If a nuclear bomb goes off, scientists say take shelter here immediately

WASHINGTON — If nuclear war breaks out, people should immediately take shelter in the corners of concrete buildings to have the best chance of survival. According to a team from Cyprus, it’s better than cowering in corridors or near windows and doors.

“People should stay away from these locations and immediately take shelter. Even in the front room facing the explosion, one can be safe from the high airspeeds if positioned at the corners of the wall facing the blast,” says lead author Dr. Ioannis Kokkinakis from the University of Nicosia in a media release.

The findings, based on computer simulations, are timely. Recently, propagandist Vladimir Solovyov urged Russia to launch a nuclear attack on Great Britain. Researchers used advanced modeling techniques to study how a nuclear blast wave speeds through a standing structure.

Image of the blast wave from a nuclear explosion
3D illustration of the simulated air blast and generated blast wave 10 seconds following the detonation of a 750 kT nuclear warhead above a typical metropolitan city; the radius of the shock bubble at ground level is 4.6 km. (CREDIT: I. Kokkinakis and D. Drikakis, University of Nicosia, Cyprus)

Their mock-up featured rooms, windows, doorways, and corridors to work out air speed following the blast wave — determining the best and worst places to be.

“Before our study, the danger to people inside a concrete-reinforced building that withstands the blast wave was unclear,” says study author Dimitris Drikakis. “Our study shows that high airspeeds remain a considerable hazard and can still result in severe injuries or even fatalities.”

Results show that simply being in a sturdy premises is not enough to avoid injury. Tight spaces actually increase air speed. The blast wave causes air to reflect off walls and bend around corners, producing a force equivalent to up to 18 times a human’s body weight.

“The most dangerous critical indoor locations to avoid are the windows, the corridors, and the doors,” says Kokkinakis.

Time between the explosion and the arrival of the blast wave is only a few seconds, so quickly getting to a safe place is critical.

“Additionally, there will be increased radiation levels, unsafe buildings, damaged power and gas lines, and fires,” adds Drikakis. “People should be concerned about all the above and seek immediate emergency assistance.”

Drawing of a nuclear fallout shelter
Contours of the maximum airspeed attained during the first 10 seconds after the blast wave enters the window; overpressure of 5 psi. (CREDIT: I. Kokkinakis and D. Drikakis, University of Nicosia, Cyprus)

There is no good place to be when a nuclear bomb goes off. Anything too close is instantly vaporized. Radiation also poses a serious health threat even at a distance. In between, there is another danger — the blast wave generated by the explosion, which can produce airspeeds strong enough to lift people into the air and cause serious injury.

The researchers simulated an atomic bomb explosion from a typical intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the resulting blast wave to see how it would affect people sheltering indoors. Outside of the immediate blast zone, the force was enough to topple some buildings and injure people caught outdoors. However, concrete structures can remain standing.

The researchers, whose findings are published in the journal Physics of Fluids, hope their advice will never need to be followed. However, understanding the effects could help prevent deaths and guide rescue efforts.

Solovyov, who Vladimir Putin reportedly watches on state TV regularly, has called on the Kremlin to target the West for supplying tanks and other weapons to Ukraine.

“There is a full-scale Third World War. Britain made a decision. Therefore, any military target on the territory of Britain and France are legitimate for us to strike,” Solovyov claims, according to a statement from SWNS. “We need to make it official and if necessary, then we can use tactical nuclear weapons.”

South West News Service writer Mark Waghorn contributed to this report.

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Comments

  1. You would have to be an idiot if you wanted to survive a nuclear attack! In a matter of days, you’ll be so contaminated by fall out. Also, what do you have to eat ? If we get an attack, I wanna be outside and watch the missile come on down, hopefully I will be vaporized

  2. I agree with Charles, and would not want to survive a nuclear attack. There’s no point in doing so. You’d survive only a short in full sufferance of radiation contamination, which I’m sure you’d feel the full non-stop painful effects thereof. Not to mention contaminated water and no food. I just hope to have a very stiff drink and full view of the bomb dropping as I vaporize moments later. Nothing to hang around for. I dunno, maybe the next ice-age? Sufferance is not pretty to watch.

  3. No point in surviving a nuclear attack. Hope for vaporization .. it’s the best bet. Radiation poisoning is no way to go and a long, lingering death with no viable food or water ..? No one should want that.

  4. I find the views of those without a true understanding of physics and how it is figured into a nuclear blast of varying yields and detonation location amusing. While it is true that ground zero is not a fortunate place to be at detonation some survivors within a few miles will walk out of the damaged area. It depends on where, when, and how they were standing when the bomb went off. FYI there will be no nuclear winter. There will not be large swaths of I habitable land. There will be food and clean water to drink. If you have a reverse osmosis filter it is capable of removing radiological nucleides. Have some sodium iodide handy. Store water in metal containers and a minimum of 3 months of food i.e. bulk bags of rice, pinto beans, honey and you got to have salt. Don’t think like a defeatist, think like a survivor. Keep in mind the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. Be prepated.

    1. You fail to realize how powerfull these weapons are.. 200 – 300 times more that the ones dropped on Japan. 1 warhead is 150 times more…….
      Russia has a new missel that carries 15 warheads. They claim that just two missiles could take out the whole East Coast. Miami FL to the northern.tip of Maine. If a nuclear war breaks out humanity will cease to exist you’ll have a black nuclear winter for about 100 years everything everybody will be dead. Except cockroaches, only they are predicted to survive …

    1. Well of course we could. Who is going to make China, Russia, North Korea give their weapons up? You? We have to realize the world we live in. I am 52 years old, have lived through the Cold War, the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Soviet Union, all the wars after. We have never been in a worse situation then we are now.

      1. Most Americans don’t really understand war, most been here for generations, but others came from war and do understand…We have to negotiate a deal… Not for our government to antagonize the situation. Wild animals that are cornered, they will fight to the end. So, this is a small example, but this kind of destruction will end us all. Stop dreaming it’s reality

  5. Well folks! Not only has the president sent our money to the Ukraine instead of helping us. He has made the American people targets for Russia. I say get them before they get us. Don’t threaten them, just do it!

    1. There is no just getting them and that’s it
      It’s get them and rite away they get you aswell
      No winners in a nuke war we all die

      1. There is no such thing as get them before they get us!! They have as we do, thousands est 6000plus, that we KNOW of, we have close to same, in the air, on subs, land based as they also do. When I was in The USAF years ago, the policy of Them and us, disregarding all the other nuclear powers, was M.A.D.D. acronym for mutually assured destruction. No winners. Now there does exist tactical nukes when back then there were only strategic nukes but looking for a preemptive strike, is movie fantasy to me.

  6. I just have to say God please take care of us its in his hands i hope he returns before this happens, that’s something i would not want to see happen to humanity…..🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

    1. Psalm 37:10 & 11 tells us that the Earth will not be destroyed. God has an unfulfilled purpose for the Earth.

      1. I live in Arizona and I am a survivor and I will protect my friends and family it all means like I said and God I trust to the blood of Jesus Amen

      2. Protect them from whom? Other survivors? You’d kill your fellow Americans because we were bombed? I’m just trying to understand your logic.

    2. I second that Amen to that and God I trust to his son Jesus’s blood I pray my family and the people you don’t deserve this I do whatever it takes to save my family we the people do not deserve what’s been happening because of everybody’s selfishness he’s not the only person in the world that has been sick it wants to give up but we all have faith and believe and we have to be strong and the hearts and souls🙏

  7. I agree, we must survive the blast if given the opportunity and still alive means you have a chance! Be prepared, we do have time for that, depending on targeted zones and where you’re located, you can adjust your whereabouts and preparations while we still have some time and a chance to do so, once the blast battens it’s kind of too late to start prepping!

  8. I always had a survivalist mentality now at 68 not so much.The elderly & the very young will not stand a chance.Better to be vaporized immediately & be with the Lord than suffer the effects of radiation,
    starvation etc.

    1. Why would you want to survive? The world would become a hell hole and less than a shadow of it’s former self. The quality of life would be so diminished that the question becomes “what are you looking forward to?” Meals with less radiation? To see the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and talk about survival after a nuclear war is demented. And those weren’t wars. Those were controlled, uncontested events. A window to the horror. So all this jibber jabber about “survival” is fodder for the lunatic despots who have nuclear capabilities. Do they actually believe THEY’LL survive? Those brain dead russians and their panels that discuss the use of “low grade” nuclear weapons are a perfect reflection of the massive ignorance and stupidity of the russian public that supports that secret service thug putin and his self destructive policies. It would be justice if putin and and that north korean nitwit were left alive in the aftermath. Along with the right wing lunatic fringe in this country. I’m grateful l was born in the 50’s, where the memory of war was fresh. Dust to dust, idiots. Wa

      1. Hollywood writes history. Strange how people want to ensure that the legacy they leave was that they predicted and it came true. What type of person would want to see something like this come to fruition

    2. Putin will not use nuclear weapon on anybody
      The only thing is,let’s talk to our governments to always think before underrating a super power,,,an old empire.
      War is not a video game,,,!!!

      1. Yes, however the people of Japan lived, some of course died immediately and some later from radiation and injury. look at it now, They rebuilt and thrived..
        Not saying I’m for nukes, I’m not and I’m not saying people won’t die like in Japan. I’m just saying the world won’t
        disappear.

  9. I am always surprised by the illiteracy of 98% of people about nuclear weapons.
    1) If you are near the center of a city that is attacked, KYAGB. No question.
    2) If you are a reasonable distance away, like 10 miles, your chance of survival is pretty good. Nuclear effects, like blast waves, decrease as the Cube of the distance. I.e. if you’re 10 miles out, the effect is 1/1000. It might break your windows, but not blow down your house. Direct radiation goes down as the square, but unless you’re looking at the blast, it’s easy to shield yourself.
    3) The only time fallout is produced is from a ground burst. This is unlikely because it minimizes the damage compared to an air burst. If the target is a hardened underground facility, maybe. So if you live near one of these, I would move.
    The biggest danger, I think, of thinking you will just be vaporized, is that you probably won’t, and now will have to cope with the situation the world is in.

  10. I have a solution how about a peace treaty and we can all survive and stop the unecesary bloodshed

  11. Ok so if LA gets nuked and I survive why would I starve?why would I not want to survive like some of you are saying? I understand the whole radiation fallout thing but I live like 20 miles from DTLA. From what I understand my house would remain standing… so why couldn’t I just roll to stater brothers or Pizza Hut a few miles away and grub? But yeah I know the radiation thing can be serious but I’m just unclear how a nuke could decimate all good in the US?

    1. I just can’t believe anyone would make a public statement like that, which certainly tells us the reason the world situation is such a disaster. Tell us please how old are you and do you do any educational reading at all?

  12. The oral iodide tablets speak of are Potassium Iodide. It works in the thyroid to block the intake of “certain radioactive particles” preventing the rapid thyroid almost sponge like ability to take in these particles leading to cancer. BUT, it depends on what element(s) were used I a particular bomb. Cesium, uranium, plutonium as well as other radioactive elements cause different exposures whether you are referring to fall out or other types of exposure. I would not knock potassium iodide to have on hand in bulk, stored correctly, but for other elements it does not block the intake of radiation in all cases. Research this on your own, US, National library of medicine, nlm/pub med as well as many professional level sites, not just a random dr.google site. Hope this is informative in some way.

  13. You can’t put that genie back in its bottle in afraid,
    “I become death destroyer of worlds”

    1. USA let Russia get away with alot when Bush was in he invaded a country that didn’t have chemical weapons but Russia has nuclear weapons and they always been a threat to us. At least have them sign that agreement not to use them. China, North Korea, and Russia all out ww3 coming before the end of 2023. If Trump was in we wouldn’t have this problem at all.

      1. You are not correct. If Trump was still in the Russian tanks would already be here and democracy would cease to exist. We would all be dead from Covid. He was /us a disaster.

  14. I don’t understand these scientist. Really hide from the Shockwave? What about the 8 million degrees of heat, the gamma radiation burst and the inevitable radioactive fallout. Get a good bottle of whiskey cuddle with your 🐈 and sit on the rooftop, it will all be over in 6 tenths of a second.

    1. No point in trying to survive a nuclear blast. If the missiles launch, make your peace and KYAG

    2. Forget the whiskey we need our bibles .

      Revelation already talks about wars and how this is suppose to happen and we’re suppose to just make sure we tell everyone to repent .
      We’re all gonna die one day and like the guy above said I’d rather be at ground zero here one sec gone the next …
      We can’t change people’s minds if there gonna have a war world 3 than that’s what they’ll do but I do t think it’s gonna be that simple …they want power, they can’t have power if everyone’s dead .
      Revelation says alot about what’s happening today we just need to make sure we’re good with God and we do what we can do to help others and share Jesus with everyone because we need to focus more on Jesus and less on what he already told us would happen we are to know he will be with us.

  15. Only the Top government officials and Top Brass will survive W W.III, and for what? Nuclear War is unsurvivable in the long term. Yes, short term people will survive. Think about the Coronavirus Lock down, and how that was. It was only for one year. Now think about living like that for the next 4.5 Million years. Everything will be so contaminated from Cesium fallout that nothing will be safe to eat or drink. Nothing is being said of the Hydrogen Bombs. They are 100,000,000 more times more destructive than Atom bombs. The weapons of today make the Gadget, Little Boy bomb, and the Fat Boy bomb look like children’s toys. Let us not forget the Soviets designed and tested a 50 Megaton bomb that was scaled down from a 100 Megaton bomb design in time for Stalin’s birthday. Do you think they just said, oh, they are too destructive for the Earth. We will not build or use such terrible weapons. If they do not have a few of them built, it would only take a couple of months to build a couple. If you believe they will not you are living in denial. I have a ten million dollar bridge I can sell you too. Unbelievable. Then you must include the rest of the ordinary Atom bombs. Even those are in the 50 Kiloton range. My friends, you are deceiving yourselves if you think you will survive long term. I am a former SSBN Sailor, and I understand Nuclear physics. It is the fallout that will destroy mankind. Los Alomos is still Hot, you were allowed to visit the A-Bomb test site, Trinity; but even now you are not allowed to liotter. Cesium is in our food and water from the above ground testing, high altitude testing, and the under water testing that the U S., Great Britian, and the U S.S.R. did in the late 40’s, the 50’s, 60’s, and early 70’s. Survivors will pass on cancers when they pro-create. That is if they are not sterile from the radiation. There will be no more infrastructure. No Law Enforcement. No transportation network, no one to run them if anything still should work. No fuel network, so Road Warrior mentality will Rule should anything work. No food network, that is if clean food can be produced. Milk will be unsafe to drink. Cows will produce radiated milk. No cell phones. Oh what will we do then. No electricity. No one to operate Power plants that will run. No electrical infrastructure. No one will be able to produce for the masses. We are all interdependent right now. That will cease because we will only be looking out for ourselves, our own families. Small tribes will form for protection. Armed mobs will Rule the day. Eventually, we will die off like the Nethanderals did. The litany goes on and on. Is that the way you want to live? Thermal Nuclear War is the demise of the Human Race. I am no pacifist. If it were to happen, I would say we would counter strike, and let Providence sort us all out. I would want to be at ground zero though. One millie second your here, the next millie second your gone; to wherever destination you believe you will be. You will have enough time to see the beginning flash, and before the flash subsides, you will be gone. Just think, should you live, most of the people you love, care about, even know, will be dead. We all will have to become wild animals just to survive as long as that will be. Is that anyway to live? A wild animal? Between the U.S., Britian, France, Israel, vs. Russia, Communist China, Communist North Korea, eventually Iran, we will turn them all into a vast glass parking lot. We win militarily, but humanely, we lose. Think about it. It is better not to play out this scenario for real. Anyone for a nice game of Chess?

    1. Well said, we need someone to negotiate for us Biden not doing nothing to stop this and make peace give Russia some more of Ukraine land than we got to deal with China everything is happening so fast and will overwhelme usa. Where is the best place to go.

    2. You are very smart and Chess is a hella Great Game .

      We are predestined to fight to survive
      If we do, we should give it everything we have to do anything less is

    3. You need to be nominated the most realest human in the world you spoke this truth to perfection this comment needs to be broadcast worldwide so these dummies can soak in it

    4. Thank you. Much better than I could explain although I did reply to that asinine comment in pretty much the same way although I’m only an old lady that does a lot of reading. And I’m terrified of the world situation now and of the powers behind the scenes pulling the strings.


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