- Home
- Emergency Planning
- Disaster-Specific
- Nuclear Event
- See Next
Essential Steps to Survive a Nuclear Event
A nuclear weapon is a device that uses a nuclear reaction to create an explosion with intense light, heat, a damaging pressure wave, and widespread radioactive fallout. This fallout can cause significant damage and casualties and contaminate the air, water, and ground over extensive areas, depending on the weapon yield and environmental conditions. All nuclear devices cause deadly effects when detonated. These devices can include large-scale weapons launched by intercontinental missiles from hostile nations. They may also take the form of a small and portable Improvised Nuclear Device (IND). These devices are assembled using non-standard components and could be detonated by a terrorist organization or a lone actor.
Disaster Planning
Likely Targets
strategic missile sites, military bases
centers like Washington, DC, state capitals
major ports, airfields, and transit hubs
communication centers, electrical power plants
manufacturing hubs, technology districts, and financial centers
petroleum refineries and related processing facilities
Factors for degree of damage
Degree of Damage
weapons yield in kilotons or megatons
specifics of design and fuel used
explosion in the air (EMP) or at the earth’s surface
densely or sparsely populated areas
time of year, time of day, weather conditions
Disaster Planning
An explosion will release three distinct forms of destructive energy: explosive blast, radiation, and fallout.
Explosive Blast
The blast can cause death, injury, and damage to structures several miles out. Much of the damage inflicted by a nuclear explosion is the result of its shock wave. There are two components to a blast’s shock wave: pressure and wind.
Shock Front - First, there’s the shock front that rapidly expands outward from the explosion. This intense, rising pressure—measured in psi (pounds per square inch)—is what can blow away walls and other structural components. For example, a typical two-story house exposed to a pressure of 5 psi might experience forces equivalent to roughly 180 tons on the side facing the blast. Effects can vary depending on explosion yield, distance, and building construction.
Wind - Additionally, the blast creates a 160-mile-an-hour wind. And that’s only at 5 psi. The wind speed following a 20-psi blast would be 500 mph!
Radiation
Radiation is a form of energy that travels at the speed of light. In a nuclear explosion, two primary types of radiation are produced: prompt nuclear radiation and thermal radiation.
Prompt Nuclear Radiation - During the detonation, rapid nuclear fission (or fusion) reactions release a burst of high-energy radiation—mainly gamma rays and neutrons. This prompt radiation occurs within seconds to about a minute after the explosion and can penetrate living tissue, causing severe cellular damage, radiation sickness, or death depending on the dose and duration of exposure.
Thermal Radiation - Thermal radiation produces an intensely bright flash of light, visible from hundreds of miles away. This flash can result in flash blindness—temporary, or in extreme cases, permanent vision loss—if one is directly exposed. The intense heat from thermal radiation can ignite fires, cause severe burn injuries, and damage structures several miles from ground zero.
For a one-megaton explosion, the estimated burn distances are:
- 7 miles away = 1st degree burns
- 6 miles away = 2nd degree burns
- 5 miles away = 3rd degree burns
Radioactive Fallout
Nuclear Fallout refers to the radioactive material that descends slowly from the atmosphere after a nuclear detonation. When a nuclear weapon is detonated aboveground, radioactive materials are sent as high as 50 miles into the atmosphere. This depends on the weapon yield and explosion conditions.
The fallout pattern depends on wind speed, wind direction, and terrain. Being downwind will significantly affect how quickly fallout reaches your location.
Large particles fall to the ground near the explosion site, but lighter particles and gases travel into the upper atmosphere. The particles that are swept up into the atmosphere and fall back down to Earth are called fallout. These particles emit penetrating radiation that can cause radiation exposure and can injure people.
Radiation Sickness Symptoms
- skin redness and blistering
- bleeding from nose, mouth
- bleeding from rectum
- bloody stool and diarrhea
- nausea and vomiting
- confusion and fainting
- fatigue and weakness
- dehydration and fever
- bruising and hair loss
- skin inflammation
- open sores on the skin
- skin sloughing
- ulcers of mouth
- ulcers of esophagus
- ulcers of intestines
- ulcers of stomach
Disaster Planning
Choose a Shelter Location
Identify the best shelter location at home and near where you spend a lot of time, such as work and school. If you spend a lot of time commuting to work or other places, identify appropriate shelters you could use along the way.
Best locations
- any place with thick and dense walls and roofs - brick or concrete buildings are best
- underground areas like basements
- no basement - choose an interior room that can be sealed effectively and preferably one not adjacent to exterior walls
- subways and tunnels
- a windowless center area of middle floors in larger buildings
Unsafe locations
- anywhere outside
- any type of vehicle or mobile home
Learn Protection Protocol
The three factors to protect yourself from nuclear detonation are shielding, distance, and time. Any protection you can get, however temporary, is better than none. The more shielding, distance, and time you can take advantage of, the better off you will be.
Shielding - To protect against radioactive fallout, seek shelter in an underground area or the central parts of a sturdy building. The more barriers you have between yourself and the fallout particles, the better. Dense and heavy materials such as thick walls, concrete, bricks, stacks of books, or bags filled with earth provide the most effective shielding.
Distance - The more distance between you and the fallout particles, the better. An underground area such as a home or office building basement offers more protection than the first floor of a building. A floor near the middle of a high-rise may be better, depending on what is nearby at that level on which significant fallout particles would collect. Flat roofs collect fallout particles, so the top floor is not a good choice, nor is a floor adjacent to a neighboring flat roof.
Time - Fallout radiation loses its intensity rapidly. After the first 24 hours, radiation levels may decrease by approximately 80% under typical conditions. You should not leave your shelter during this time. Radioactive fallout poses the greatest threat to people during the first two weeks, by which time it has declined to about 1% of its initial radiation level. Your safest bet is to stay put for two weeks. If you're not home, that may not be possible.
Store Emergency Kits
Make sure you have emergency kits stored at home and at places you frequent just in case you need to shelter-in-place for at least 24 hours.
Grab & Go Bags
You don't have to evacuate from your home to reap the benefits of an evacuation kit. If you need to shelter in place for at least 24 hours to avoid the most dangerous fallout period, having a grab & go bag for each family member will give you food, water, cell phone charging capability, a hand-crank or other battery-powered radio, and other supplies to help see you through. It will even provide a change of clothing if decontamination is needed. Just make sure you grab your supplies on your way to your in-home shelter location.
Away-from-home Kits
If your child is at school or you are at work when shelter-in-place is necessary, a school kit and office kit will provide you with much-appreciated supplies. If you are driving and have to take shelter inside a building, you'll be able to grab your auto kit which will provide some of the same supplies.
Creating a Hazard Kit
A hazard kit will provide aid and protection against multiple hazards. Some items overlap and can be useful for different types of hazards. Store your hazard kit in the room designated for shelter-in-place.
- Mira Safety CM-6M gas mask and filters
- N95 particulate respirator
- radiation detector - (such as a RadTriage device or a Geiger counter)
- potassium iodide
- disposable gloves
- duct tape, scissors & plastic sheeting
- towels, wax paper, or foil
- heavy duty trash bags
- soap, baby shampoo & sponge
Disaster Planning
Get Inside
When an attack is either imminent or happening, apply the three key protection principles: shielding, distance, and time.
With a warning
- Act immediately
- If you are home, grab your kids, your pets, your grab & go bags, and head to your shelter location.
- If you're outside, immediately go inside the nearest building and move away from the window. This will help protect from the blast, heat, and radiation of the detonation.
- If you are driving, keep the car windows and vents closed and use recirculating air. Pull over and find a sturdy building and go inside. Take your auto kit with you.
Without a warning
- Avoid looking directly at the flash or fireball, as it can cause temporary or permanent blindness.
- Take cover from the blast behind anything that might offer protection. Lie face down on the ground and cover your head to protect exposed skin from the heat and flying debris. If the explosion is some distance away, it could take 30 seconds or more for the blast wave to hit.
- If you are in a vehicle, stop safely, and duck down within the vehicle.
- After the shock wave passes, get inside the nearest but best-suited shelter location (like a basement or the middle of a building) for protection from potential fallout.
- You may have 10 minutes or more before the fallout arrives to find adequate shelter, depending on how close you are to the blast.
- Be inside before the fallout arrives.
- If you are exposed to fallout before reaching shelter, once inside, immediately follow decontamination procedures (see below).
Stay Inside
Once inside, stay where you are, even if you are separated from your family.
- Inside is the safest place for all people in the impacted area.
- Radiation levels are extremely dangerous right after the blast, then dissipate from there. At hour 24, the levels will have reduced dramatically.
- Expect to stay where you are at least 24 hours unless told otherwise by officials.
- Family should stay where they are inside. Reunite later to avoid exposure to dangerous radiation.
- Keep your pets with you.
Stay Tuned
This is the time to be cautious and listen to the authorities for guidance.
- Battery-operated and hand-crank radios will function after a nuclear detonation. Cell phone, text messaging, television, and internet services may be disrupted or unavailable.
- Tune into any media available for official information from emergency response officials.
- If advised to evacuate, listen for information about routes, shelters, and procedures.
- If you get evacuated, do not return until you are told it is safe to do so by local officials.
Decontamination
If you were outside when the fallout reached your area, get clean as soon as possible, to remove radioactive material that may have settled on your body.
- Remove your outer layer of contaminated clothing to remove fallout and radiation from your body. This can remove up to 90% of radioactive material.
- If practical, place your contaminated clothing in a plastic bag and seal or tie the bag. Place the bag as far away as possible from humans and animals so that the radiation it gives off does not affect others.
- When possible, take a shower with lots of soap and water to help remove radioactive contamination from any skin or hair that was not covered. Do not scrub or scratch the skin.
- Wash your hair with shampoo or soap and water. Do not use conditioner in your hair because it will bind radioactive material to your hair, keeping it from rinsing out easily.
- Gently blow your nose and wipe your eyelids and eyelashes with a clean wet cloth. Gently wipe your ears.
- If you cannot shower, use a wipe, or clean wet cloth to wipe your skin that was not covered by clothing.
- Clean any pets that were outside after the fallout arrived. Gently brush your pet’s coat to remove any fallout particles and wash your pet with soap and water, if available.
Disaster Planning
Taking Potassium Iodide
Potassium iodide (KI) is a salt form of non-radioactive iodine that helps block radioactive iodine (I-131) from being absorbed by the thyroid. It does not protect other parts of the body from other types of radiation.
Should you take KI after a nuclear blast?
- Do NOT take KI unless instructed by a public health or emergency response official, or healthcare provider.
- There are limits as to who should use KI and how much it can help.
- It is generally recommended for infants, children, and young adults—especially for pregnant or breastfeeding women—whose thyroids are most at risk from radioactive iodine exposure.
- Doses recommended by the U.S. FDA depend on age.
- KI can have harmful effects if not needed or not taken correctly.
- Only use KI products that are approved by the U.S. FDA.
Ending Shelter-in-Place
- The heaviest fallout would be limited to the area at or downwind of the explosion. Approximately 80% of the fallout is likely to occur within the first 24 hours. Most people in these affected areas would most likely be allowed to come out of the shelter within a few days. If necessary, they will be evacuated to unaffected areas.
- Always listen to your local emergency leaders for important news that may include information about when you can leave your shelter area, what you should do next, where you should go, and places to avoid. If you have been evacuated, return home only when instructed to do so.
Staying Safe
- It is safe to eat, or drink packaged food items or items that are inside a building. Do not consume food or liquids that were uncovered outdoors and may be contaminated by fallout.
- If you are sick or injured, listen for instructions on how and where to get medical attention when authorities tell you it is safe to exit.
- Stay away from damaged areas until they have been repaired.
- Stay away from areas marked “radiation hazard” or “hazmat”.