Nuclear War Survival Skills Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition Cresson H. Kearny With Foreword by Dr. Edward Teller
Original Edition Published September, 1979, by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a Facility of the U.S. Department of Energy
First printing May 1987 Second printing November 1988 Third printing September 1990
At the time he developed the Kearny Fallout Meter with help from U.S. Department of Energy scientists and engineers, we did not address the issue of nuclear terrorism. We were so concerned back then in the 1970’s with the danger of all-out nuclear war that we neglected to instruct users of the KFM of its advantages in a terrorist attack with few and smaller nuclear weapons. Fear of life-threatening fallout from massive Soviet attacks carried over to exaggerated fears of all radiation, including that from terrorists’ few weapons.
In Oak Ridge National Laboratory publications to be read by the public we did not even mention hormesis, for to have done so at that time probably would have prevented my most influential book “Nuclear War Survival Skills,” from being purchased and used by government agencies to instruct civil defense professionals.
When Hitler first bombed London the panic the bombs caused did far more damage than the bombs themselves. After the citizens of London lost their exaggerated fears of the bombings, life went on much as normal. And so it would be with a nuclear terrorist attack on the U.S. One nuclear bomb exploded in a U.S. city would likely be very small. And though it could do catastrophic damage in g small area, its relative impact on the physical infrastructure of the whole United States would be extremely small. However, because of the irrational, universal fear people have of any radioactivity the panic that would ensue from such an attack would do far more damage than the attack itself.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union we should have stressed in the KFM instructions that small doses of radioactivity are hormetic, healthful because they stimulate the immune system. Thi was proven in laboratories as far back as the 1920’s. With the advent of the A-bomb almost all the hormetic research stopped. And only in the last decade has it resumed on a serious scale.
In the KFM instructions it was assumed that no medical help would be available during and after a nuclear war. The doses that an individual can take under those circumstances without being injured are lower than what that individual can withstand if he has medical assistance such as antibiotics, etc. In a nuclear terrorist attack medical aid would still be available to the majority of American citizens; therefore they could withstand somewhat larger radiation doses. This would enable them to carry on with the daily necessities of life in most areas If we allow irrational fear and panic to shut down trucking, communications, and vital services, the disaster will be far greater than it needs to be.
Assembling a KFM and learning to use it before you need it will help you lose irrational fear of radioactivity. You will not be paralyzed by panic in an emergency. You will know how to conduct yourself in a manner that may not only save your life but also the lives of many of those around you as well.
I urge you to study the KFM instructions now and make an instrument. You should realize that under terrorist attack conditions the radiation doses you can receive without being incapacitated are higher than under nuclear wartime conditions. So you can go to work, drive your truck or car, or assist others.
Cresson H. Kearny [February 1999]
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