In: Chemistry
During the 1950s, both the United States and Soviet government's implemented their own forms of so-called "civil defense," to help their civilian populations respond to the new nuclear threat. Describe the official purpose of these programs, and also address the following questions: 1) Were the civil defense programs actually useful or realistic? Why or why not? 2) If they were not realistic in terms of helping people survive a thermonuclear attack, what purpose did they serve?
1.
Afallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War.
During a nuclear explosion, matter vaporized in the resulting fireball is exposed to neutrons from the explosion, absorbs them, and becomes radioactive. When this material condenses in the rain, it forms dust and light sandy materials that resemble ground pumice. The fallout emits alpha and beta particles, as well as gamma rays.
Much of this highly radioactive material falls to earth, subjecting anything within the line of sight to radiation, becoming a significant hazard. A fallout shelter is designed to allow its occupants to minimize exposure to harmful fallout until radioactivity has decayedto a safer level.
2 While these forms of bomb shelters are equally amenable to civilian and military use, a bunker is more commonly associated with military use. A bunker may be hastily assembled as part of an ongoing military advance, or to hold a line. Bunkers have also been popular with the Survivalism subculture