless claims like you are, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to make the excuse that the members who had yet to project the 2% goal weren’t motivated to do so because they were worried about the state of NATO’s future due to Trump’s destructible behavior. He said multiple times he’d like to pull out of NATO. When someone asked him if he would adhere to Article 5, undoubtedly the most important aspect of NATO, if an ally was attacked, he responded, “That’s a good question isn’t it? I don’t know, it’s something I need to consider. The fact that he even answered the question in that manner proves he doesn’t know $hit about foreign policy, or any policy really, at all whatsoever. It would render NATO useless. And for anything to work, aside from signed contracts, treaties, agreements, etc. one also needs to adhere to the honor code. We already know Trump doesn’t give a crap about the rule of law, so acting like he would follow any sort of honor code is a flipping joke. Would you support pulling out of NATO?? Because that’s seemingly what you’re implying.

Further, Putin thinks the West is weak and divided because he helped to make it to at way. You’re living in la-la land if you think this is just an opportunity born out of convenience rather than a deliberate action on Putin’s part. Also, this “weakness” talk everyone keeps spewing is getting tiring. If you think Trump showed any strength, well…HAHAHAHAHA. You may be dumber than he is! He threw a temper tantrum over losing an election and TO THIS DAY, he is still crying about it. In fact, the other day on Fox he told Laura Ingraham that the reason for the Russia-Ukraine crisis is because of “the rigged election”. He refused to go to Biden’s inauguration. Anytime he was criticized it was “fake news”. The press was “constantly out to get him” according to him because he couldn’t handle anything less than groveling and praise, let alone constructive criticism. He fired anyone in his administration who wasn’t “loyal” enough in his eyes. He’s poisoned the Republican Party and continues to do so anytime someone in the party finds a spine and decides rightfully to defend the constitution instead of the orange blob of flubber with a bad hairdo. He does all of this because HE.IS.WEAK. Make no mistake, there’s not a single strength that trump possesses.

What a joke. So Western Europe didn't want to fund their own defense because Trump might not follow through and defend them? Doesn't sound real brilliant.

Yes, Merkel, Macron and Johnson hated Trump. He declared that he would act in America's interest, rather than "lead from behind" those three like Obama did. Of course they hated him. But frankly, I totally agree that NATO does not serve our interests. We bear the cost of defending Europe, subsidize their welfare state lifestyles and they undercut that defense by making deals with Russia AND routinely opposing US interests elsewhere (Iran especially) for $$. We need to let the European Union fund their own defense. They have a larger population than we do and a GDP that is close to ours (and lots bigger than Russia's.) We get nothing from the deal except arms sales.

Oh, please. If you don’t understand that Trump acted in no one’s interest, ever, but his own, you have a sub 70 IQ.

This exactly. The low level of intelligence of some of these Trumpers amazes me.

[Anonymous]

OP, this is a serious and thoughtful take on your question. https://youtu.be/ox8ZDbCNTCE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most insane threads I've ever read on DCUM.

All you paranoid folk must know nothing about nuclear war!!

Mutually Assured Destruction means just that. No one will survive. The planet will not survive. Everything and everyone on the planet will die.

Sorry, but that’s just not true. Lots of people will still survive. The planet will absolutely survive. The most dangerous radioactive materials in fallout are essentially gone after about 4-8 weeks. A few types of long lasting isotopes will remain but they aren’t nearly as radioactive as the other materials in fallout. You can read about this stuff on wiki. I did a lot of reading about this stuff last night. The radiation is very high in the first few days, then starts to reduce quickly. There’s a mathematical formula for it called the 7-10 rule. Google it.

Where did you read this?

A large scale nuclear attack between the USA and Russia would mean a nuclear winter that would kill most of the human race. If that wasn’t in the materials you read, they aren’t reliable. Period.

Sorry. You’re misinformed. Physics just doesn’t work out that way. Nuclear bombs aren’t magic. They’re just bombs - with some interesting side effects that subside on an entirely predictable mathematic timetable. 4-8 weeks is entirely correct in terms of fallout. Iodine 131, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 require more time but are produced in far smaller quantities relative to the more energetic isotopes produced in a fission cycle, which are the primary dangers from fallout. Localized neutron activation in otherwise stable elements is another source of intermediate length contamination, but it is very localized, confined to the area of neutron flux at the moment of the fission/fusion cycle.

“Nuclear winter” was a term created by Carl Sagan and embraced by Hollywood script writers. It has no basis in reality. A large scale exchange would put enough soot, smoke and dust into the air to cloud skies for a short time, but that’s all. Many volcanic eruptions in the last millennia have put far more ash into the atmosphere than every nuclear weapon on earth possibly could.

Okay, good luck with that. Enjoy the post apocalyptic hellscape following large scale nuclear war between us and Putin. You’re quite welcome to my share of the canned foods, I hope not to survive.

DP

Stay healthy and in good shape. I plan on surviving, and I might need to eat you at some point. Which I absolutely would (after humanely killing you, of course)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It also does not make me feel entirely secure that Ready.gov just updated the page on nuclear expolsions on 2-25-22. They wanted to remind everyone to wear a mask in the shelters. IIRC it used to have info involving duct tape and staying inside for two weeks. Now it's just 48 hours. https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion

The info says “If warned of an imminent attack, immediately get inside”
How do we get the warning? Everyone’s phones start buzzing like amber alert?

Remember when Hawaii got that false alarm a couple of years ago?

[Anonymous]

Omg. Really. Que sera sera. Whatever will be, will be. So astronomical pointless to fret about it.

[Anonymous]

Scouts learn to be prepared.