Drinking Alcohol To Protect Against Fallout

RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT

Fallout arriving within a few hours after a nuclear explosion is highly radioactive. If it collects on the skin in large enough quantities it can cause beta burns. People who are caught outside in fallout should brush fallout particles off themselves and shake out their outer garments as soon as they get inside. Some people may be carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats to keep the fallout particles off their skin and hair.

Most fallout particles will be like grains of fine, dark sand and can be easily brushed off from dry surfaces. Fallout particles may stick to moist or oily surfaces, including sweaty or oily skin or hair. These surfaces should be carefully wiped or washed off. If contaminated hair cannot be washed, it should be thoroughly brushed or combed, with frequent shaking and wiping of the hair and also of the brush or comb. It is not necessary to get the last speck of fallout out of the clothing or hair or off the skin. A few grains of fallout carried by each person into the safest parts of the home or shelter will produce no noticeable increase in the radiation hazard and will not be detectable by the radiological instruments. Daily sweeping of the area for hygienic reasons will eliminate most fallout particles that may be carried into the area even after decontamination procedures. After they have shaken out their clothing and wiped off their exposed skin, they should dust off their shoes with a brush or broom before moving further into the shelter and sweep the area. If the shoes are caked with mud or dust, they should be left in the quarantine area or outside. Because the fallout particles will fall down to the floor, decontamination of a person should begin with the head and end with the feet. Brushing off or removing the shoes will be the last step of decontamination before a person enters the safer parts of your home or shelter.

TAKING POTASSIUM IODIDE (KI)

Potassium iodide, also called KI, only protects a person’s thyroid gland from exposure to radioactive iodine. KI will not protect a person from other radioactive materials or protect other parts of the body from exposure to radiation. It must be taken prior to exposure (for example, if people hear that a radioactive cloud is coming their way) or immediately after exposure to be effective. Taking KI is not recommended unless there is a risk of exposure to radioactive iodine which is a major uranium fission product and of fissionable materials used in nuclear power plants. Taking (KI) is most advisable in the event of a radioactive dirty bomb detonation or meltdown of a nuclear power plant. KI (potassium salts) saturate the thyroid preventing it from absorbing radioactive iodine. The most likely scenario is radioactive fallout from a nuclear power plant meltdown, even possibly fallout originating from far overseas, but would at the most only require 10-14 days protection from radioiodine by taking Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets and having pre-stocked safe food and water in case people panic and stampede food stores.

USING IODINE TO SHIELD AGAINST RADIATION

In an emergency, if you are unable to acquire KI tablets, you can topically (on the skin) apply an iodine solution, like tincture of iodine or Betadine, for a similar protective effect. (WARNING: Iodine is NEVER to be ingested or swallowed, it is poison to drink.) For adults, paint, 8 ml of a 2 percent tincture of Iodine on the abdomen or forearm each day, ideally at least 2 hours prior to initial exposure for absorption. For children 3 to 18, but under 150 pounds, only half that amount painted on daily, or 4 ml. For children under 3 but older than a month, half again, or 2 ml. For newborns to 1 month old, half it again, or just 1 ml. (One measuring teaspoon is about 5 ml, if you don’t have a medicine dropper graduated in ml.) If your iodine solution is stronger than 2%, reduce the dosage accordingly.
Absorption through the skin is not as reliable a dosing method as using the tablets, but tests show that it will still be very effective for most. Use half these doses when using 10% providone iodine solution.

DRINKING RED WINE TO SHIELD AGAINST RADIATION

One of the isotopes likely to be released in a fissionable reactor is strontium 90, which is absorbed in the bones as beta radiation because it´s chemically similar to calcium. So you end up with nuked bones cooking you up from the inside out, same as beta radiation from radioactive ash fallout following a nuclear detonation. Wine, and apparently red in particular, contains strontium 85 which is non radioactive, so if you load up on red wine following a nuclear detonation or reactor meltdown, you saturate the amount of strontium your body can absorb with the non-radioactive strontium 85 and thus the bad isotope strontium 90 just passes through in your urine unable to attach to the bones.

DRINKING LIQUOR TO FLUSH RADIATION

Drinking liquor helps flush radioactive alpha particles that have been ingested through your system by acting as a diuretic forcing your body to dump excess water. This of course can probably be achieved by drinking copious amounts of water but would not be anywhere near as much fun. Plus, the effects of alcohol may help alleviate the stress of the situation in which you are currently in. Some argue that another reason to use liquor instead of water is that alcohol makes the blood viscous preventing particles that lodge in the bones from being able to get to the bones and are flushed out in the urine, either way you had me sold at liquor. Apparently this is what the general Russian public was taught during the cold war in order for them to protect themselves following a nuclear war from radiation.  They were told to drink vodka as it was their responsibility to the state to remain alive and fit to help rebuild the country in order to ensure they were able to strike back at their enemies, you’ve gotta love their survivalist mindset.

For more information about radiation, check the following Websites: www.epa.gov/radiation, or www.orau.gov/reacts/define.htm,

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U.S. Explodes Atomic Bombs Near Beers To See If They Are Safe To Drink

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So you’re minding your own business when all of a sudden, a nuclear bomb goes off, there’s a shock wave, fires all around, general destruction and you, having somehow survived, need a drink. What can you do? There is no running water, not where you are. But there is a convenience store. It’s been crushed by the shock wave, but there are still bottles of beer, Coke and diet soda intact on the floor.

So you wonder: Can I grab one of those beers and gulp it down? Or is it too radioactive? And what about taste? If I drink it, will it taste OK?

This could happen, no? Not to everybody, but let’s say it happens to you. Have you been wondering what to do?

Well, wonder no longer.

Thanks to my friend, science historian Alex Wellerstein, we are now in possession of a 1957 U.S. government study called “The Effect of Nuclear Explosions on Commercially Packaged Beverages,” which addresses this very question: After the bomb, can I drink the beer?

Written by three executives from Can Manufacturers Institute and the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute for the Federal Civil Defense Administration, the study says that after placing cans and bottles of soda and beer next to an actual atomic explosion, after measuring subsequent radioactivity and after actual taste tests, go ahead: Grab that can, pop it open and drink away.

“These beverages could be used as potable water sources for immediate emergency purposes as soon as the storage area is safe to enter after a nuclear explosion.”

If you can make it to the store, you can drink. How do they know this?

Well, in 1956, the Atomic Energy Commission exploded two bombs, one “with an energy release equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT,” the other 30 kilotons, at a test site in Nevada. Bottles and cans were carefully placed various distances from ground zero. Notice, on this list, some of them are “returnable.”

The closest containers were placed “less than a quarter-mile away,” says Alex, “a mere 1,056 feet,” the outliers a couple of miles off. Some were buried, some left in batches, others were placed side by side. These images, copied from bad photocopies, are in the report. The cans, as you can see, survived.

Lots of bottles survived, too. Some were shattered by flying debris, fell off shelves, or got crushed by collapsing materials, but a surprising number stayed intact.

Will the beer be radioactive?

As for radiation, they checked, and found that bottles closest to ground zero were indeed radioactive, but only mildly so. Exposure, the authors say, “did not carry over to the contents.” The sodas and beer were “well within the permissible limits for emergency use,” which means, says Alex, “It won’t hurt you in the short term.”

Will it taste good?

But what about taste? Post-bomb beer might not poison you, but will it keep its flavor?

The report says, “Immediate taste tests [gotta wonder who got that job] indicated that the beverages, both beer and soft drinks, were still of commercial quality, although there was evidence of a slight flavor change in some of the products exposed at 1,270 feet from Ground Zero.” The most blasted beers were “definitely off.”

The first tasters then passed samples to selected laboratories for further testing, and this time the contents were rated “acceptable.” So here’s your government’s considered advice: Should you find yourself near an atomic blast and run short of potable water, you can chug a Coke or a beer, but don’t expect it to taste great.

What’s the lesson here?

There’s a second lesson here, Alex thinks. Because beverages in bottles and cans keep you safely hydrated in dire emergencies, it makes sense to keep a six-pack or two or three (or four), in the basement, just in case. What if there’s no lootable convenience store conveniently close by?

“For me, the takeaway here is that the next time you find yourself stocking up on beer, remember, it’s not just for the long weekend,” he says. “It might be for the end of days.”


If you want to see the government report, you can find it here. Alex Wellerstein’s analysis Beer and the Apocalypse (which I used to write my story) appeared on his blog, Restricted Data.