I have a question about nuclear fallout and nuclear ice-age?

Question

Ok say there was a nuclear war and it caused a nuclear winter, would a person be able to avoid the fallout and nuclear winter if they were on top of a mountain above the cloud line?

Answer 1

theoretically yes, if that person could carry enough food, oxygen and water to last over a very very long period of time.

*edit*

plus youd still have to be protected from radiation, and youd probably have to have sterile water with you, or a way to de-radiate it.

Answer 2

Maybe for awhile, but radiation is absorbed into water and eventually the rain would contaminate you.

Answer 3

Radiation goes in all directions and isn't affected by gravity (at least not very much, but that's a different topic).  If you were on a mountain, or anywhere on the surface of the earth you main concern would be your proximity to a detonated nuclear device.  If being up on a mountain puts you further away from the detonation site than if you were at the base of the mountain that will help some.  The best place to be is underground, where the earth will act to block most of the radiation.  Lead and concrete are two of the best substances to use to build said underground shelter due to their high density.

Answer 4

there is still this thing call wind...

Answer 5

there are enough natural resources underground(gas, water) to take care of people if they planned it right.

Answer 6

Sure, for the most part, the most damaging radiation would be in the lower atmosphere, but you would have to be pretty high up , (above the precipitation layer, such as in the Himalayas), since the water cycle would be significantly contaminated in anything more than a very limited nuclear exchange.

Regional water contamination (a few hundred miles in all the prevailing wind/water direction) would be the case at ever detonation point.

Areas outside of the initial impact areas would be significantly "safer" and less contaminated, but in a theaterwide or God forbid a full-scale nuclear war, whole regions of the planet would be f*cked, in such a circumstance, you could have - for instance, a full-scale nuclear exchange between Russia and China, the US and Europe , even though they might never have fired a shot in anger would experience both the after effects of the radiation and have significant death tolls as a result.

This is all part of the historical thinking behind the mutually assured destruction policy that nuclear nations maintain against all other nuclear nations, the US and USSR are just the prototype, but Israel/Iran, Pakistan/India, China/Russia, China/US, US/Russia, Brazil/Argentina, North Korea/South Korea all represent state-pairs currently engaged in a nuclear arms race, these are not the only nations so engaged and not necessarily the most likely pairs of aggressors towards one another.

Answer 7

fallout you could hide from in a old mine or tunnel.

fallout will decrease by 1/2 every 7 hours.

true nuclear winter would take a few months to become full blown.

plus there are no where near the number of nuclear weapon megatonage now as there was during the cold war.

most nuclear weapons now are very small yield precession weapons that can hit within feet of the target unlike the older cold-war weapons that could hit within 100s of feet.

see GPS guided bombs or cruse missiles

this in it self would limit nuclear winter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_she...

http://www.radshelters4u.com/index3.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/librar...

http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/nuclea...

many things about nuclear war are out of date even what was written 10 years ago.

Answer 8

There is a book titled : Life After Doomsday, by Bruce D Clayton, which is a practical guide for survivalists in that event, although he also discusses what to do if you happen to be downwind of your local nuclear powerplant when it lets go. Among other things he gives complete instructions for the construction and use of an improvised radiation meter calibrated for those contingencies.