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If a nuclear bomb exploded in downtown Washington, what should you do?
The Week ^ | April 14, 2014

Posted on 04/14/2014 6:13:21 AM PDT by stevie_d_64

Funny question in the headline, yes?

But since President Obama worries more about the threat of terrorists' improvised nuclear device going off in a major American city than anything Russia can throw at us, I was wondering if the government had deigned to share with us citizens any tips for, you know, surviving something their own intelligence points to as the likeliest unlikely Black Swan event.

Well, no. And yes.

No — very few people in Washington, D.C., who work for the government have any idea what they would do if a 10-kiloton nuclear device exploded at the intersection of 16th and K streets.

You can always look to movies to figure this stuff out, right? And in movies, since nuclear radiation is BAD, the thing to do is to get away from it as quickly as possible. In the movies, electronics are fried, too, the response is chaotic, and hundreds of thousands of people die.

Interestingly enough, though, the government has done quite a bit of work to figure out what exactly would happen if a suitcase nuke — which, I know, doesn't really exist, but, for the sake of this example, bear with me — actually did explode a few blocks from the White House.

(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: bomb; fallout; nuclear; preparedness; response; terrorist
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To: Mich Patriot
Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of these innocents to rub out a few enemies?


81 posted on 04/14/2014 6:57:38 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: stevie_d_64

Rejoice?

(This toooo easy.)


82 posted on 04/14/2014 6:57:49 AM PDT by x1stcav ("The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.")
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To: stevie_d_64
"If a nuclear bomb exploded in downtown Washington, what should you do?"

I wouldn't blame it on Bush!

"

83 posted on 04/14/2014 6:58:16 AM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: bayliving
So what is it that my wife and I have done to you again? Please refresh my memory. I seem to have forgotten. By the way, my wife and I have been conservative since we could vote and only live here to support my wife's elderly mother and father.

Move.

84 posted on 04/14/2014 6:58:52 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: Mich Patriot

Poor Sodom.
Poor Gomorrah.


85 posted on 04/14/2014 6:59:16 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Mich Patriot

“Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of these innocents....”

“WE” did not/will not do this...... and we HOPE and PRAY it does not happen........ besides it’s a joke question.


86 posted on 04/14/2014 6:59:39 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: Lazamataz

What? Take responsibility for their own safety? What kind of crazy idea is that?


87 posted on 04/14/2014 6:59:49 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart (How's that 'lesser evil' workin' out for ya?)
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To: stevie_d_64

I would wonder if Hollyweird or San Fran were next


88 posted on 04/14/2014 7:01:14 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: stevie_d_64

You mean after I finish celebrating, right?


89 posted on 04/14/2014 7:01:59 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
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To: Orangedog
am I really required to be emotionally invested in your safety?

Nope!

Enjoy your callousness! Choke on it in fact and have a nice life.

90 posted on 04/14/2014 7:02:10 AM PDT by bayliving
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To: Mich Patriot

try Freepers who are in the area. We DC area freepers are accustomed to having our deaths cheered by others here.


91 posted on 04/14/2014 7:02:13 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: bayliving

Not my problem you chose to live next to the world’s biggest bullseye.


92 posted on 04/14/2014 7:05:28 AM PDT by Orangedog (An optimist is someone who tells you to 'cheer up' when things are going his way)
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To: stevie_d_64

I would forge a 9-layer PDF ‘birth certificate’ and take over the Presidency.


93 posted on 04/14/2014 7:05:40 AM PDT by LyinLibs (If victims of islam were more "islamophobic," maybe they'd still be alive.)
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To: Lazamataz
Move

Hey Laz! Don't you think I want to?!?! MY WIFE'S parents are the only reason we are here.

94 posted on 04/14/2014 7:07:02 AM PDT by bayliving
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To: bayliving

If you wanted to bad enough you would. If you “HAD” to, you could. So it’s a choice.


95 posted on 04/14/2014 7:08:24 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart (How's that 'lesser evil' workin' out for ya?)
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To: Texas resident

Last week Rush was talking about how the Obama adm. was orchestrating the collapse of the legal system.

What Rush didn’t tell people is the plan to collapse the legal system and overthrow the govt. of the US is Hillary Clinton’s failed plan from Bill Clinton’s impeachment days called “The Scorched Earth Policy”.

The same plan was tried in July of 2009.

The plan was derailed by El Rushbo when he pinned the plan to Hillary instead of Obama.

El Rushbo lost his NFL team because of it.

The clown Obama recently nominated and failed to get confirmed in the DoJ Civil Rights Division, let it be known to anyone that bothered to listen, his mission statement was to collapse the legal system.


96 posted on 04/14/2014 7:10:13 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: dfwgator

You win the Internet!


97 posted on 04/14/2014 7:11:29 AM PDT by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: stevie_d_64

Practically speaking, a nuclear detonation in a major city is not going to happen, because for a long time, sensors have been used that detect any significant radiation source.

They are good enough to every now and then get a reading from a person who has recently had radioisotope medical treatment. And compared to that, a nuclear bomb would look like a volcano.

And realistically speaking, the best terrorists might come up with is called a “dirty bomb”, which is basically high grade nuclear waste, blown up with ordinary explosives. It is not a fission explosion. But this has serious problems.

To start with, the most dangerous isotopes (think different metals), are quite heavy. If you took powdered lead or gold, and blew it up in the air, the vast majority would fall down within a few yards. And these isotopes are heavier than that.

The lightest isotopes have short half-lives, which means from the time they are created, the clock is ticking, and with every half-life, half of the isotopes are no longer radioactive. So by the time they are smuggled into the US, it would be pretty inert.

So it is the middle isotopes, like Cesium, that are the biggest worry. But the governments of the world intensely monitor the production and storage of these, so getting your hands on some is somewhat harder than breaking into a major bank vault.


98 posted on 04/14/2014 7:13:17 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (WoT News: Rantburg.com)
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To: stevie_d_64

“I will not rest until these criminals are brought to justice!”
There, lip service is done.


99 posted on 04/14/2014 7:13:20 AM PDT by ArtDodger
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To: Orangedog
Not my problem you chose to live next to the world’s biggest bullseye.

So I should just divorce my wife because she is helping her elderly mother and father in the final years of their lives? Believe me, I've wanted to be rid of this area for years.

100 posted on 04/14/2014 7:13:27 AM PDT by bayliving
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