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Original poster

Would you even want to survive a nuclear fallout?

253 replies

Whose · 01/03/2022 13:27

Seeing loads of threads about bunkers and prepping etc etc

I have a friend who talks about this a lot and is deeply unimpressed with my stance of "honestly, I wouldn't want to survive the apocalypse anyway".

I like good cheese, and chocolate, I like wasting time on the Internet and going on holiday. I like hot showers.
The apocalypse sounds like it sucks. I haven't the first clue how to season a rat roasted on a stick, and cockroaches scare me. Camping is shit.

AIBU to think that in the case of a nuclear fallout, just instantly being wiped out sounds like the far nicer option?

OP posts:
MorningStarling · 01/03/2022 13:44

There's a difference between the world after an all-out war and the world after a nuclear bomb or two. A small number of nuclear bombs will not create the apocalypse a full-on war would.

If a bomb went off a few hundred miles away it's likely you would not be seriously affected by the immediate blast and ensuing firestorm. But all the material sucked up into the air will fall back to earth over a wide area, and this fallout is basically dust/ash that is radioactive.

Someone who is exposed to this fallout is at a great risk of developing cancer and other issues. Not necessarily immediately, but the radiation will cause illness and death eventually.

It's easy to limit your exposure as much as possible by staying as far away from the fallout as possible. Either physical distance, or through thick material which acts as a barrier. A basement or room in your house which is not directly connected to the outside is better than a room with a window. The top floor is obviously worst because the radioactive fallout will settle on the roof.

The question is, what will happen when the Russians drop a nuclear bomb on a NATO country? We have the ability to respond but will politicians think it's the best thing to do? A single nuclear bomb detonated over Birmingham might kill millions but it wouldn't be an end-of-the-world situation. If NATO responds it could quickly escalate of course and that would be that, there would be no point surviving it.

It's a matter of personal choice whether you would want to survive of course, but it would be a shame if you ended up in a situation where you wish you had prepared more.

It's true though that there could be a circumstance where the "lucky" people are the ones directly underneath the spot where the bomb is detonated, being vaporized isn't the worst way to go.

FusionChefGeoff · 01/03/2022 13:45

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EmmaGrundyForPM · 01/03/2022 13:45

@garlicandsapphires

Yes I would. It's madness I know but I'm curious about what life is like post nuclear war. Unimaginably horrific I assume and I'd probably wish I hadn't survived but still, yes I'd want to try. I don't think I'd survive very long though.
Watch The Road and then think again. I know it's a dystopian film but I'm of the view that it's fairly close to what it would be like to survive.
Leftbutcameback · 01/03/2022 13:45

No! We live close to a facility where there are nuclear weapons and I remember being told at school that we would be gone very quickly in the event of a nuclear attack. That seemed like the best outcome to me.

Last year I went to visit the nuclear bunker just near the M25. Pretty grim and scary.

stuntbubbles · 01/03/2022 13:45

I’d absolutely not want to survive or have my children survive, but my worst-case fear scenario is me dying but them surviving and having a horrible drawn-out death in the days after I go. Obviously I wouldn’t know about it, but thinking about such a possibility is almost unbearable.

hdjdjehhdhdvsv · 01/03/2022 13:47

If it wasn't nuclear I feel like it would be ok. But if it was then I don't know, I don't know a think about nuclear bombs and I purposely haven't looked it up because I'm scared of what it would be like.
If all of the buildings were broken and all of the shops were gone and I had to survive off the land then I would want to fight, BUT if the land and the water was poisoned then I don't know.
If my children were alive I don't know, I wouldn't be able to kill them I don't think. I hope my husband isn't working or away of it happens. He would know what to do I think.

berksandbeyond · 01/03/2022 13:47

You are correct and sound like my kind of person.
If shit does go down, I’ll be walking towards the mushroom cloud with a smile

Wakemeuuuup · 01/03/2022 13:47

Yanbu. If it happens I want to be directly under the bomb when it hits. My only wish is that my kid, DH and I are together when it happens.

Gardeningcreature · 01/03/2022 13:50

All those saying how do you know what it would be like clearly are too young to have lived through the Cold War and before.
Everyone was constantly under the threat of some maniac launching a nuclear war. We spoke about it at school, we watched videos on how to protect yourself if a nuclear war broke out. We saw images of desolation and pictures of how you would die painfully and slowly afterwards. I read Z for Zackaria. Lots of our teachers were CND supporters.

Anythingbutsnow · 01/03/2022 13:51

This makes me think what a total waste of time the last couple of years have been! If I'd have known we would be living under the threat of total wipe out, no way would I have stopped seeing my family, going out having fun etc etc. I would have lived life to the full and spent as much timr travelling, being with my loved ones as I could.

JPI7 · 01/03/2022 13:52

No.

It would become every person for themselves and humans would become savages to survive, killing each other for scraps of food. No one would survive long anyway. The whole world would die if there was a full scale nuclear war. The US and Russia have 11000 Nuclear weapons each. It would probably only take 10 to wipe out the Infastructure of the UK.

JPI7 · 01/03/2022 13:52

Between them

Cattenberg · 01/03/2022 13:53

Having seen (some of) Where The Wind Blows, I hope I’d be brave enough NOT to run into a nuclear shelter. I’d rather die instantly in the blast than slowly from radiation poisoning.

There are still a couple of small nuclear bunkers in my town - relics of the Cold War era. Apparently, in the event of a catastrophe they would be reserved for the local bigwigs. I’ve been inside one bunker - it was like a gloomy double garage. The bigwigs are welcome to it.

Francescaisstressed · 01/03/2022 13:53

@MorningStarling

There's a difference between the world after an all-out war and the world after a nuclear bomb or two. A small number of nuclear bombs will not create the apocalypse a full-on war would.

If a bomb went off a few hundred miles away it's likely you would not be seriously affected by the immediate blast and ensuing firestorm. But all the material sucked up into the air will fall back to earth over a wide area, and this fallout is basically dust/ash that is radioactive.

Someone who is exposed to this fallout is at a great risk of developing cancer and other issues. Not necessarily immediately, but the radiation will cause illness and death eventually.

It's easy to limit your exposure as much as possible by staying as far away from the fallout as possible. Either physical distance, or through thick material which acts as a barrier. A basement or room in your house which is not directly connected to the outside is better than a room with a window. The top floor is obviously worst because the radioactive fallout will settle on the roof.

The question is, what will happen when the Russians drop a nuclear bomb on a NATO country? We have the ability to respond but will politicians think it's the best thing to do? A single nuclear bomb detonated over Birmingham might kill millions but it wouldn't be an end-of-the-world situation. If NATO responds it could quickly escalate of course and that would be that, there would be no point surviving it.

It's a matter of personal choice whether you would want to survive of course, but it would be a shame if you ended up in a situation where you wish you had prepared more.

It's true though that there could be a circumstance where the "lucky" people are the ones directly underneath the spot where the bomb is detonated, being vaporized isn't the worst way to go.

But it's the long term with radioactive fall out isn't it - I'm thinking water sources, animals and agriculture depending on how many are dropped and where.

Ultimately if someone uses a nuclear weapon now, I can't imagine just one or two would be used it's either obliteration of the threat or bust.

There is absolutely no way I would want to survive is half of Britain had been wiped out. Even if you survived the radiation initially, think of the aftermath. If it did happen if like to go quickly. Thermoradiation and a slow death absolutely terrifies me.

BooksAndHooks · 01/03/2022 13:55

Nope not a chance. I’ve not interest in surviving that. I believe in living not existing and I don’t even want to think about what existing in the aftermath wold look like.

crossstitchingnana · 01/03/2022 13:56

I would not want to survive. Look at people panicking over petrol and loo roll. Now imagine most resources gone. Fuck that.

Gardeningcreature · 01/03/2022 13:57

I agree it totally would not be men spearing fish and women washing clothes in the stream.
It would be mass rape and pillaging. People ransacking everything including homes and taking what they wanted. The vulnerable would have to endure it or be killed.
Fighting, rioting and arson would take place en mass. People would fight to steal anything.
If I had young children I would smother them or poison them. For myself I would hope to die instantly.

daisyjgrey · 01/03/2022 14:00

Nope!

I won't even do dishes by hand, I've no chance in an apocalypse. Bath with the toaster it is!

Onlyrainbows · 01/03/2022 14:00

Morning Starling has a very good point. I have a basic understanding of this because of my PhD subject (nuclear era/holocaust in pop culture) and it really depends of how may bombs are detonated. IMO novichok would be even more lethal and impossible to survive. I once had a Japanese friend from Hiroshima whose grandma witnessed and survived the a-bomb so IT IS possible to survive but it depends on so many variables.

AffIt · 01/03/2022 14:01

I live about 40 miles away from Faslane, which would undoubtedly be a target.

Survival isn't something I would even have time to think about it in the event of a nuclear strike.

Bunnyfuller · 01/03/2022 14:03

@nearlyspringyay

Yes, I’m also curious. I’m on a bunch of meds, never really considered if an overdose of them could kill me?

I would certainly be wanting me and my family Togo in the immediate blast rather than fight to survive as you wait for the radiation to get you. I don’t care about me, but would not want my DC to have to nurse me or DH in our final days. Like many of you, I’m still in shock that we are even discussing this. My youngest is doing mocks at the moment, stressed to hell, my eldest working hard on an end of year project at college, DH studying for an exam…you just idly wonder how it’s going to end.

I can only see it ending well if someone takes Putin out

stairgates · 01/03/2022 14:04

Dont know?

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 01/03/2022 14:05

I can only see it ending well if someone takes Putin out

I strongly favour this motion. Although I was watching a programme last night about Claus von Stauffenberg who tried the same with Hitler.

bottleofbeer · 01/03/2022 14:07

If anybody would want to survive it then they haven't grasped how fucking horrendous a post nuclear war world would be.

SantasChestnuts · 01/03/2022 14:07

I look awful without mascara and a blow dry so I don't think a post apocalyptic existence is for me.