Chapter 23

Survival In Man-Made Hazards

THE NUCLEAR ENVIRONMENT

Shelter Site Selection and Preparation

23-38. To reduce your exposure time and thereby reduce the dosage received, remember the following factors when selecting and setting up a shelter:

• Where possible, seek a crude, existing shelter that you can improve. If none is available, dig a trench.

• Dig the shelter deep enough to get good protection, then enlarge it as required for comfort.

• Cover the top of the fighting position or trench with any readily available material and a thick layer of earth, if you can do so without leaving the shelter. While a roof and camouflage are both desirable, it is probably safer to do without them than to expose yourself to radiation outside your fighting position.

• While building your shelter, keep all parts of your body covered with clothing to protect it against beta burns.

• Clean the shelter site of any surface deposit using a branch or other object that you can discard. Do this cleaning to remove contaminated materials from the area you will occupy. The cleaned area should extend at least 1.5 meters (5 feet) beyond your shelter's area.

• Decontaminate any materials you bring into the shelter. These materials include grass or foliage that you use as insulation or bedding, and your outer clothing (especially footgear). If the weather permits and you have heavily contaminated outer clothing, you may want to remove it and bury it under a foot of earth at the end of your shelter. You may retrieve it later (after the radioactivity decays) when leaving the shelter. If the clothing is dry, you may decontaminate it by beating or shaking it outside the shelter's entrance to remove the radioactive dust. You may use any body of water, even though contaminated, to rid materials of excess fallout particles. Simply dip the material into the water and shake it to get rid of the excess water. Do not wring it out, this action will trap the particles.

• If possible and without leaving the shelter, wash your body thoroughly with soap and water, even if the water on hand may be contaminated. This washing will remove most of the harmful radioactive particles that are likely to cause beta burns or other damage. If water is not available, wipe your face and any other exposed skin surface to remove contaminated dust and dirt. You may wipe your face with a clean piece of cloth or a handful of uncontaminated dirt. You get this uncontaminated dirt by scraping off the top few inches of soil and using the "clean" dirt.

• Upon completing the shelter, lie down, keep warm, and sleep and rest as much as possible while in the shelter.

• When not resting, keep busy by planning future actions, studying your maps, or making the shelter more comfortable and effective.

• Don't panic if you experience nausea and symptoms of radiation sickness. Your main danger from radiation sickness is infection. There is no first aid for this sickness. Resting, drinking fluids, taking any medicine that prevents vomiting, maintaining your food intake, and preventing additional exposure will help avoid infection and aid recovery. Even small doses of radiation can cause these symptoms, which may disappear in a short time.