If the balloon goes up

[bigpaul]

I would always WANT to survive as long as I could, whether I could depends on the event as previous reply.

[Straight Shooter]

Who would not want to survive ? To the last ? We are not young men BP ! For my part I have health issues on two fronts along with others on here .....so I remain optimistic ,practical and realistic although I may lack tip top health I make up in fight and determination .....for as long as I have the will , I never say die ....until I actually do anyway .

[bigpaul]

my health is fairly good, not as bad as some my age and better than many 20 years younger.
remember that this country has an Obesity crisis much of it brought on by a diet of MacD's and KFC's.
you and I have a better chance of living to a ripe old age than many who dont know what a balanced diet is and have never eaten fresh fruit or fresh anything.

[Joe]

I would say the location is key, long term survival in the Uk will be extremely difficult after a full scale event.
To break it down:
Initial blast and thermal shock.
Primary fall out down wind.
Secondary fall out over weeks and months.
Climate change effects several months to years after the event.

The first two events are not too difficult to deal with but most will struggle with the third and fourth if they decide to stay in the Uk. When the balloon goes up you want to be in the Southern Hemisphere to have half a chance

Interesting choice of title for the thread,

[bigpaul]

fall out can travel hundreds and thousands of miles in days and weeks following the initial explosion, not even the Southern Hemisphere would be safe.

[bigpaul]

whatever Russia does to Nato, Nato can do to Russia.

[Joe]

BP you are 100% correct, the reason for using the Southern Hemisphere is reduced levels as opposed to zero levels. It’s a game of statistics, you want to add in every action that can reduce exposure levels in the first few months. Going down to somewhere like Argentina might reduce by a certain amount, staying inside gives another benefit, monitoring levels gives another benefit, etc.
Every small action combined may take your chances from zero to something that gives you even a small chance. Preppers don’t roll over and die easily.

[bigpaul]

I dont think any Brit would be welcome in Argentina!!
may have to try somewhere else.
I'm staying right where I am, location, weather and wind direction are in my favour.

[bigpaul]

better keep your eyes on Chernobyl, the Russians have cut off power to the plant and the (Ukrainian) staff cant cool the reactors, could lead to another explosion.

[Pete Grey]

I’m trying to remember information on fallout from the old government publication “The effects of nuclear weapons”.

Remember the seven-ten rule for the decay of radiation from fallout.

I’m used to the old unit of exposure to radioactivity the roentgen. A total dose of 400R is fatal to 50% of those exposed, medical treatment is essential, 600R is 100% fatal.

The coarsest fallout starts to fall shortly after the blast (maybe twenty minutes ?). This may give a little time to find shelter, two to three foot of concrete or three foot of packed earth is good.

When the initial fallout has settled call the radiation 100%. It may be 2000R/hr or it may be 5000R/hr, who knows.

If 5000R/hr initially after seven hours radiation drops to 10%. 500R/hr.

After forty-eight hours radiation drops to 1%. 50R/hr. You could possibly leave your shelter, wearing disposable clothing for a few MINUTES only if essential, contaminated clothing is then thrown out of shelter.

After fourteen days radiation drops to 0.1%. 5R/hr. You can then leave your shelter for longer, again with disposable clothing.

After three months radiation would be down to around 0.5 R/hr. a relatively (not normal) life could begin a few hours each day out of the shelter, certainly still sleeping inside.

This is all from memory, from the 1970s.

It’s a lottery, no one knows what would happen , no doubt cancer’s would be more common, life would be terribly hard, but people will survive.