How do you put a whole country on stand-by?

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

@Liam: Great news indeed! :-( According to Google Maps, you will become a fallout boy first. But of course I would offer you a place of shelter at least.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

I was wrong, there is no active nuclear facility in Colorado, sorry!

One last thing. What happened to the crews of the nuclear powered submarines? I mean, a submarine crew is hermetically sealed off from the outside world. So might there be a chance for at least some subs still operating?

[LiamKerrington]

1. Google Maps is wrong,
2. the moment I am contaminated you never would let me in (besides: I still don't have your address, mate),
3. luckily my place holds one of the few final storages for nuclear waste; thus I KNOW where I would end up in case of ...
But somehow this topic is way too brutal to make fun off ...

Since we have covered nuclear fallout in case something epic would happen, what with the fallout of other facilities, especially from heavy petro-chemical industries?

All the best!
Liam

[Cabbage Patch]

Wow. Just considering ... Since Germany is in the so-called "west-wind-zone" ... Am just imagining what a major series of meltdowns at the East Coast of the US would mean for us ... It really is hard to wrap ones mind around this ... The picture added by Kc is just incredible ...

In the book "Without Warning", by John Birmingham, there is an incident that eliminates the population of the United States, Canada and Mexico. The book goes into graphic detail about the environmental impact on Western Europe of the resulting nuclear meltdowns, refinery fires, and the general collapse of the North America. There is a particularly graphic section describing public works crews in Paris, using brooms to sweep streets that are covered by toxic ash and lined with dead trees, while birds fall out of the sky around them.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

@Cabbage Patch: Thank you for the book recommendation. Merci.

[nikvoodoo]

I was wrong, there is no active nuclear facility in Colorado, sorry!

One last thing. What happened to the crews of the nuclear powered submarines? I mean, a submarine crew is hermetically sealed off from the outside world. So might there be a chance for at least some subs still operating?

I'd say the chance of that being true is high. I don't know how much a sub stores in terms of supplies though. At this point, a sub that left for a mission/training/patrol etc on May 9 would have been out to sea for 7 months. That has got to be a long time to be out there without a chance to resupply.

However, as we seem to think that the event is centered around the Ring of Fire, subs may not be safe in the Pacific Ocean. We don't know how the transformation happens or how it is transmitted to "Patient 0" in each location. Subs may have been affected first for all we know because of their depth and proximity to the Earth's core. Likely? Not really, but you never know.

[Adventureless_Hero]

History Channel did an excellent job covering this and several other questions that would arise in a situation like this in their special Life After People. I saw it a couple of years ago so I don't remember what they said specifically about Nuclear Reactors but I do know they covered them. The series focused on what would happen to the world if human kind disappeared from the face of the Earth while the show avoided discussing a specific cause. So it was an in depth look at what would happen after shit hit the fan and we failed to survive as a species. Check out the link, I'm sure you can find a free version to watch online some where.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

@nikvoodoo: Yes, food rations will be the limiting factor of course. It is disturbing how extensive the communication blackout is actually.

Besides, I guess that you must have already accumulated a lot of bad karma if you are orbiting earth while hell breaks lose on the planet, like Gennady Padalka and Michael R. Barratt onboard the International Space Station (see Expedition 19 which start in March 2009). What would you do if your chances of returning to earth are exactly zero?

[nikvoodoo]

@nikvoodoo: Yes, food rations will be the limiting factor of course. It is disturbing how extensive the communication blackout is actually.

Besides, I guess that you must have already accumulated a lot of bad karma if you are orbiting earth while hell breaks lose on the planet, like Gennady Padalka and Michael R. Barratt onboard the International Space Station (see Expedition 19 which start in March 2009). What would you do if your chances of returning to earth are exactly zero?

Put on a space suit and hope for the best on reentry?

[LiamKerrington]

@nikvoodoo: Yes, food rations will be the limiting factor of course. It is disturbing how extensive the communication blackout is actually.

Besides, I guess that you must have already accumulated a lot of bad karma if you are orbiting earth while hell breaks lose on the planet, like Gennady Padalka and Michael R. Barratt onboard the International Space Station (see Expedition 19 which start in March 2009). What would you do if your chances of returning to earth are exactly zero?

Why does the finale of "Dark Star" cross my mind ... ?