There was a fictional novel written in the 50's (I think), probably after the Bay of Pigs scare. It was called 'Alas, Babylon' by Pat Frank. It detailed what one man in FL did with a couple of days warning that there was going to be a nuclear war. It was interesting to read now what he did that was right and what he did that was wrong. Also what other people did. Quite an interesting read.

Sue

I read that book many years ago, and enjoyed it.

I just built a 10X12 fallout/storm shelter in my basement, I got the plans off the internet, it's design was intended as a fallout shelter but when I decided to build the storm shelter I figured why not build it fallout proof as well. A nuke attack didn't weigh on my plans I just figured since I was building might as well build it for any eventuality.

Shadow Out!!!

Did Frank get all the street names right?

Sue

Watch this movie.

http://www.hbo.com/films/dirtywar/index.html

Disturbing

Check out Nuclear War Survival Skills via search engine. It also has the plans for the Kearney Fallout Meter.

Alas Babylon is a great book, although its been many years since I read it. Isn't the made for TV movie "The Day After" based on the book? I'm pretty sure it is. Great movie too. Jason Robards is awesome.

Seems to me that, if a nuke goes off ANYWHERE, you are gonna be aware of it. And so much is gonna be happening, no one will care if your little gizmo shows that you have been absorbing some rays. Hospitals will be filled to overflowing with folks who got zapped bigtime...

Polak, the Ludlum device you are using will work fine for any dose that represents a significant hazard. It is designed to be a "get-out-of-dodge" device that doesn't require any more training than, "if it goes off, leave the scene". It is adequate for that purpose. It will not go off for a typical x-ray because the beam isn't on long enough to activate the detector. Find a fluoroscope or some radioactive material and it will work just fine.

The other devices you listed, although I am not personally familiar with them, are a little more advanced, and probably work just fine. The are designed for a different purpose though, and cost more money. They also require a little knowledge to know what info is being relayed to the user and what that information means as far as risk is concerned. As evidenced from some of the posts here, many first responders have not received that level of training.

Personal dosimeters (as mentioned in a separate post) have no alarming capability and are simply used to track occupational dose after the fact. I wear one everyday. They work very well, but provide no warning as to the dose or dose rate as it is actually accumulated, and are therefore not particularly useful for first responders.

We have evaluated several electronic personal dosimeters, and as far as simplicity is concerned the Laurus RADOS Rad-60 is relatively inexpensive and easy to use. They are fairly durable to boot. As you noted, there are lots of options out there these days, and if you don't know what you need or how they work you can spend a lot of money on hype, or buying more than what you need.

Any of these units will have to be maintained and calibrated annually to ensure functionality. This too costs money.

If you have any more questions on rad detection instrumentation, or rad safety in general, feel free to drop me a line (gsackett1 at hotmail dot com).

Be safe out there...

Greg