What If? Nuclear Armageddon what do you do?

[Bassoe]

"If Nuclear Armageddon starts on your average day, what will you personally do?"

Spend my last few minutes frantically scrounging 4plebs for the latest edition of the Billionaire Bunker Mapping project and printing and laminating as many copies on acid-free paper with scribbled captions along the lines of "X marks the spot for buried treasure" and "this is where the people who destroyed the world hid themselves and all the wealth they plundered" as I can before the power and internet goes out. Hope at least one copy survives and starts a post-apocalyptic treasure hunt/revenge scheme from beyond the grave.

 

[TheRejectionist]

If I am in Brazil there is going to be chaos but no nuclear armaggedon. That doesn't mean we are free of consequences.

 

[Buba]

That doesn't mean we are free of consequences.

Like in the famous "On the beach" novel from 1957 - after some time you'll get the radioactive cloud and die.

 

[TheRejectionist]

Like in the famous "On the beach" novel from 1957 - after some time you'll get the radioactive cloud and die.

On that... depends on the winds. Maybe lucky maybe not. Can't prevent that much.

 

[Buba]

On that... depends on the winds. Maybe lucky maybe not. Can't prevent that much.

In the book there was "science" - some meteorogical facts which I no longer remember (hey, gimee some slack, I read the book almost forty years ago!) - explaining that over time windborn contamination of the Southern Hemisphere is inevitable.
Luck is irrelevant.

 

[Bear Ribs]

On the one hand it's true, there's no actually avoiding all the fallout, you will get exposed.

The thing is fallout isn't horribly and instantly deadly like, say, Coronavirus from an unmasked person is. You can be exposed to fallout and still be just fine, your body will heal from mild exposure and cleanse itself with time. Even a moderate dose may only make you sick for a time (granted an increased risk of cancer later in life but that beats the alternative). It's the really major heavy stuff right after a blast that's a lethal problem and a good rainstorm will hammer most of the heavy particulates out of the air promptly.

Edit: This is really funny, Grammarly suddenly rated my post as "Authoritative" the second I wrote that Coronavirus was deadly.

 

[Buba]

Grammarly suddenly rated my post as "Authoritative" the second I wrote that Coronavirus was deadly.

Actually this is terrifying - the level of manipulation, censorship and brainwash we are subject to by - what's the term - Big Tech?
If you wrote - Coronavirus is a scam - how would Grammarly react?

 

[Aaron Fox]

On that... depends on the winds. Maybe lucky maybe not. Can't prevent that much.

You're just a second-wave target, I'm afraid...

 

[PsihoKekec]

Like in the famous "On the beach" novel from 1957 - after some time you'll get the radioactive cloud and die.

Radioactive fallout from full nuclear exchange (even at Cold War strength) is nowhere as pervasive and deadly as portrayed in the novel and movie, areas away from targeted places would get increased cancer rates and not deadly radiation sickness.

 

[Aaron Fox]

Radioactive fallout from full nuclear exchange (even at Cold War strength) is nowhere as pervasive and deadly as portrayed in the novel and movie, areas away from targeted places would get increased cancer rates and not deadly radiation sickness.

You forget that there is a damn good possibility that a good portion of these nukes is 'salted', i.e. have things like depleted uranium and cobalt tapers so when the nuke goes off, they 'salt' the earth. The reason that NATO considers the US's version of composite armor a deathtrap in a nuclear conflict is that the radiation reactivates the depleted uranium.

 

[Buba]

Radioactive fallout from full nuclear exchange (even at Cold War strength) is nowhere as pervasive and deadly as portrayed in the novel

Old Science then, I suppose

US's version of composite armor a deathtrap in a nuclear conflict is that the radiation reactivates the depleted uranium.

So, tracked and mobile microwave ovens?

 

[PsihoKekec]

You forget that there is a damn good possibility that a good portion of these nukes is 'salted', i.e. have things like depleted uranium and cobalt tapers so when the nuke goes off, they 'salt' the earth. The reason that NATO considers the US's version of composite armor a deathtrap in a nuclear conflict is that the radiation reactivates the depleted uranium.

There is no evidence anyone ever built the salted nukes, and modifying the existing warheads would be anything but straightforward.

Also the concept of radiation ''reactivating the depleted uranium'' is bullshit, you can't enrich it by exposing it to radiation, on the opposite as very dense metal it is an excellent radiation shielding, even better than lead, the only reason it is not in more widespread use is that most is reserved for military use. Using depleted uranium as tamper in the first stage of a nuke actually reduces the fallout.

 

[Aaron Fox]

There is no evidence anyone ever built the salted nukes, and modifying the existing warheads would be anything but straightforward.

Also the concept of radiation ''reactivating the depleted uranium'' is bullshit, you can't enrich it by exposing it to radiation, on the opposite as very dense metal it is an excellent radiation shielding, even better than lead, the only reason it is not in more widespread use is that most is reserved for military use. Using depleted uranium as tamper in the first stage of a nuke actually reduces the fallout.

Nope, you can reactivate depleted uranium. We've actually tested it, funnily enough. Basically, from what I've read, when you bombard depleted uranium with neutron and high-energy radiation (like, say, getting caught in a nuclear blast), you make anything that is wrapped in the stuff catch enough rads that anything organic is going to get serious radiation sickness. The only real reason the US uses DU is because of its various properties (especially density (important when dealing with high-energy kinetic penetrators and HEAT/EFP rounds) and, when speeding within a certain velocity band, self-sharpening and pyrophoric properties).

In addition, the US and Russia/USSR experimented (on a small scale) on 'salting' nuclear warheads, and we know the effects because of that.

Old Science then, I suppose

So, tracked and mobile microwave ovens?

Think giant neutron radiation emitters.

 

[PsihoKekec]

Nope, you can reactivate depleted uranium. We've actually tested it, funnily enough. Basically, from what I've read, when you bombard depleted uranium with neutron and high-energy radiation (like, say, getting caught in a nuclear blast), you make anything that is wrapped in the stuff catch enough rads that anything organic is going to get serious radiation sickness.

If you bombard any metal with high enough amount of radiation it will absorb some of it, but the DU is amongst the materials with the lowest coefficient, which is why it is used for radiation shielding where they can afford it (much more expensive than lead), so the Abrams crews would be much better of in the case of nuclear war than with the regular composite.

Cobalt has been added as tracer in several nuclear tests, but no actual salted warhead was ever built and modifying the existing warheads is difficult as the change of tamper changes inner build of the device, increasing the chance of misfire.

 

[Scottty]

Hmmm
U-238 can absorb neutrons and turn into something else.. it just isn't itself going to start something the way U-235 will.

 

[TheRejectionist]

Send I love you to my family in Brazil and to my friends.

 

[Agent23]

Spend my last few minutes frantically scrounging 4plebs for the latest edition of the Billionaire Bunker Mapping project and printing and laminating as many copies on acid-free paper with scribbled captions along the lines of "X marks the spot for buried treasure" and "this is where the people who destroyed the world hid themselves and all the wealth they plundered" as I can before the power and internet goes out. Hope at least one copy survives and starts a post-apocalyptic treasure hunt/revenge scheme from beyond the grave.

You, sir, win the thread!

Also, I think most of their bunkers are in New Zealand, though.

 

[bintananth]

Hmm ...

I'm near the intersetction of four Interstates, several railroads, and several US highways. Plus an international airport.

I'll grab a lawn chair and put on some sunglasses because a I have a front row seat to the planting of a mushroom garden.

A whole lot of canned sunshine will be headed my way.

 

[Simonbob]

I'll frantically call Putin and Xi, making sure they got New Zealand.


What? They win too much at rugby!

 

[Brutus]

I would die quickly, the city I live in is next to a military base.