Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Surviving a Nuclear Attack on Washington, D.C.
National Journal ^ | June 24th 2005 | By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Posted on 06/24/2005 10:54:52 AM PDT by ExSoldier

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 481-484 next last
To: blam
I notice one thing is not mentioned...terrorist cells that will be harrassing the first responders with IED's and sniper fire, etc. And, maybe another nuclear explosion in another city.

One characteristic of Al Queda operations is their focus on using simple means in novel ways to accomplish destruction

9/11 was accomplished with a handful of teams with boxcutters. The attack on the USS Cole was accomplished by people just coming alongside in a small boat containing a bomb. The first WTC bombing in 1993 was accomplished by driving a van full of explosives into the parking garage.

While no official ties exist between the DC Snipers and Al Q, I'm sure they studied with interest the ease with which Mohammod and Malvo created chaos in the DC area

Getting a nuke into DC would be a complex operation that would be vulnerable to interception. I'm sure the feds have detectors along all roadways leading into the city, for obvious reasons.

One article I read recently was going over the interest that suspected Al Q elements had with crop-dusting planes. One assumption is that they would want them to spread bio or chem agents. But that goes against the principle of operational simplicity that seems to characterize Al Q operations. The article writer suggested thinking about the possible death toll if they simply filled a large crop duster's chem tanks with gasoline, dumped it on a sports stadium or a packed rush-hour highway, and tossed out a road flare

We also have stories of Muslims getting truck driving licenses. Visualize a gasoline truck rolling down a rush-hour highway, and somebody opens the tank valve.

Think simple-but-deadly

301 posted on 04/02/2006 6:34:53 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor (A planned society is most appealing to those with the hubris to think they will be the planners)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 299 | View Replies]

To: blam
I notice one thing is not mentioned...terrorist cells that will be harrassing the first responders with IED's and sniper fire, etc. And, maybe another nuclear explosion in another city.

I don't think those folks will be there under those circumstances, my bet is they'll bug out to wreak havoc elsewhere....and sure there might be mushrooms sprouting in other cities...the existence of one implies the existence of others. In fact there only probably has to be one more on the theory behind the WWII events. The Emperor of Japan wasn't ready to cave after Hiroshima because maybe....just maybe the allies had only the one. But after Nagasaki he surrendered because if they had two....they might have a thousand....

302 posted on 04/02/2006 6:53:32 PM PDT by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 299 | View Replies]

To: SauronOfMordor
In the 21st Century, why do we even need a physical capitol? Congressmen and Senators could stay in their districts and conduct their business over the web

Maybe because our Constitution requires a federal district. Then there's also the issue of having the government open to the citizens it is to serve.
303 posted on 04/02/2006 9:09:44 PM PDT by backtothestreets
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 300 | View Replies]

To: JockoManning

I have not seen this. Thanks very much for the ping. Looks like interesting reading.
AD


304 posted on 04/03/2006 3:21:42 PM PDT by appalachian_dweller (Get Prepared. Stay Prepared. See my FR Homepage for a list of actions and supplies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 293 | View Replies]

To: appalachian_dweller

You're very welcome.

Appreciate your FReeper page, too, with its preparedness info.

jm


305 posted on 04/03/2006 11:08:42 PM PDT by JockoManning (http://www.biblegateway.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 304 | View Replies]

To: JockoManning

Thanks for the kind words on my FReeper page, but I can't take all the credit. Lots of folks on the Threat Matrix threads provided lots of the info. I just put it all in one place. I continue to add to it when I can.


306 posted on 04/04/2006 4:40:37 PM PDT by appalachian_dweller (Get Prepared. Stay Prepared. See my FR Homepage for a list of actions and supplies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 305 | View Replies]

To: All
It's been about a year since I posted this....and it suddenly seems to be of consequence again....
307 posted on 04/20/2006 4:48:38 AM PDT by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DAVEY CROCKETT; MamaDearest; LucyT; Velveeta; StillProud2BeFree; nw_arizona_granny; Cindy; ...
It's been about a YEAR since I last posted this and I think it has become of consequence again. I suggest y'all send out a ping to those you think might be interested....
308 posted on 04/20/2006 5:07:08 AM PDT by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 307 | View Replies]

To: Yo-Yo
"Eat your lunch in a bank vault every day. "

A symptom of being married to a shrew.
309 posted on 04/20/2006 5:18:44 AM PDT by Rebelbase ("truth is not invalidated by suppression"--nicmarlo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ExSoldier

Thanks ExSoldier for the ping.


310 posted on 04/20/2006 6:24:37 AM PDT by all4one (Lawmakers, your decisions on illegal immigration will help us decide if you are re-elected)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 308 | View Replies]

To: ExSoldier; jer33 3; Cedar; backhoe; justche; neutrino; Chickensoup

Pinging y'all.

Thanks ExSoldier.


311 posted on 04/20/2006 2:08:29 PM PDT by LucyT ("Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got." Art Buchwald)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 308 | View Replies]

To: ExSoldier

Thanks much, I am going to repost this on WT.


312 posted on 04/20/2006 7:27:08 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT (Matthew 24:37"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 308 | View Replies]

To: JockoManning

Surviving nuclear attack bookmarking again.


313 posted on 08/18/2006 1:57:42 AM PDT by JockoManning (http://www.gravityteen.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JockoManning

Bookmarking post # 297, account of my dream of a state capital in midwest being nuked during my lifetime.

jm


314 posted on 08/18/2006 2:01:55 AM PDT by JockoManning (http://www.gravityteen.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 297 | View Replies]

To: ExSoldier

BTTT


315 posted on 08/18/2006 2:03:18 AM PDT by JockoManning (http://www.gravityteen.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 308 | View Replies]

To: JockoManning


SYNOPSIS OF THIS THREAD:

2006 Marker / Refresher / Timely

Surviving a Nuclear Attack [Anywhere]

Everyone’s first reaction is wrong because the problem is not, in fact, the nuclear blast. If at this point you’re still alive and uninjured — and after a Hiroshima-sized explosion at ground level, 99 percent of the people in the D.C. area

[or anywhere else for that matter]


are — then your real problem is the radioactive dust that the blast threw into the air. According to the estimates in National Planning Scenario No. 1, an explosion that kills 15,000 people outright could eventually expose 200,000 people to lethal doses of radiation if they stay exposed and unprotected in the fallout path for 24 hours. Sitting downwind in gridlock, with your vehicle’s windshield shattered, goes a long way toward giving you a lethal dose. All sorts of simple alternatives — moving away from downwind, seeking proper shelter, even taking a shower — go a long way toward saving you.

Fallout is simply radioactive dust, launched miles into the air in a mushroom cloud and then carried on the wind. Much of it is alpha particles, whose radiation cannot penetrate bare skin, or beta particles, which cannot penetrate layers of clothing. Both are most dangerous if inhaled — or if they settle on food that is eaten unwashed. More deadly are the gamma rays, whose radiation can go through walls. But even gammas cannot hurt you from cloud height. The danger starts when the dust settles to earth.

The ideal is to avoid the fallout in the first place. In apocalyptic gridlock, you cannot drive very far. But you may not have to. Normal winds blow the cloud into a long but narrow plume, just a few miles across. In typical Washington-area weather, Virginia, Montgomery County in Maryland, and most of the District itself are not in the fallout path at all. People in the path could conceivably walk out of the fallout zone in the 10 or 15 minutes before the dust begins to fall — if they know which way to go.

But, of course, you cannot count on perfectly typical weather. The wind might shift; the breeze you feel at ground level may be blowing crosswise to the radioactive clouds five miles up; a still day might cause the fallout to seep outward slowly in all directions; sudden rain or snow could wash the dust out of the sky, heavily dousing everything beneath the storm but sparing areas farther out.

If you do not want to trust in weather and traffic, the alternative is what the experts call “sheltering in place.” You want to be in a building, as solid as possible to block the gamma rays, as airtight as possible to keep out radioactive dust. You need to turn off air conditioning, close vents, seal the seams around windows and doorways. If you wondered what former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was talking about, this is what you need the duct tape for. Abandon rooms with windows broken by the blast.

The dust that does not seep into the building will settle outside, on the roof and on the ground, emitting gamma rays. A car with an intact windshield stops 30 to 50 percent of the radiation — probably not enough, however, to save someone who’s inside the car and stuck in traffic a few miles downwind of ground zero. A wood-frame house, similarly, stops just 30 to 60 percent of gamma rays. A windowless basement stops 90 percent. The middle floors of a concrete apartment building, safely away from both roof and ground, stop 99 percent or more. But there is no 100 percent protection.

For those whom evacuation and shelter fail — or for those, like the thousands fleeing in blind panic, who never try either — there is still decontamination. A lethal dose of radiation takes time to build. The sooner the radioactive dust is off the skin, the better. And it is not that hard to remove. “Radiation contamination is easier than chemical,” said Col. David Jarrett, a medical doctor and the director of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda. “Simply removing the clothes and washing takes off up to 90 percent.”

Every major Washington-area hospital has some decontamination facilities, but 10,000 radiation patients in one day would swamp them. So mass decontamination falls to fire departments, with their mobile pumps and generators; their protective gear; their hazardous-materials experience; and, because both Maryland and Virginia have nuclear power reactors, their years of radiation training. Area firefighters can quickly set up special decontamination tents, and they have plans to take over buildings that have lots of showers — so high school gyms, for example, are a good place to head for. In the chaos of those first hours, said Michael Cline, state coordinator at the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, “the real key is to make sure people go to those facilities.” It will take every firefighter available to man the decontamination sites, and every cop to control the crowds pouring in panic out of the city.



FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE, GO TO

NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE [NTI]



http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_6_24.html#A0F258F9


http://www.nti.org/index.html

REFERENCE LINK:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1429926/posts



316 posted on 08/18/2006 2:06:11 AM PDT by JockoManning (http://www.gravityteen.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 315 | View Replies]

To: ExSoldier

Book


317 posted on 08/18/2006 2:06:18 AM PDT by BunnySlippers
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ExSoldier
This story is all wrong. If your as smart as Jimmy Carter, the New York Times, or Cindy Sheehan you know you must ask yourself, "Why do they hate us?" only then can you understand that the death of millions of Americans was really all our fault. Don't you dumb Red Staters know anything? Sheesh! /sarc
318 posted on 08/18/2006 2:16:49 AM PDT by McCloud-Strife (John McCain: great American, poor Senator, Horrible Republican: Never forget, never forgive betrayal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JockoManning

SHELTERING IN PLACE INFO --




SNIP:


If you do not want to trust in weather and traffic, the alternative is what the experts call “sheltering in place.” You want to be in a building, as solid as possible to block the gamma rays, as airtight as possible to keep out radioactive dust. You need to turn off air conditioning, close vents, seal the seams around windows and doorways. If you wondered what former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was talking about, this is what you need the duct tape for. Abandon rooms with windows broken by the blast.

The dust that does not seep into the building will settle outside, on the roof and on the ground, emitting gamma rays. A car with an intact windshield stops 30 to 50 percent of the radiation — probably not enough, however, to save someone who’s inside the car and stuck in traffic a few miles downwind of ground zero.

A wood-frame house, similarly, stops just 30 to 60 percent of gamma rays. A windowless basement stops 90 percent. The middle floors of a concrete apartment building, safely away from both roof and ground, stop 99 percent or more. But there is no 100 percent protection.

For those whom evacuation and shelter fail — or for those, like the thousands fleeing in blind panic, who never try either — there is still decontamination. A lethal dose of radiation takes time to build. The sooner the radioactive dust is off the skin, the better. And it is not that hard to remove. “Radiation contamination is easier than chemical,” said Col. David Jarrett, a medical doctor and the director of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda. “Simply removing the clothes and washing takes off up to 90 percent.”


END OF SNIP
===


319 posted on 08/18/2006 2:28:11 AM PDT by JockoManning (http://www.gravityteen.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 316 | View Replies]

To: Jonathan
Within 15 minutes 24 Trident SLBM's are headed to the Middle East.

That is exactly what the Bin Ladens want.

You would have one billion surviving Muslims at your throat.

We would have to kill them all the conventional way.

Crusades V.


BUMP

320 posted on 08/18/2006 2:48:45 AM PDT by capitalist229 (Get Democrats out of our pockets and Republicans out of our bedrooms.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 481-484 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson