Is My Basement a Safe Shelter In Nuclear War?

I've been reading on sites that say the a house's basement would be a good place to go to avoid radiation fallout. But then I go to another site and it says the exact opposite. So, which is true? My basement has rock walls and they are roughly 2 feet wide. And it's about 6 feet underground. If I did what the sites say (go under table and have stuff on top) will I be safe?

You'd be safer in there than you'd be in your house

No matter how much food and water you have stored there, eventually you'd have to come out for more supplies, so depending on how much radioactive fallout there is in your area, you might only be prolonging the inevitable if you hide in an underground shelter.

Underground would be the best. Depends how close you are from ground zero. The heat alone will just incinerate you into dust. After the blast, you want to get away as far and as fast as you can from ground zero.

Homer Simpson's cardboard box. Seriously, its possible you will survive a nuclear fallout. But it depends on how prepared you are after that.

Barely, it will suffice for immeadiate protections. But to make sure radiological contamination don't permeate down through the above, you will need to construct a barrier. I can find a diagram of a layered barrier. Made of those cheap flimsy doors, that are just two thin plys, the hollow ones. Fill em with sand and layer it about four feet thick, be creative. The earth inside the layers of doors will absorb most contamination from the fall out.

When I find the link I'll post it, if some one else don't first.

The farther away from the contamination the better, virtical or horizontal.

Did a search for some things;

This handbook is written for radiation safety in shelters in areas that will not be affected by the primary nuclear weapons effects of blast, fire, and initial nuclear radiation. In a nuclear war, up to 90 percent of the land area of the 48 states of the United States could be covered with radioactive fallout that would deliver hazardous nuclear radiation to an unprotected person over a period of several days before decaying to much less hazardous levels.
Radiation Safety In Shelters

WHAT TO DO WITH LESS THAN 3 DAYS TO A NUCLEAR DISASTER!
Civil Defense

That should hold you over.

Also, there are many great threads/pages on ATS with info on nuke threats. One I remember has a diagram for blast and or fall out the radius, depending on what figures you put in. Really awsome site.

[edit on 21-9-2006 by ADVISOR]

It might, provided that the blast doesn't bring the house down on top of you. Problem is that odds are that you are not going to be home if a nuke does detonate. Think of this realistically, if you are close enough to a nuclear detonation that you are going to need immediate protection, odds are that you are already dead and don't know it. I'm old enough to have done the "Duck and Cover" drills in grade school. All of that was based off of the US and USSR having an all out nuclear exchange, with hundreds, if not thousands of nukes detonating. Chances of that happening these days are slim to none. Your main concern should be focused on the remote chance of a terrorist detonated dirty bomb or small nuclear device. If the blast doesn't immediately kill you then odds of your survival are actually pretty good, provided you get out of the fallout zone quickly and decontaminate yourself. If this should happen find a big old pipe wrench and open the nearest fire hydrant, turn it on and get into the water stream. Don't worry about removing your clothing, just get blasted with that water. That should take care of most of the fallout that may be on you and buy you time to be decontaminated by emergency teams. If you can't get to a fire hydrant then use a garden hose or anything else that will enable you to be deluged with water. Above all else DON'T PANIC! Panic will kill you quicker than anything.

Hmmm...things aren't looking good. I thought I'd just push a table over in my basement and hide under it

I'm beginning to think I'll need to be safer. There is a fallout shelter at my son's school. Maybe I can go there if something happens.

Originally posted by enjoies05
There is a fallout shelter at my son's school. Maybe I can go there if something happens.

Make sure to brings things of need, that way they will be more apt to let you in.

Things of need?

Maybe 3 kids and a wife. That might do it

best thing to do would go underground and use all types of layers for your walls. meaning soil, cement, metals, and maybe granite/quartz/rocks.


the soil would be on the outside basically because itll bond with the rest of the earth, then the rock, then the cement.

youll need more than 3 months worth of food if i remember correctly thats the timespan of radioactive gas lingering in the atmosphere. (depending on the magnitude of the gases emitted)

these drills are usually exciting. youll be read for it if you do most of what i mentioned. dont come outside though!

So pack dirt on the outside part of the wall around where I would be? Then get a table and pile wood and other junk on top? Thats what I've been reading.

It will be just fine. The only thing you'd have to modify is any points of air intake (windows, vents, etc.). And what you're wanting to do there is filter fall-out particles (not radiation). So this can be as simple as stapling cheesecloth over the airway so that particles of significant size get trapped.

Once you've done that, you should be protected adequately to not suffer significant radiation sickness.

**Disclaimer: This is all assuming you're not at ground zero which would mean your house and everything in your basement (including you) gets vaporized - but then again, if that's the case, you won't care, nor will you need a shelter. Don't sweat the stuff you have no control over!

you may want to take a look at my thread here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

there are two articles on there.
One talks about shelter and fallout, pretty cool.


mod edit to fix link

[edit on 21-9-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by Valhall
It will be just fine. The only thing you'd have to modify is any points of air intake (windows, vents, etc.). And what you're wanting to do there is filter fall-out particles (not radiation). So this can be as simple as stapling cheesecloth over the airway so that particles of significant size get trapped.

Once you've done that, you should be protected adequately to not suffer significant radiation sickness.

**Disclaimer: This is all assuming you're not at ground zero which would mean your house and everything in your basement (including you) gets vaporized - but then again, if that's the case, you won't care, nor will you need a shelter.

Don't sweat the stuff you have no control over!

Thank you, sir!

Please check out these two links. The first provides a realistic assessment of surviving a nuclear attack and the other provides a mapping tool to see just how deep the poo will be in your neck of the woods should something happen in a nearby city.

Nuclear Survivability

Nuke Maps

The vast majority of people will survive a nuclear detonation. It's waiting-out the fallout decay for several days where you'll need to stay in your basement shelter. Having enough supplies (especially water and personal hygiene arrangements) is going to be very, very important.

Yes, and no.
It depends on how far away you are from the detonation itself.
The closer you are, the less chance you have of surviving.
However, a basement alone offers little protection from radiation itself.
If your basement was treated, and prepared, set up as a fallout shelter, other than just a basement, then yes, you'd be safe, for awhile.

of course it depends on how close you are to detonation. a nuclear house hold wont survive if youre 100 miles from ground zero. and NO windows are not a good idea or vents, the idea is obviously not to breathe any of the harmful chemicals in. you might need tanks of fresh oxygen btw unless you want to breathe in bacteria all night and day. unless its a very clean shelter that is.

Originally posted by topsecretombomb
of course it depends on how close you are to detonation. a nuclear house hold wont survive if youre 100 miles from ground zero. and NO windows are not a good idea or vents, the idea is obviously not to breathe any of the harmful chemicals in. you might need tanks of fresh oxygen btw unless you want to breathe in bacteria all night and day. unless its a very clean shelter that is.

Not only does this not make sense but you are giving bad information. I suggest that you check out some nuclear survival sites and educate yourself. It is possible to survive within 100 miles of the blast, you can set up a basement transom window so fresh air can get into your shelter but radiation and fallout cannot. Futhermore oxygen tanks will not do anything to kill bacteria or keep you safe from chemicals, unless you suggest that you strap every member of your family to a tank for a couple of weeks? How much space is in your shelter, because mine does not have the capacity for many 02 tanks. The OP was looking for ways to protect his family, you did not help him. For some of us, this is a real worry, not taken lightly.

Looks like we might be needing the shelters soon

Originally posted by enjoies05
Looks like we might be needing the shelters soon

If you inform yourself and do some planning you'll do fine. The hardest part is making the leap from, "gee maybe I should get some duct tape and a few cans of soup to how can I shield my basement from gamma radiation and do I have room for shelves to store food in the utility closet?" Going from one place to the other takes an admission of the possiblity that something really bad could happen. It's hard.