No one's laughing about fallout shelters anymore

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | December 8, 2001 | JEFF DONN

[sarcasm]

Fearing nuclear terrorism, Americans are building home fallout shelters in numbers unseen since the peak of the Cold War, sometimes even mortgaging homes to cover costs, say shelter makers and designers.

Some corporations are giving the shelters to top executives as a perk, one dealer said.

Gone are the days when defense experts scoffed and neighbors shook their heads and chuckled.

''They're treating me less like a crazy woman than they did before,'' says Dr. Jane Orient, of Tucson, Ariz., who promotes home shelters as head of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness.

Walton McCarthy, president of shelter builder Radius Defense and Engineering in Northwood, N.H., says he is making almost four times as many of his egg-shaped, fiberglass underground shelters since Sept. 11--roughly one a day. He is planning a bigger factory.

Nuclear engineer Sharon Packer says sales have also quadrupled--to more than four a month--at her company, Utah Shelter Systems in Heber, Utah.

''People start calling at 5:30 a.m., and I don't go to bed until 11:30 at night,'' she said.

The idea of family fallout shelters is not new or uniquely American. Switzerland has mandated them in new housing.

In the early Cold War, thousands of Americans built fallout shelters in backyards and basements. The federal government even put out designs.

By the late 1960s, though, a new mind-set began taking hold. Elaborate civil defenses, the thinking went, could aggravate tensions by stoking Soviet fears of an American first strike. Besides, how could a personal shelter protect against nuclear war between superpowers? Shelter builders began to seem like eccentrics.

Then came the Sept. 11 attacks. Even if countries are rational enough to keep a finger off the nuclear trigger, how about terrorists?

''What has happened in the current atmosphere is that our opponent is fanatical. He's not rational,'' said Ed York, of Kent, Wash., who specialized in hardening targets against attack for Boeing Co.

Analysts have warned that terrorists could pack radioactive material around a core of conventional explosives for a lesser bang--but lots of contamination.

Such a ''dirty bomb'' attack might well be more survivable with a fallout shelter.

''When you had civil defense in the 1960s, that was ridiculous,'' says physicist Edwin Lyman, who is scientific director at the Nuclear Control Institute, a research group in Washington, D.C. ''Now, in the context of the risks associated with a terrorist who might have a small number of ... radiological weapons, it's not necessarily a bad idea to think if there are procedures that would avert casualties.''

Nearly everyone agrees shelters should provide a radiation barrier of 3-to-4 feet of dirt or at least 2 feet of concrete.

Some dealers supply plans for basement shelters that cost as little as several thousand dollars. For maximum protection against biological, nuclear and chemical threats, prices balloon to $40,000 and higher. Such shelters are equipped with air filtration systems and hand-pump toilets, allowing people to hold out from 30 days to several months.

[backhoe]

On the island where I grew up, I can recall at least 3 shelters built ( no mean feat with a water table 5 feet below grade! ) during the 1960's.... two freestanding, one built inside the house.

Just FYI--

Nuclear, Biological, & Chemical Warfare- Survival Skills, Pt. II

[pocat]

Not too many people are laughing at those of us who had bought gas masks, guns, and other suvival gear years before 9-11. In fact, many of those who laughed are now asking the "kooks" for advice. Interesting change of heart...

[backhoe]

many of those who laughed are now asking the "kooks" for advice

I know, it's kind of funny, isn't it?

[JenB]

Um, I don't know, or know of, one person who is building such a shelter. Does anyone know people who are doing this?

Probably most of those who want one are reusing their Y2K bunkers.

[Centurion2000]

Y2K made survivalism politically incorrect ... and the sheeple went back to sleep.

9/11 brought it back to life and was a slap in the face for those sleepers.