For those of you unfamiliar with nuclear power, ever since President Carter, all spent nuclear fuel rods are locked away until they decay to the point where they're no longer radioactive (which can be a hella long time). However, these rods aren't completely used up. They can be recycled and have more useful energy extracted. The reason why Carter did not support nuclear recycling is because the recycling process creates small amounts of high quality plutonium which could be the basis of a nuclear warhead and Carter wanted to stop or reverse nuclear proliferation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012502229.html

 

Ahh yes. I remember the Carter foreign policy well.

Bush has to be careful with this. We would be doing exactly what we don't want other countries to do. Iran's big problem is they want nuclear plants, but we don't want them processing their own fuel. I hear that Bush is okay with Russia doing the processing for them. So, maybe (if Iran is serious) they can start powering their country with nukes.

 

BTW, It takes 10's of 1,000's of years for this stuff to go away, (1/2 life of bomb grade Pu 239 is 24,000 years). Its the most toxic stuff in the universe, one tiny microscopic particle lodges in your lungs and you can kiss your butt goodby. Pu 238, which is used in spacecraft reactors has a 1/2 life of about 86 years. It doesn't go boom.
I think the current nuclear/electric production in the US is about 30% of all power generated. Which is not a bad thing. We should be making more.

All I can think about is the 1,000's of above ground bomb tests that were done and all the Pu and other radioactive stuff that was produced as fallout that we all breathe and drink everyday...boggles the mind that we as the "most intelligent" life form on the planet (debatable at this point) could have wreaked such havoc.

 

Does this have anything with the green glowing pigs?

 

Nuclear bomb blasts and fallout has been my recent topic of study, and will hopefully soon begin with my own back yard shelter.

Nuclear fallout rapidly looses its radiation, it does not last long and will not linger.

If one were near the point of detonation and survived the blast you'd be rained on by radioactive pebbles which hold their energy much longer than the powdery stuff that reaches the stratosphere. These rocks can retain their deadly radioactive energy for months.

Fallout on the other hand...the stuff light enough to be carried by the wind looses 90% of its deadly energy within 48hours and you could expect under a "normal" attack it would be back to a non-lethal status within two weeks.

I define a "normal" attack as what today’s typical nuclear bomb arsenals in the 1 to 10MegaTon range. In case of a major attack like falling 15-25MT ICBM's from places like China, N.Korea, Russia etc it can still be survivable for most...if one has prepared in advance.

The largest detonation was by the Soviets with a 60MT blast, radiation levels resulting from the cloud returned back to normal within a few weeks.

I found the study of nuclear war and survival both terrifying and amazing.
I could only hope that more people would be better informed. Most people think our chances are very slim for survival. Perhaps so. But only because we don't know any better.

Google nuclear war survival or expedient shelters and learn potentially life saving information for you and your family.
You don't have to dig your back yard like I am planning to do.
Nuclear rods and the topic of this thread....Sorry I haven't researched those.

 

I've been thinking of building a bomb shelter. Are there any kits out there like there were back in the 60's?

 

Hot Georgia,

I'd agree with what you said if it was a tatical nuke of the 25-30 KT range. My concern is a terrorist attack, and the yield would be a 25-30 KT explosion. I'm not concerned with a nation attacking the US directly, because any nation that does it would be commiting national sucide.

Thermonuclear explosions in the megaton range would wipe out a major metropolitan area and probably make a 100-mile radius unhabitable for some time. Again, only the major nuclear powers have that capability, but they are not going to attack us. China, for instance would not want to destroy it's best customer...

 

Interesting information. I just hope I have a full tank so I can get 600 miles away without stopping.... I remember all the drills we used to have in grade school (late 50's early 60's) where we had to get under our desks and cover our heads......like that would have mattered.

Any cows or the famous "glowing pigs" that are in the path of the fallout eat grass laden with radioactive iodine that enters the food chain via milk products but like hot georgia says, it probably is short lived.

And we don't need a bomb blast to cause problems, least we forget the poor folks of Chernobyl and the rest of northern europe that suffered vast areas of fallout that has had a long lasting effect there.

 

I can't disagree that there has been and will continue to be a long lasting effect. But what surprised the heck out of me was when the WHO released actual human death toll late last year. I remember when it happened there were reports of thousands of casualties. But according to the WHO, only about 50 have died so far, 20 years after it happened.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/.../en/index.html

 

Dude you don't want to build a bomb shelter, people will think you are crazy. Build yourself a bomb proof tornado shelter.