nuclear-news

USA to prepare for nuclear explosions in cities

Preparing for a ‘nuclear event’ – LA Daily News 14 Dec 09 ……….The federal Homeland Security Council is urging state and local governments to prepare in the event of a nuclear detonation in a major city. And Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is studying how to incorporate a nuclear detonation scenario into a citizen preparedness campaign………….Congressional reports suggest such an attack could result in more than 100 million deaths in a year, said Sharon Packer, executive director of the American Civil Defense Association.

“I don’t mean to minimize the efforts of Los Angeles County in creating fallout shelters,” Packer said. “It is very important and a wonderful first step. The larger concern, in my estimation, is in the protection of our electrical grid and the storage of additional transformers to assure the continuance of our infrastructure.”

The county’s efforts to inventory its bomb and fallout shelters follows the recent discovery of a 1975 book by the county’s Emergency Preparedness Commission, “Los Angeles County & Cities Public Shelter Directory,” which lists 6,200 fallout shelters with a capacity of 14.5 million people.

The shelters, including hundreds in the San Fernando Valley, include the basements and similarly protected areas in places such as hospitals, government buildings, courthouses, post offices, churches, movie studios, parking garages and tunnels. Many businesses are also listed, including McDonald’s, J.C. Penney Co. and even a cellar at the Budweiser plant.

Preparing for a ‘nuclear event’ – LA Daily News

December 15, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radioactive