Gradually, civil defense efforts moved away from nuclear bombs and concentrated on everyday threats that could be more easily defended against, such as tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes. A study by the RAND Corporation in 1966 determined that as many as 62 percent of all Americans would die in a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union, and painted a pretty grim picture of the lives of the survivors.Īs a result, fallout shelters became seen as an ineffective way to protect the lives of the vast majority of the population. The main reason we no longer build fallout shelters is that as nuclear bombs have grown in size and number, the prospects of surviving a nuclear war – even in a shelter – have decreased. The answer is an interesting story that should give us all pause, especially as we now face new nuclear weapon threats. Now, no one builds fallout shelters.īut, why not? The nuclear weapons are still around.Īs a radiation protection expert and a professor of radiation medicine, I am sometimes asked this question. The only reminder of the public shelters is the occasional yellow fallout shelter sign that still remains affixed to the outside wall of some buildings.
Today, those shelters in the basements of 1960s-era homes are largely used for storage. The American people heeded his advice and began an enormous grassroots effort to construct fallout shelters in every private residence and public building.
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