How would Ireland fair in the event of Nuclear War?

TeaBagMania

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

TeaBagMania wrote: »

If a nuke gets touched off we'll all be back in the stone age, im calling dibs on Newgrange for my new home, just sayin

You are welcome to it.

You might have noticed that the hallway in there is terribly cramped!

only if you're on the heavy side it'll work quite nicely for myself

Overheal

idk if anyone mentioned it yet, but also account for the fact that nuclear waste storage facilities will be likely targets, as well as reactors. You basically capitalize on fallout damage by targeting those kind of locations.

WhoWhatWhere

Zillah wrote: »

Feck.

Savage I'm safe in Wexford I'll just move away down to the end of cork for total safety. From there I'll take a boat and live the sea life. See you later losers.

realitykeeper

Captain Chaos wrote: »

If the UK gets nuked then so do we.

Every mushroom cloud has a silver lining. Just think of all those Edwardian, Georgian and Victorian buildings being destroyed forever. The thought of it brings a smile to my face. Perhaps we could all decide to speak Russian, at least the Russians did not impose their language on us.

TeaBagMania

wait, irlandrs speak merican?

AnGaelach

realitykeeper wrote: »

Every mushroom cloud has a silver lining. Just think of all those Edwardian, Georgian and Victorian buildings being destroyed forever. The thought of it brings a smile to my face. Perhaps we could all decide to speak Russian, at least the Russians did not impose their language on us.

Nyet, $0.50 Tovarisch,

God of YoYo

Looked at this before, Irish nuclear targets apparently included Dublin Port and Airport and the oil terminal in Bantry. Targeting doctrine these days is, I believe, multiple kiloton range warheads rather than ye olde multi-megaton range ones. Its my view that Ireland would fare quite well, unless you live near Dublin. Look at Nukemaps and how low the dame radii are typically. In Greystones, you wouldnt get your windows busted if the airport was zapped.

Also, prevailing winds are from the Atlantic and it rains a lot. If you wernt in an area near one of the main targets and stayed inside for a month, you would be grand.

Samaris

I think in the case of Ireland in a nuclear war, we'd pretty certainly lose.

InTheTrees

Stealthfins wrote: »

I think Ireland would be safe enough as long as the wind blows west.

Remember the cartoon " When the wind blows"

You can trace that wind that sweeps into the west of Ireland back to the east coast of north America though.

InTheTrees

God of YoYo wrote: »

Also, prevailing winds are from the Atlantic and it rains a lot. If you wernt in an area near one of the main targets and stayed inside for a month, you would be grand.

Unfortunately America is the other side of the Atlantic and the fallout will sweep over and rain down.
All those big late summer storms battering ireland are usually the remnants of hurricanes that have curled up the east coast of NA, they can be over Ireland in a matter of days.

Akrasia

This is a great real time map of where our wind comes from (and everyone else)

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-352.89,42.12,486

I'm not sure if the nuclear blasts and subsequent widlfires would be enough to disrupt the global wind patterns, there would be local effects but the ocean is dominant in terms of Irish weather and there won't be any wildfires on the ocean.

Pinch Flat

As a aside, in a previous life, my job entailed surveying some properties that the government maintained around the country in the case of a civil commotion / nuclear war. I;m guessing they were built in the 1950's / 1960's. They were kind of semi-secret. One in Kilkenny was accessed down a nondescript lane way, between two shops, and lead to a self contained bunker 2 storeys underground. The doors were double blast doors and the concrete was built to MoD bomb shelter specification. It had a generator, air filtration, packaged food, beds, water storage etc. and was to serve as an emergency command post or possibly a government bolt hole in the case of an emergency. This was the only one I saw the plans of, but there are apparently a half a dozen or so if these dotted throughout the country.

Posted about it earlier in th thread, article here.

http://www.limerickpost.ie/2015/04/16/inside-limericks-nuclear-war-bunker/

InTheTrees

Akrasia wrote: »

This is a great real time map of where our wind comes from (and everyone else)

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-352.89,42.12,486

I'm not sure if the nuclear blasts and subsequent widlfires would be enough to disrupt the global wind patterns, there would be local effects but the ocean is dominant in terms of Irish weather and there won't be any wildfires on the ocean.

Thats a brilliant website. I'll be bookmarking it certainly.

Today (aug15th) you can see Hurricane Gert in between the bahamas and the usa.
You'll see that swirl northeast along the NA coast, diminishing into a tropical storm as the water cools, and then it'll curl east towards europe and probably hit Ireland. Expect a bit of a storm in about a week?

Jim2007

Pinch Flat wrote: »

The doors were double blast doors and the concrete was built to MoD bomb shelter specification. It had a generator, air filtration, packaged food, beds, water storage etc.

Got one myself under the cellar! It is a standard requirement for all buildings in Switzerland since the 1960s. It is checked and tested regularly as are the village's sirens. So it is actually possible for the entire population to go 'under ground'

Akrasia

InTheTrees wrote: »

Thats a brilliant website. I'll be bookmarking it certainly.

Today (aug15th) you can see Hurricane Gert in between the bahamas and the usa.
You'll see that swirl northeast along the NA coast, diminishing into a tropical storm as the water cools, and then it'll curl east towards europe and probably hit Ireland. Expect a bit of a storm in about a week?

It's an amazing resource. Don't forget to click the 'earth ' button and you can change the layers and display other data.

Akrasia

I've finally figured out the Swiss.

Use banking and chocolate to orchestrate a global nuclear war, wait a few weeks for the fallout to ease off a bit, and emerge en masse from your underground bunkers and the world is yours

No longer do you have to pretend to like skiing!

(just kidding, skiing is awesome)

InTheTrees

Akrasia wrote: »

It's an amazing resource. Don't forget to click the 'earth ' button and you can change the layers and display other data.

Looks like that hurricane gert in the Caribbean last week is indeed about to sweep over Ireland in the next couple of days as a storm.

The question is if winds coming across the atlantic would carry dangerous fallout or would the fallout dissipate as it is blown across the ocean?

4068ac1elhodqr

InTheTrees wrote: »

Looks like that hurricane gert in the Caribbean last week is indeed about to sweep over Ireland in the next couple of days as a storm.

The question is if winds coming across the atlantic would carry dangerous fallout or would the fallout dissipate as it is blown across the ocean?

Gert is here now already, was just a journey of 4-5 days. Time is one of the three critical factors, just under a week is helpful, but 2 weeks is recommended. Of course, that's assuming a single wave, which may not be the case.

Akrasia

Avalynn Slow Klutz wrote: »

Gert is here now already, was just a journey of 4-5 days. Time is one of the three critical factors, just under a week is helpful, but 2 weeks is recommended. Of course, that's assuming a single wave, which may not be the case.

I think if there were nuclear attacks on the east coast of america, the fact that there are dozens of nuclear power stations in eastern USA means that even if the initial blasts fallout would start to disperse after a week or two, there will be lots of fires and meltdowns in a lot of nuclear reactors burning without anyone to put them out. And if anyone saw the John Oliver segment from this week, each of these power stations also contain decades worth of spent nuclear fuel which could potentially get dispersed and spew out much much more fallout than the initial warhead would produce as a defacto 'dirty bomb'

4068ac1elhodqr

Akrasia wrote: »

I think if there were nuclear attacks on the east coast of america, the fact that there are dozens of nuclear power stations in eastern USA means that even if the initial blasts fallout would start to disperse after a week or two, there will be lots of fires and meltdowns in a lot of nuclear reactors burning without anyone to put them out.

Depends really on their individual shutdown process, storage and location(s). These are rarely in high population density areas. Most would have immediate back up batteries, on site generators, along with 24/7 staffing. So unless a tsunami wave was dropped on them, probably of fairly low risk.

4068ac1elhodqr

Someone mentioned there was at least half a dozen or so in Rep, but apparently this article says there is at least x44 in the North.

This one's for sale for a real bargain price of £575k, and in a fit and ready state, suitable for 236 people for up to 30 days. Unfortunately the town it's in, is sometimes refereed to as already having some social issues, and plenty of the living dead living there already. You'd probably likely also be asked to vacate incase of actual need.

There was also a disused one in Eng recently that was being used to grow 'medicinal/herbal plants', which was only discovered by accident as it was so well hidden and forgotten about.

On a cheery note, The Old Testament book of Isaiah says the “stars in heaven…will not show their light, the Sun will be darkened and the Moon will not give its light,” before the Second Coming. Ah wait that's today!

TheRiverman

Now where did I put those iodine tablets back in 2002?

Podge_irl

Akrasia wrote: »

I think if there were nuclear attacks on the east coast of america, the fact that there are dozens of nuclear power stations in eastern USA means that even if the initial blasts fallout would start to disperse after a week or two, there will be lots of fires and meltdowns in a lot of nuclear reactors burning without anyone to put them out. And if anyone saw the John Oliver segment from this week, each of these power stations also contain decades worth of spent nuclear fuel which could potentially get dispersed and spew out much much more fallout than the initial warhead would produce as a defacto 'dirty bomb'

Why would there be fires and meltdowns in Nuclear power plants?

In the event of nuclear war, the actual nuclear warheads falling on America will be the concern, not a few power plants.

Akrasia

Avalynn Slow Klutz wrote: »

Depends really on their individual shutdown process, storage and location(s). These are rarely in high population density areas. Most would have immediate back up batteries, on site generators, along with 24/7 staffing. So unless a tsunami wave was dropped on them, probably of fairly low risk.

After a nuclear war, staffing, batteries and generators all die.

4068ac1elhodqr

Akrasia wrote: »

After a nuclear war, staffing, batteries and generators all die.

Diesel won't and neither will the generators for it. Most of these things would be stored underground anyway so likely exempt from any secondary effects of pulses. Batteries don't contain transformers. Staff will also likely remain operative, unless of course directly targeted. They'll actually be in one of the most secure places to be.

Jim2007

Akrasia wrote: »

After a nuclear war, staffing, batteries and generators all die.

The current bunker in my celler is due for decommissioning later this year and we have been allocated a 'suite' in a new community bunker. It is three floors underground, accommodates about 1000, includes emergency medical facilities, food supplies and sufficient utilities (water, power etc) for up to 30 days!

Government facilities are even deeper below ground and much of the military facilities are under the Alps.

But most people in Switzerland are most concerned about a release from a nuclear reactor at a power station rather than a war. I live within 10k of such a power house. And they don't let you forget it, as the sirens are tested once every three months.

Count Marcula

Nukes aren't like that anymore. There are environmentally friendly nukes.

gitzy16v

Count Marcula wrote: »

Nukes aren't like that anymore. There are environmentally friendly nukes.

Happy days...environmentally friendly nukes....ill be outside recycling water and and self-sustaining and all be grand yeh?