Global security leaders are warning that nuclear threats are growing as weapons spending has surged around the world. At the same time, private bunker sales are on the rise globally. Critics warn these bunkers create a false perception that a nuclear war is survivable. They argue that people planning to live through an atomic blast aren鈥檛 focusing on the real and current dangers posed by nuclear threats, and the critical need to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Meanwhile, government disaster experts say bunkers aren鈥檛 necessary. The Federal Emergency Management Agency鈥檚 100-page guidance on responding to a nuclear detonation focuses on having the public get inside and stay inside, ideally in a basement and away from outside walls for at least a day. Those existing spaces can provide protection from radioactive fallout, says FEMA.
Here are takeaways from .
What is the market for bunkers in the United States?
The market for U.S. bomb and fallout shelters is forecast to grow from $137 million last year to $175 million by 2030, according to a market research report from BlueWeave Consulting. The report says major growth factors include 鈥渢he rising threat of nuclear or terrorist attacks or civil unrest.鈥�
鈥淧eople are uneasy and they want a safe place to put their family. And they have this attitude that it鈥檚 better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it,鈥� said Atlas Survival Shelters CEO Ron Hubbard. He says his bunker factory, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, is the world鈥檚 largest. Hubbard said COVID lockdowns, and the outbreak of have driven sales.
What do government disaster preparedness experts say?
鈥淟ook, this fallout exposure is entirely preventable because it is something that happens after the detonation,鈥� said Brooke Buddemeier a radiation safety specialist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where the U.S. government designs nuclear weapons. 鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be a fairly obvious nuclear explosion event, a large cloud. So just getting inside, away from where those particles fall, can keep you and your family safe.鈥�
After a deadly and deafening blast, a bright flash and a mushroom cloud, it will take about 15 minutes for the radioactive fallout to arrive for those a mile or more away from ground zero, said Michael Dillon, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to literally be sand falling on your head, and you鈥檙e going to want to get out of that situation. You want to go to your most robust building,鈥� he said. In their models, they estimate people may need to stay inside for a day or two before evacuating.
What do nonproliferation advocates say?
Nonproliferation advocates bristle at the bunkers, shelters or any suggestion that a nuclear war is survivable.
鈥淏unkers are, in fact, not a tool to survive a nuclear war, but a tool to allow a population to psychologically endure the possibility of a nuclear war,鈥� said Alicia Sanders-Zakre at the .
Sanders-Zakre called radiation the 鈥渦niquely horrific aspect of nuclear weapons,鈥� and noted that even surviving the fallout doesn鈥檛 prevent long-lasting, intergenerational health crises. 鈥淯ltimately, the only solution to protect populations from nuclear war is to eliminate nuclear weapons.鈥�
Massachusetts Congressman James McGovern year after year introduces legislation pushing for nonproliferation.
鈥淚f we ever get to a point where there鈥檚 all out nuclear war, underground bunkers aren鈥檛 going to protect people,鈥� he said. 鈥淚nstead, we ought to be investing our resources and our energy trying to talk about a nuclear weapons freeze, initially.鈥�
Next, he said, 鈥渨e should work for the day when we get rid of all nuclear weapons.鈥�
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