how would you protect yourself in case of nuclear war erupts ?

Answer 1

move to the moon. I heard it's nice and cool there.

Answer 2

The best way to survive a nuclear war is not to have one.

The second best way is to not be near a target when it happens.

If proximity to a target is unavoidable, then the two things that will improve your chances of survivng the 'exchange' and its immediate effects both depend on measurements. The farther you can be from ground zero, the better. The more stuff (and I don't mean 'things', I mean pounds of material (dirt, lead, water, rock, even feathers) you can put between you and the radiation, the better.

If you are able to survive the initial blast (and that includes the initial sleet of radiation particles, the thermal pulse, and the blast overpressure 'shock wave' (@2 miles from the Hiroshima blast the overpressure was less than 1PSI - doesn't sound like much until you realize that it would hit an 8 ft X 12 ft wall like a seven-ton hammer)), and THAT depends on the size and type of 'devices' used in your area (and R&D on nuclear weapons, counterintuituvely, makes a war MORE survivable - more efficient fission/fusion effect mean less having to rely on multi-megaton 'city busters' to achieve desired effects) and your distance from the target, your major concern is fallout protection. RobEllison01 has that pretty well covered.

The really dangerous radiation effects of nuclear fallout are from the short half-life isotopes, the effects of which drop off quickly. It's best to have a good radiation meter to make sure your rad levels are down, but rule of thumb is that after about six weeks you should be able to go outside your shelter for extended periods of time (2-4 hours/day) without suffering acute effects of radiation exposure.

The isotopes with half-lives in the range of 1000's of years give so little radiation that it's like getting a few extra X-rays from your dentist each year. That's why they take so long to decay. Granted, you don't want to ingest/inhale these products because then your exposure becomes acute, but just being around them isn't a problem. Again, distance and stuff. Just take a nice shower before you go back into your shelter. Besides, you're so much more likely to die from a lack of infrastructure (medical care for the plagues that are likely to break out, starvation from a lack of easily transportable food, gangs pillaging to obtain same, etc.) that the long-term effects of radiation exposure (a few percent increase in the rate of cancer, etc.) aren't worth worrying about .

Answer 3

If you survive the blast, the major concern is ingestion and inhilataion of the contamination. A decent ion chamber bought off eBay would be beneficial to accurately monitor dose rates in your area. But a GM detector would be required to judge the contamination level of food and water. Obviously the best way to protect yourself is to wear a full face respirator and disposable Tyvek, or rain gear, with rubber gloves and booties. But most people arent going to have these items available when they are most needed. A dust mask will help prevent larger airborn particulate intake, and that would be a minimum for outside adventures. In the home I would seal all windows and doors with duct tape. One source of air going in to the house would have several filters, such as furnace filters, and a tight cloth on the outside and inside. I would watch the dose rates on this filter, and keep it away from the more heavily occupied areas of the house.
Dont forget, many of the isotopes left behind after a criticality decay very quickly. The longer lived isotopes are generally easy to clean up. We might not all turn into mutants like Hollywood suggests.

Answer 4

If you survive the blast, you can wait for the thermal wave to grab you and smash you against the debris that formerly was your house. Then you can look for some bactine to treat the 3rd degree burns all over your body. Oh--you don't want to ingest and/or inhale any bad stuff, so don't breathe, ok? If you start coughing up blood, shame on you, you snuck a breath here or there. A dust mask will look stylish, if it wasn't consumed in the firestorm that swept over the landscape. Don't forget, many of the isotopes left behind after a criticality decay very quickly. OK, some of them hang around for 24,000 years, but who's counting? Remember, the thousands of Chernobyl children that are permanently hospitalized and critically ill with severe Leukemia, hyper plasma of the thyroid, and other cancer sicknesses forgot to wear their dust masks!

7/26/06 Update: message received --

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From: robellison01

Subject: Idiot

Message: Your five minutes of internet searching really spells out the ignorance of the general population. You are one of the millions of idiots who knows absolutely nothing about radiation, let alone fission, but you have all the answers. Why dont you leave questions that you dont actually know the answer to alone. And yes stupid, I work with those 24000 year half life isotopes. All the rest of them as well, I process radioactive waste for power plants. In the past I cleaned up DOE and AEC sites. Ive seen things that you couldnt begin to imagine.
Idiot.

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I apologize for getting cute with your highly detailed, well presented technical information. What concerns me about all the cheerful analysis, if you haven't yet grasped the sardonic tone of my original message, is that there are those among us who are happy to think the unthinkable--a nuclear exchange that would forever alter not just health outcomes for the unlucky millions (who would either be crispy-fried in an instant, or die slow, painful deaths from radiation poisoning). But also the fundamental fabric of society and what it means to be a living creature on this earth. We can (cheerfully) debate the optimum radius of the exclusion zone around each blast site (for Chernobyl, it is 30km), or the possiblities for a "nuclear winter" which would devastate the earth's ecology.

Or we can decide that playing with nuclear fire is not a game for adults. Reducing tensions around the world, working patiently to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology, even taking out al-Qaeda, are not as sexy as firing up the old ion chamber, but they are much better for your thyroid than a dust mask, I assure you.

In answer to the original question (remember that?), I'd curl up with two good books: Samuel Beckett's play, Endgame, and the Bible. And yes, I'll share my basement and canned tuna with you.

Answer 5

In the 50's you were supposed to hide with under a desk, and put your hands over your head, because believe it or not, your hands are, in fact, Nuclear proof!

Answer 6

believe it or not, no one would survive if it erupts today
too much research on nuclear weapons and very less research on nuclear safety and protection

peace! peace! peace!

Answer 7

There is no prtection really, but I forget sometimes a whole new generation has grown up that doesn't know that.

Answer 8

Build yourself a very deep bomb shelter. Like in the movie Blast from the past... Peace be with you... I don't think it would reach that far....

Answer 9

These days they have new tech bombs, bunker busters, etc. so it depends on the bombs they throw at you, which of course, you do not know so I can't really answer your question, or anybody else for that matter.

Answer 10

Watching from space I have no need to protect myself. Silly earthlings.