Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
one sitting underneath the table. Remember, the first couple of days, and especially the first
seven hours, are the most critical times to try and get the maximum shielding from gamma ray
radiation while the fallout is at its maximally lethal radiation intensity. After forty-eight hours,
the fallout will have reduced to roughly 1 percent of its original radiation level. The more
shielding you can take advantage of, and the longer the period of time, the better.
Protecting Yourself from Radioactive Contamination
The primary ways for radioactive contamination to lodge inside your body is to breathe it in
through your lungs, ingest contaminated food or water, or absorb it through your skin. If you
have access to a common painter's respirator with carbon-filter canisters (way better than noth-
ing), an army surplus gas mask (better), or a hazmat gas mask (better), or a self-contained
breathing apparatus (best), these will eliminate most or all of the radioactive particles from the
air you breath. Their continuous use is highly recommended during the critical first forty-eight
hours after a nuclear disaster, or if you need to travel through a contaminated zone during your
evacuation. Running water through a water filter with a carbon-block cartridge will similarly
filter out most radioactive components from drinking water, since they will generally be stuck
to larger particles that are removed by the filter. Beware of drinking from contaminated open
waters. After the World War II bombing of Hiroshima, thousands of people sought refuge in the
local rivers and ponds, unwittingly ingesting large amounts of radioactive material from the
contaminated water.
If you can't find shelter in a suitable basement room, I suggest you find a windowless room
in the center of a building that has sheetrock or plaster on the walls (sheetrock is a dense mater-
ial that is also quite effective at blocking air flow). Try to seal off the door, and any windows,
with duct tape and plastic sheeting to minimize air penetration. If you happen to have access to
a tank of compressed air, such as a scuba diver's air tank, you may open the tank's valve every
so often to allow a supply of fresh air to bleed into the room, providing “positive pressure,”
which ensures that air primarily flows toward the outside from the room in which you are shel-
tering, thus preventing contaminated air from flowing into the shelter. If you must go outside, I
suggest you shake your clothes often, change clothes at the door to your shelter, and leave your
contaminated clothing in an entry area so as to minimize contamination of your shelter area. If
you have a source for electric power, the use of a HEPA-type portable air filter will continu-
ously sweep radioactive particles out of the air inside your shelter. The filter itself will become
progressively more radioactive as it filters particles out of the air, so keep your distance from it.
