Surviving Disaster TV show

[1984now]

Has anyone else seen this? "Surviving Disaster" featured an episode about a nuclear explosion in a city. It was pretty informative. There seems to be a lot of programming featuring this kind of scenerio lately.

[WildeWolff]

There was another thread recently about this..

If it interests you, your local public/college library probably has old civil fallout survival plans for your area (I stumbled across these while wandering a library basement; Turns out theyre everywhere)
Also, for the more entertaining side, check out Jericho and episode 1 of Flashforward

[isopsycho]

Originally Posted by WildeWolff

There was another thread recently about this..

If it interests you, your local public/college library probably has old civil fallout survival plans for your area (I stumbled across these while wandering a library basement; Turns out theyre everywhere)
Also, for the more entertaining side, check out Jericho and episode 1 of Flashforward

I liked Jericho, a little hocky on the radiation detection/avoidance scene, but its hollywood. I haven't heard of this Flashforward, I'll check it out!

Oh, another post-disaster TV show (though not nuke related, some plaque that wipes out all the adults) is Jeremiah. Its a survival in the post bad world.

[dman]

Here is link to Nuclear Doomsday episode on SPIKE TV "SURVIVING DISASTER"

http://www.spike.com/full-episode/nuclear-attack/34350

Aired this past week

[Backwoodscamper]

Originally Posted by dman

Here is link to Nuclear Doomsday episode on SPIKE TV "SURVIVING DISASTER"

http://www.spike.com/full-episode/nuclear-attack/34350

Aired this past week

Yes I watched it too, I thought it was very informative, especially when it was a home made bomb, made it even more realistic to me, we are mope apt to have a suicide bomber than an actual Nuke from another country, We also have a nuke plant near us too and thought the info given could even help with that scenario too. better odds of a suicide bomber or a nuke plant, very good info in the program, If you haven't watched it, check it out.

[LatinoHeat]

I have a question. I saw the episode of Surviving disaster, and he was talking about avoiding the fallout, the irradiated debris that eventually comes down. That's all well and good, but wouldn't a nuclear explosion send radiation out in all directions right away? I know next to nothing about radiation and how it works, but I always thought as soon as the blast happens, radiation would shoot out, even in the shockwave. Is this not how it happens? In the episode, the group that are about a mile away jump to the ground, cover their heads, open their mouths, and wait for the blast to go over them. Not a pleasant experience I'm sure, but my thinking was, wouldn't they have gotten radiation blasted at them as the blast was going over them? Again, I apologize if I sound like an idiot, but i really know nothing about this. Also, he says after a few days, the radiation levels should be low enough to go outside. Huh? Isn't it still dangerous to even walk through Chernobyl? Didn't it take years and years for the radiation to leave Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Or is this all in proportion to the size of the bomb being used and the amount of toxic waste being released? How does this all work?

[canadianprairieboy]

there is the pulse of radiation"like an x-ray" , then there is the fallout, the ash of the debris"takes weeks to months to become safe", and the plutonium from the bomb"takes thousands of years to become safe". i liked the show but it is way to politically correct.

[LatinoHeat]

Right, so, once the pulse of radiation hits you, like when they hit the ground, isn't that it, your irradiated?

[Backwoodscamper]

I understand what your trying to say. Think of it like a volcano, yes there is the initial blast but from mile high smoke and dust can travel much farther than the blast itself, Look at if Yellowstone volcano erupts, yes it erupted in yellowstone but the plume of smoke, dust and all, that will pretty much blanket pretty much all of N America. Basically it would be the same thing with a homemade nuke bomb, yes you have the initial blast but thats not all that kills, the fall out is radioactive dust that can also travel miles beyond the blast itself, Understand?? Go in the oposite direction of the wind if you are not in the initial blast itself if you can help it. The bomb in the program was nowhere even close to the size bomb used in the war.

[LatinoHeat]

Yeah, I kind've figured they used a smaller bomb, since it was in the van. I was just wondering because he goes through all these steps to getting out and away from the radiation, but I wondered, those people who just dove down to avoid the blast, that's it, they are irradiated. Sure, the others that were three miles away could get out, but those that were about a mile away, the ones who had to find shelter in the basement? Why bother? You are already irradiated.

[TMcArthur]

For a nuke of as small a yield as a truck bomb would have, the destructive effects are fairly limited in range. Being a ground burst, radiation injury would be limited to people who had direct LOS to the point of detonation. The same thing would be true for thermal injury. Any significant mass between you and ground zero would shield you from both.

In the low kiloton range the initial heat and radiation are emitted in a second at most. Duck and cover would only be useful to avoid blast effect. Because of the quirks of how smaller bombs work, at the sub-kiloton range the distance for lethal radiation injury could exceed the lethal range of any other effect. (OTOH, multi-megaton bombs have a thermal pulse that can last up to a minute. In that case duck and cover could also protect you from burns. If you are close enough to a high yield bomb to worry about initial radiation, you are dead many times over from other effects.)

The fallout would be limited due to the low yield. High radiation levels would drift several miles downwind and slowly spread crosswind to maybe a mile at most. You'd have time to walk to the nearest masonry building or subway tunnel for adequate shelter. (Obviously a bigger fission bomb would produce more fallout but that takes it beyond the range of a truck portable terrorist bomb into a realm of considerable technical sophistication.)

I don't worry about the low level radiation products, like minuscule amounts of leftover Plutonium. Yes it would last a long time. But you'll notice that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were never deemed uninhabitable and neither would DC be.

The serious blast effects would not extend beyond a half mile or so. Farther out you'd see light damage and broken glass for maybe a couple of miles. If you've ever been to the Mall, you could touch it off behind the Lincoln Memorial and easily have the President and Congress survive. It would sure suck to be a pedestrian around the Washington Monument, tho.