If there is a nuclear accident or explosion and radioactive fallout may reach your area, there are preparations that you can make to protect yourself and your family from the fallout. Time being one of the factors that reduces the danger of fall out, here are some temporary measures that will protect your home and family for a few days. These actions will take time to prepare so in order to be effective, they must be done well before any accident or explosion occurs. Since it is impossible to predict exactly when an accident or explosion will happen, it would be best to start working on them as soon as possible.
Purchase a Geiger counter. You need to be able to monitor the radiation in your home in order to know if there is a problem and if your precautions are working. Inexpensive handheld Geiger counters are widely available for under five hundred dollars.
The main concern is to prevent the radiation from getting into your home. Alpha particles are dangerous if inhale, eaten or they contact your skin but they can be blocked by as little as a sheet of paper or regular clothing. Beta particles require more shielding but they are not as damaging as alpha particles. The walls of your home and heavy drapes or curtains over the windows will stop beta particles. Unfortunately, gamma radiation requires thick shielding with dense materials such as lead.
The main way to protect yourself and your family against radioactive fallout is to prevent it from entering your home. Purchase enough plastic sheeting used by painters to cover every entrance into your home. Get a lot of the blue painters masking tape as well. Measure and cut pieces of the plastic to fit over every single opening in the walls of your home including doors, windows, heater vents, air conditioning vents, wall outlets, etc. Label each piece by room and location in room. Store the plastic pieces until they are needed. Figure on sealing as much of the house as possible to give you and your family as much oxygen as possible.
Purchase potassium iodine tablets. These will only protect against thyroid cancer caused by radioactive iodine-131 but that is a real danger from some types of fallout and it is one concern that can be eliminated.
You should plan on having enough bottled water for everyone for at least 3 days. Remember that you will need water for cooking and washing. The municipal water supply may be shut off or it may be contaminated so you can’t count on using tap water unless you have a filter than can take out any radioactive particles.
You need enough food for everyone for at least 3 days. Food that is sealed and preserved for long storage is best. Also remember that electricity may be off so food that does not need to be cooked is best.
You should rig some sort of area where people can put on and take off their outer garments if it is necessary to go outside. This will prevent any particles that have accumulated on their clothing and footwear while outside from being brought into the house.
These preparations will protect you and your family through a short period of radioactive fallout. A future post will provide details of longer term protection.