Practical questions about prepping for nuclear fallout shelter

[newproblemnewname]

OK, recent news is making me think once more about adding to my prepper stash, which I started when Trump first got elected.

I've got a cellar under the house, with loads and loads of junk in it including lots of camping gear, so far so good. Got 50 litres of bottled water and a few tins, cous cous etc down there.

The cellar gets damp and has air bricks in it i.e. HOLES in the walls to let fresh air in. I guess I need to hang covers on the walls near the air bricks which I can put in place to seal the place up if we know there is going to be fallout. Any ideas how to do this? What sort of materials should I use given that I can't really stick massive bits of stone or brick to the wall? How to best get them air tight?

What dose of iodiene tablets should I and my 2 year old take, and are you supposed to take them preventatively?

Am I right in thinking that fallout is like dust, so will blow in and settle on things much like dust does? But a cotton sheet, for example, isn't enough to protect against it - would it go through a sheet or destroy the sheet? Anything to help me visualise the stuff please, I can't get my head around it. I assume it is invisible?

I also need more ideas for non-perishable things to eat cold please, although if the electricity is still on I may be able to bring the microwave down there on an extension lead. Don't know if I should assume I'd be able to pop back up to the kitchen for things like that or not...

ifailed - you seriously ask people to refer to a fictional book to get an idea of what life would be like after a nucleur attack?

If we faced all-out nuclear war, it's a good a depiction as any. For the 85% of the UK population, the idea that they can emerge from the cellar after a few days and pick up where they left off is laughable. Country dwellers may stand a better chance, but even then it would be harsh, 15 years after Chernobyl, farms in Wales were still under restrictions on sheep movement due to radiation fall-out. Wales is 1,500 miles away from Chernobyl.

Ifailed

Radiation from Chernobyl is completely different to nuclear weapon fallout. A burning reactor produces far far more radiation than a bomb.

Personally I am more worried about a EMP strike!

ifailed - you seriously ask people to refer to a fictional book to get an idea of what life would be like after a nucleur attack?

Much fiction is very well researched.

Kursk

If you've already made the mad step to fire nuclear weapons, what better then to target a nuclear reactor?

The UK has the largest cache of Plutonium in the world, 118 tonnes of at at Sellafield. Nuke that and we are all fucked.

Ifailed

There are much higher value targets than a nuclear plant, they would be far down the list.

Reading would be one of the first targets

Kursk
According to this map, pretty well everywhere would be fucked. Still, nice to know where you could buy a nice house in the run-up to Armageddon.

Ifailed

I saw that map, it's a map of potential targets. They would not all be hit in a nuclear exchange. It's widely accepted that the U.K. Would surrender after 3 strikes, so that would be 3 targets on the map with the highest military value

It's widely accepted that the U.K. Would surrender after 3 strikes

Is it - where is this essential info published?

I'll dig out the link, it was on a Prepper board a couple years ago

Actually having researched the effects, I'm more reassured rather than less. Information about air filtering etc. It's not as intense as I thought. And a single bomb has a much smaller blast radius/fallout zone than I thought.

I, this afternoon, re-watched 'The War Game', the film that was made by Peter Watkins for the BBC in the 1960s and pulled by the powers that be because (I guess) they didn't want .......public disorder. It was shown again with Threads, many years later. Only once though.

It's 50 years old and was made for pennies but it's still..........Well. I can see why they pulled it from public airing.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00AX0OAZI/ref=mp_s_a_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1502572769&sr=8-15&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=inverter&tag=mumsnetforum-21

Sorry it was this one

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00ALRS1AS/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1502572769&sr=8-11&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=inverter&tag=mumsnetforum-21

I see we're comfortably within the air blast radius so that's good. I've seen Threads.

Now and EMP strike would be much harder. No quick way out expect for suicide and a very scary place to be.

I'm far more bothered about a cyber attack on the electrical grid. I think blackout had far more effect on me than any nuclear thing because it's a bit more 'real' for want of a better word.

Yes. In fact, if anything, I thought it was a bit understated.

Whatthefoxgoingon

EMP is very survivable, you just need to be prepared for economic and civil collapse

....just....??

cozietoesie

Yes, stock the usual food and water, stock up on hand powered items.

I can't see the grid being up any time soon after emp. We'd die of starvation, lack of fuel, disease (chest infection, perforated appendix, no appropriate antibiotics, no surgery), no police or social order, murdered, raped etc etc. Cheery thought!