To wonder if the government have started any planning on what if a nuclear weapon hit britain

[Gotajobthrunepotism]

Even in the current climate, I don’t actually believe that a nuclear bomb will be hitting the UK.

But I wondered if the government have prepared for the eventuality.

I heard that in the 70s/80s there were loads of leaflets and adverts of what we should do if we were attacked.

In other countries they have bomb shelters and sirens.

I wouldn’t have a clue what to do. The only thing I do know is that I would want to be with my family when it happened.

Anyone one else wonder about this?

I read these were pointless, hasn't stopped the panic buying though

Not pointless at all. They prevent the uptake of radioactive iodine and ceasium,which would then concentrate in the thyroid. Upping the intake of iodine ( which the thyroid need to function) prevent the radioactive elements from lodging there.
Dutch governments handed them out after chernobyl.

www.self.com/story/potassium-iodide-nuclear-attack

I bought these-
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09KS435GH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8
I wish I had taken them too then.

We will all be screwed anyway ,even if you are in a bunker you will st some point run out of food and water ,people can prattle on about our dreadful terrible government,but does anyone really want to live through a nuclear winter ,when most of your family are dead anyway?

In 1984, I'd just left home and was living in a houseshare. I was awoken at 6am one morning by the sound of an air raid siren. My flatmates had gone home so I was completely alone. Obviously there was no internet so no way of finding out what was happening. I just lay in my bed, chilled to the bone. After about 5 minutes it stopped, thank God and no bombs were dropped .Can you imagine how terrifying that was? Found out many years later it was supposed to be a silent test and someone had pressed the wrong button!

@youhadmeatjello please don't just give your toddler iodine as a preventative measure.

Also whilst iodine can help is not recommended for over 40s & obviously with a nuclear fallout you will be exposed to outside radiation & other isotopes

www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/emergencies/ki.htm#sideEffects

While the nuclear war scenario that will directly kill/injure millions of people is hopefully beyond credible possibility there are arrangements in place for all manner of nuclear releases near and far. These have existed for decades and are constantly practiced.

Even in the worst case situations akin to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with direct hits on densely populated areas, most people outside the cities will be unaffected, so it's far from 'kiss your arse goodbye' for the majority unless we're in a situation where there are multiple nuclear bombs dropped across the country.

Japan was hit by two nuclear bombs in 1945. Significant proportions (about 200 000 people) of the residents of those cities were killed in the blasts or died shortly afterwards due to conventional injuries or radiation related illness.

But from the other 77 million Japanese people alive at the time, about 650 000 were identified as 'explosion affected people' and the affects on these people have been formally studied to this day.

It's formed the basis of our knowledge of how radiation exposure affects people as their radiation dose could be assessed by noting where they were at the time of the blast.

Of those people, about 1% have been found to be made ill due to radiation exposure, despite receiving high radiation doses and despite it now being nearly 77 years later, a lot of the exposed people have lived long healthy lives and many are still alive today.

@MRex

General knowledge seems a bit weak around here. NATO has a deterrence and defence policy with US weapons in Europe. UK and France also have nuclear weapons to deploy if needed. Most importantly, there is the capability to destroy bombs before they land; so full destruction wouldn't happen though radioactive fallout is likely. The reason the US have weapons kept close, in Europe, is to have the response time to destroy any weapon launched before it reaches western Europe; that would leave a lot of destruction in Russia and for the sake of ordinary Russians let's hope Putin doesn't get that desperate.

🤣 I’m afraid that the idea that we can destroy any missiles before they land was a lovely Cold War fantasy. The technology to do so never got developed and never actually existed, and certainly never became a development priority after the end of the Cold War.

@Appalonia

In 1984, I'd just left home and was living in a houseshare. I was awoken at 6am one morning by the sound of an air raid siren. My flatmates had gone home so I was completely alone. Obviously there was no internet so no way of finding out what was happening. I just lay in my bed, chilled to the bone. After about 5 minutes it stopped, thank God and no bombs were dropped .Can you imagine how terrifying that was? Found out many years later it was supposed to be a silent test and someone had pressed the wrong button!

Jesus,that must have been terrifying I watched the film threads when it first came out ,it gave me nightmares for years .

There are stocks of iodine that will be distributed if necessary.

Stable iodine only protects against thyroid cancer, no other types of radiation related disease.

A lot of local people received high radioactive iodine exposure after the Chernobyl disaster. While there has been an increase in thyroid cancer, it's an easily treatable and survivable disease and a very very small proportion of the small proportion of people who were exposed to radioactive iodine from Chernobyl and went on to develop thyroid cancer died due to this.

@speakout I'm aware how it works & the first article you linked to echoes what I said

"It isn't effective against anything other than radioactive iodine, and it isn't recommended for people over 40,"

If nuclear bombs go off, there will be a lot more to worry about than just how much iodine your thyroid absorbs.

"Although it's possible for radioactive iodine to be present in most things that would release nuclear material, like a nuclear bomb, dirty bomb, or accidental or intentional release or leak, there are many other radioactive isotopes that may be present as well and can pose serious effects,"

A bunker is far better protection.

@FurryBandito that’s hilarious, thanks for that

The BBC podcast More or Less is great for debunking many of the misleading and completely rubbish statistics that fly around the internet.

After the Chernobyl series, they went through the numbers about iodine exposure and thyroid cancer.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz3r2

@BarbaraofSeville probably not the best time to read about Hiroshima and Nagasaki but this was truly despicable!! Those poor, poor people, I was reading that Nagasaki was only hit because of bad weather conditions for the first choice ! The worse part I found that the perpetrators seemed to have no conscience of what they had done !! Devoid of any human emotion

Aren’t current nuclear bombs much larger than the ones that hit Japan?

@Esspee

We Scots in the central belt would be the first to go as Faslane Naval Base is a prime target. We will be praying we get Independence before there’s a nuclear war because one of the first things that will happen when Scotland reverts to being an independent country is that we will send all the nuclear submarines to England probably Milford Haven.

Which is in Wales…

New Zealand will be fucked too in the event of a nuclear war.

New Zealand will be fucked too in the event of a nuclear war.

I just read an interesting article about that today. Things won't be great, but we certainly won't be as fucked as the rest of you!

If there was a plan, they would have told us what to do!

Another vote for the Atomic Hobo podcast, pp. So many people told me never to watch Threads that I listen to her four minute breakdowns instead! (When I can cope with them )

She has done lots of episodes about UK policy in case of nuclear attack over the years.

@toomuchlaundry

Aren’t current nuclear bombs much larger than the ones that hit Japan?

Yes, unfortunately - many many times. They also can have multiple bombs contained within one warhead.

The 1945 bombs were fission bombs. Many contemporary nuclear warheads are fusion bombs, which can be up to 1,000 times bigger and deadlier than the WW2 ones.

Aren’t current nuclear bombs much larger than the ones that hit Japan?

According to the BBC

"The bomb that killed up to 146,000 people in Hiroshima, Japan, during World War Two, was 15 kilotons.
And nuclear warheads today can be more than 1,000 kilotons."

@SquirrelG

New Zealand will be fucked too in the event of a nuclear war.

I just read an interesting article about that today. Things won't be great, but we certainly won't be as fucked as the rest of you!

No one comes off well. I'm pretty sure NZ would be fucked.

Years ago I worked in an office which actually had a nuclear bunker because it had been a Bank of England building. It is now a shopping centre, no idea if the bunker is still there.

No one comes off well. I'm pretty sure NZ would be fucked

If you read Nevil Shute's On the Beach, the radiation gets everyone in the end - it is set in Australia but mentions people getting radiation sickness in New Zealand. I don't know if that would actually happen in real life - I guess it depends if each side send a couple of warheads and then stop, so areas of the world are still habitable, or whether they really do go mad and go for annihilation.

We Scots in the central belt would be the first to go as Faslane Naval Base is a prime target. We will be praying we get Independence before there’s a nuclear war

Faslane wouldn't be the target because the subs are generally on the open seas, they're not all sitting there waiting to be nuked themselves. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be a target. But I live near a variety of Army and RAF bases, so I am probably close to a target too.

There are underground bunkers for royals and government. If you’re in London I guess the underground but it’s not just about impact. Radiation would mean you can’t come out for years! I’d be reaching for the wine and my family.