DH wants to build a bunker/shelter in the basement

[DHmad]

I wish I was kidding!

DH has decided it would be sensible to create a bunker/fall out shelter in the basement in case of nuclear war/war. I feel like he’s gone mad!

I wish my DH was more like that.

It's not a bad idea especially if you make it dual use - pantry area, office, spare bedroom etc. What harm can it do?

You can survive a nuclear bomb, depending on where a bomb hit and your location. But if you're 10-50 miles (all depending on the size of the bomb) outside the radius, you have enough food, water, and can haul up somewhere like a bunker/basement for a good few weeks - you'd be OK. If you can protect yourself from the immediate radiation for minimum 2 weeks (meaning not going outside) - any longer even better - seriously you'd do alright. Couldn't say what the world would be like after.... Probably no gas, electricity, halted supply chains, it would be chaos on a scale that has never been witnessed but it doesn't mean all life would be completely obliterated. Again depends on the circumstances, number of bombs, who and where was hit. But if your instinct is to survive at any cost then a bunker seriously increases your odds.

Your risk is from what is known as the 'fall out'. It's the radiation particles carried in the dust/wind. They can travel for hundreds of miles and cause radiation poisoning but they don't last long, every day they get weaker and weaker. After 2 weeks the radiation is down to around 1% (again depending on the bomb). If you had a safe place to stay out of the atmosphere for up to 6 weeks, you'd do well.

Most people would be forced to come out due to lack of supplies at home. But it's not like one nuclear bomb would take out the entire country.

Aside from nuclear war basements make a great place to start a wine collection, hide from Alien invasion, the next pandemic or just annoying in-laws, haha!

@Dottdoo 2 weeks ??? If they started a war there would be a hell of a lot more than 1 bomb which means much higher radiation - (think Chernobyl why do you think they still have an exclusion zone nb they also have one in Japan) radiation may have gone down but 2 weeks is really being optimistic (misguided) & a decrease in radiation doesn't mean its safe. Think months minimum

Why would anyone want to live? There will be no food nothing will grow , no technology. I'd rather die in the initial blast than die from slow radiation poisoning and starvation.

No you won't survive a nuclear bomb there will be an exchange of 1000s not 1 or 2.

Think yourself lucky. My husband just put 4 packets of pasta and sauce on the shopping list, just in case

Chernobyl happened in 1986 and people still can't go near there because of radiation. The aftermath was devastating and still is.
Cancers, birth defects etc.

I think 2 weeks would be a little optimistic.

Personally, I think hiding in a bunker/shelter is just delaying the inevitable.
Obviously depends on the bomb, but the real dangers (if you survived the initial blast and radiation) would be from other humans as we compete for the scarce resources that are left.

[quote mumwon]@Dottdoo 2 weeks ??? If they started a war there would be a hell of a lot more than 1 bomb which means much higher radiation - (think Chernobyl why do you think they still have an exclusion zone nb they also have one in Japan) radiation may have gone down but 2 weeks is really being optimistic (misguided) & a decrease in radiation doesn't mean its safe. Think months minimum[/quote]
But then which one of us is being the dramatic doomsdayer here?

Also remember that the number of deaths from Chernobyl was 31 (maybe 50 some squabbles over the number internationally).....afterwards that increased because of cancer rates but that was a nuclear power plant. Thousands of people were evacuated from Chernobyl and they were OK. Hundreds got cancer particularly thyroid but they still lived for 10-20yrs+

People survived hiroshima and nagasaki. Chernobyl was 400 times more powerful in terms of radiation than hiroshima because it wasn't a bomb. Hiroshima was far more immediately destructive. Two completely different nuclear incidents. Here we are talking about nuclear bombs specifically.

Survival can be achieved if you're outside the radius. People live in Hiroshima now but you can't in Chernobyl. It's different. So you can't use Chernobyl as an example as the effects and fall out for a nuclear bomb.

A nuclear bomb is devastating but it doesn't mean the entire country dies if people don't have a lead enforced bunker to live in for years. That's just not how radiation from a bomb would work.

Even a nuclear war doesn't necessarily mean that. It would be catastrophic but it doesn't mean end of world for everyone.

I'm not being optimistic - I'm just stating facts. Also you're quoting hiroshima as an example of why everyone in the UK would die suddenly makes no sense - did everyone in Japan die? No. Just those within the radius of the blast. Japan continues, life did not suddenly end throughout all of Japan. It was horrendous but two nuclear bombs didn't wipe Japan off the map, did it?

You're making an awful lot of assumptions that one nuclear bomb would mean all NATO countries would suddenly go on self destruct and start nuking everywhere. That makes no sense either.

So if someone wants to turn a basement into a second bedroom but also a potential place to hold up in a disaster more generally it's not that ridiculous.

It's more ridiculous to say one nuclear bomb is end of the world.

I think my view is more balanced and less doomsday.

If London got nuked and you're up in Manchester or Newcastle in a basement and you can ride it out for a good few weeks - you stand a decent chance of survival depending on the nature, scale and quantity of bombs.

Your whole house would probably be wiped out in a nuclear attack. so not much use doing a self built thing. Lots of extremely burning heat can develop after nuclear stuff. There is usually no escape for everyone, from serious nuclear attacks. If a nuclear bomb drops down, it will then spread out radiation. all over surrounding areas, far and wide.., and nothing much will be left of the land.

In all seriousness OP, I hope your DH is ok? I know there have been a few amused replies to this thread but it sounds as if he is very worried.

Many of us are feeling quite fragile and vulnerable post covid

Thank you @Dottdoo - a sensible post at last

@PriamFarrl

As it is I’d sooner go straight away the prolong it.

Me too!

This whole situation is making people so anxious, friends and I have discussed where would be the safest part of the country to be in if things got bad and stuff like that.

I've got absolutely no practical skills so I'm fine with being wiped out in the blast. That sounds better than getting eaten by other survivors when they realise I'm useless at everything.

Just wondering on the dining table front .. if you are supposed to put doors and soil on top, a) won't that knacker the varnish and b) does it matter what soil? I have some John Innes no.2 but will grow bags be suitable?

I

@Bornsloppy

I've got absolutely no practical skills so I'm fine with being wiped out in the blast. That sounds better than getting eaten by other survivors when they realise I'm useless at everything.

Me too. Plus, would there be any Mumsnet? If not, what's the point

It probably wouldn’t save him but I’d let him crack on… keeps him out ur hair and makes him feel better

I went into a military bunker once with work, and decided that I would rather take my chances than live like that for years possibly even decades. It was horrible, and made me feel really panicky. Most of the group I was with said exactly the same thing.

I'd be quite worried, OP, in all seriousness - that isn't a "normal" reaction and says that he's not coping very well. Time for a GP chat maybe? Or a session with a counsellor.

@Infinitemoon

I have looked at the old public information leaflet about how to survive. I haven't got any further yet, my DH just eyed me and made no comment.

😂😂😂

I grew up in the 80s with all the protect and survive etc

It's only in recent years that I've stopped looking at the horizon for mushroom clouds.

And it starts again. It's understandable to be anxious.

But it's not rational to think that if you live in a city a basement bomb shelter will save you.

Better safe than sorry and if things settle down you could rent it out on Spareroom for a bit of extra money. I've seen worse accommodation listed!

[quote ThoseFestiveLights]It was the official advice in the 80s!

And someone send me this today: looks like the government uploaded this over the weekend. Could be a coincidence. Or could be in case of nuclear attack…

www.gov.uk/alerts[/quote]
I think that plan was in the pipeline for a while, more intended for flood risks and weather events or terrorist attacks. I think it sends texts to people in the immediate area. Would also be used in the event of a nuclear attack (no air raid sirens anymore) but wasn't set up solely due to recent events in the Ukraine.

[quote ThoseFestiveLights]It was the official advice in the 80s!

And someone send me this today: looks like the government uploaded this over the weekend. Could be a coincidence. Or could be in case of nuclear attack…

www.gov.uk/alerts[/quote]
If you click on 'past alerts' at the bottom of that page, you can see that that service actually began in May 2021

Ask a Ukrainian if they think it's a mad idea.

Whilst I think it's a whole heap of work and expense to create something even barely functional, you only have to look at Putin's fucking dead-eyed stare to say, hand on heart, that I don't think it's the maddest idea your husband could have come up with.

Most places you would survive nuclear though. It’s not that the whole world is blown at the same time.
If you look at Chernobyl- most locals survived the ‘blast’, as it was contained to that small area. Those living within 30 miles eventually evacuated but didn’t get ‘ blasted’
If you look at the two Japanese ww2 nuclear bombs. Basically only those within a 1km zone of bombs dropped were actually killed, those inside solid buildings or outside that zone felt it, building glass broken etc but they survived. The whole city was quickly rebuilt and never evacuated as a nuclear no go zone, they are now prosperous cities.

If a nuclear bomb goes off and it’s within a certain size, the best thing is to go to a cellar or room without windows ( so glass can’t shatter and injure). As long as you aren’t in direct blast zone you will survive and the levels outside after 12/24 and 72 hrs greatly decrease.

www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53646820

You can see here with Hiroshima. Basically first 5km worse, 10km for damage. So if you lived even 10km away you would be continuing day to day life soon after

I would be jumping at this. It would give my DC and DP a project, make it a comfy usuable space where i could go and drink wine in peace. It would not be used as a bomb shelter, but i would go along with to pacify him.