Mr. Shraby has some more information on contamination and

[shraby]

what to do about it.

Now that we know what the workers have to do to protect themselves at the nuclear plant in Japan, lets take it over here to the United states and see what we can do if we get a little dusting. (airborne contamintion that settles on our houses and sidewalks and where ever).

Also remember we're not in what you call a radiation field, which would be gamma rays coming off a reactor or spent fuel pool, we're only looking at radioactive dust that you could get on your skin and you can also wash off, with luke warm water only.

But you don't want to breathe in this dust, or if you do breathe it in keep it to a minimum.

First thing keep your doors and windows shut.

We're going to set ourselves up so we can leave the house to go get something, and get back in the house without contaminating ourself and everything inside of it.

So to keep anyone from hitting the panic button and going out and buying a bunch of stuff, we're going to do this with some stuff out of the kitchen and maybe a closet or dresser, we won't even go into the garage.

This would be a situation where you get up in the morning, turn on the tv and find out the air outside your house has airborne contamination and your sidewalk, lawn and car have been dusted with airborne contamination.

So you look out the window and you can't see any Radioactive dust, but they say its there so we need to leave the house, and get back in the house with out contaminating ourselves or the inside of your house.

First I'm going to reference something on my website about wiping something that has radioactive dust.

If you get contamination in your house this is how you wipe it clean.

409 or fantastic will work.

Okay my house has a roll of duct tape in one of the drawers in the kitchen, I also have some clear plastic sheeting, a roll I got from Fleet Farm a while back, just the real thin clear cheap stuff. And last but not least a pair of scissors in the kitchen drawer.

If you don't have the plastic sheeting maybe a large baggie or even saran wrap as a worst case have to use.

Now remember we're not going out and stock up on a bunch of stuff, we're going to use what we have, and thats a nice little security blanket to have, knowing we can self sustain and deal with a few emergency type situations.

We're going to do like the Japanese people do, remain calm and get through it.

You don't have to have heavy coveralls or plastic suits and full face respirators to get protection, we're only looking at getting the most protection we can with what we all ready have.

I'll be going to take a look in my closet, I have some shirts I never wear, I'll grab two of them, then I have some old ratty looking jogging pants, that oughta work.

I also have some winter boots and even a pair of rubber gloves for cleaning the toilet.

Old sheets and pillow cases will work, anything made of cloth.

I'll take the first shirt and go in front of the bathroom mirror and put it over my head and kind of try to figure out how long to cut it so it hangs down on top of my shoulders.

Then take the scissors and cut off the extra stuff that doesn't cover the tops of my shoulders.

I'll take a little piece of duct tape and put it here and there and make my self a hood that goes halfway down my forehead and around the side of my face.

Then a couple more pieces of duct tape up and down the sides should stiffen it up a little, more duct tape up and down the sides should stiffen it up a little.

Then I'll tape it at the neck area where I can still slip it off from my head.

Next I'll get a piece of the plastic sheeting maybe 8 or 10 inches square, this will be my window to see through and also to breather through.

I'll put the hood back on and put the plastic in the front of my face and take some little pieces of duct tape and tape it.

Then take the hood off again and tape it real good all around the edge of the plastic.

Then I'll hold it up and figure out where I can cut it for a mouth piece, we have to be able to breathe.

You could probably cut a 3 inch high 4 inch wide piece out of the plastic to breathe through.

Now get a wash cloth because it is a little thicker then your shirt and it will hold the moisture in it a little better.

Now cut the wash cloth about an inch wider then the hole in your plastic face piece and duct tape that tightly all around the hole.

If you don't have any water you could open a can of soup and wet the wash cloth with that, anything to get it moist.

We now have a hood.

Now we'll put on the jogging pants and boots.

Jogging pants first, then the boots.

We'll tape the boots around the tops and if the boots are kind of open in the front we'll tape that up also, always use a little tab with the duct tape.

The reason you tape the boots to the pants first is it will keep you from getting heated up versus starting with the hood.

Now put on a shirt and tuck into the jogging pants and run tape around your waist to seal up the shirt to the pants but leave your self some room to bend over and move around, so it a little on the loose side.

Now run tape up where the shirt buttons up from your waist up just under your chin or at the base of your neck.

Then tape the opening on the side of the cuffs.

Now put the hood on and tape the bottom out side of your hood to your shirt around your shoulders, and then tape it good in the neck but don't forget to leave some room to turn and also move your head up and down.

Then put the rubber gloves on over your shirt and tape the top of the cuffs.

Then wet the washcloth around your mouth piece and your ready to go.

This may sound like its a little iffy on protecting someone from radioactive dust, but trust me, it should work, its a lighter material but if you use it right or I guess I could say wear it right it will protect you when going outside.

The secret to making this homemade suit work is no different then dressing out with Nuclear plant type protective coveralls etc.

When you go to undress that is where you will spread contaminated dust, you will probably get some on you and some at the entrance into your house, this is why the next step is very important.

You have heard me mention to put a tab when you finish up wrapping some duct tape around a glove or whatever.

You need to put one finger next to that tab so when you pull on it you aren't pulling the gloves or hood or whatever sideways, you need to treat all of your protective clothing like this, like try doing it in slow motion then you have the right idea.

I have dressed and undressed hundreds of radiation workers, some of them just exited a manway in a steam generator, and trust me you will never ever see that much contamination in one area.

This is so contaminated you measure it with a beta instument.

What ever blows into your area will be a whole lot less.

Now when you go out side at home and return you need to use the same steps as the guy coming out of the steam generator.

He gets undressed very cautiously.

You can undress yourself or have somebody else do it, but if they aren't trained in it they will get you and themselves contaminated.

Okay your back at the house and you decide your the only one that can undress your self because your the only one that read this.

Get yourself into a position that you can lift one leg and step just inside the house a little.

First stand straight up and don't move your head.
Very carefully take a hold of the tab or tabs that are connected to the tape around your hood, don't move that hood sideways any more then you absolutely have to. Very gently pull the tape from the hood, now you have a hood setting on your head loose and a little bit cocked to one side.

You have to get this hood off without any radioactive dust thats on the hood getting on your head on on your neck.

You can bend forward or backward then gently pull the hood off and away from you and don't drop it, just set it down gently off to the side a little.

Its common sense here but always in slow motion, remember you aren't in a gamma radiation field like a Nuclear worker might be your just trying to keep from getting a little dusting.

Now don't forget those gloves you have on are dusted.

Next pull the tape off the front of your shirt in a downward motion then reach down and untape your boots, then untape around your waist.

Now very slowly unbutton your shirt, but watch it because you could contaminate your belly.

Better yet don't button it to start with just tape it shut.

At this point you can pull the gloves off, and to do this you take the tip of your finger and hook it in the cuff a little and gently pull the glove inside out.

We usually wear two pairs of gloves and get rid of the contaminated pair right away, but we might not have extra gloves.

Now with our clean fingers reach inside the shirt and pull that off kind of backward so none of the dust falls on you so you are turning it inside out.

Then hook the fingers under your waist band and pull your pants down by turning them inside out, and when you get down to the boots you will turn the boot inside out with the boot tangled up in the pants, and with one free leg step inside your house and then pull the other side boot off with the pants pulling the boot with it and then step inside your house with the other foot.

Yeah it sounds pretty hokie, but If you need to leave the house to get something, this just might keep your home from getting contminated. I know for a fact even though I have never had to do it, I could go out and get back in the house clean as whistle, and I would also bet that anybody that paid attention and used the think it through process and the ultra slow motion could also stay clean.

Stop and think of any situation that occured where you got a bunch of dust on your shirt or whatever, loose dust where you could see it, kind of white looking dust.

If your carefull and did it in slow motion you could take that shirt off and keep almost all or all of it from getting through the shirt and getting on you.

I know theres a good chance some of that dust could get through the clothing we used, but remember this is your one and only shot at getting out of the house and still keep the inside of your house clean.

I'll take that time to use what I have, its a whole lot better then the alternative, radiation contamination in your house, in your food.

Just leave your radioactive suit at the doorstep, and when you need to go out again just make up another one.

Very carefully take your rubber boots and rubber gloves and in slow motion put them in a garbage bag, bring them into the house and very carefully put the garbage bag inside your wash machine and very carefully pull the boots and gloves out then fold the bag up in slow motion in the washer, and put it in your trash, trying to keep the contaminated inside of the bag still inside the bag.

Edited to remove a link I inadvertantly left in it when he sent it to me to post.

[shraby]

1. If you find this useful, please keep it kicked so more will be

able to read it.
:kick:

[haele]

2. Works nice if you or other adults are the only inhabitants of your house.

My concern would be indoor/outdoor pets more than me using a suit. The dog wants to go out and do it's business in grass that has been exposed to fall-out (or even worse, chew on some of that same grass because she's got a bit of an upset tummy from getting into the garbage), the person with a cat or thoughtless teen who thinks nothing about running in and out of the house whenever they feel like it -
And don't get me started on the hassle of going out to the store and bringing back groceries, or going to work and having to interact with other people who may not be as careful as you might be, spraying radioactive dust all over the place...

Not to be a debbie downer or anything like that, but avoiding radiation from a fall-out would be next to impossible. It's one thing if you are dealing with radiation only as a part of your work, when you're going into a area that is "dirty", and then leaving, cleaning up and going on with the rest of your life.
It's another thing if you are coming out of a clean room and going out into a wide world of radioactive dirt, and trying not to bring it back into your clean room at the end of the day.

This advice is practical for a work situation, but I can't see how practical it is for most people in a day-to-day living situation.
Me, I'm pretty much resigned to me and my family being radiated over the next couple weeks.

With a elderly, somewhat senile dog that needs to go out four or five times a day, with errands and work that require the ability to go outside and drive somewhere, with a kid who won't be able to remember she just can't invite her most likely unprotected friends in to hang out in the house over the next two/three weeks because "her sanity is more important than some stupid radiation" - I'd rather have some advice that's a bit more practical way of dealing with it already in the home - and in the car. And the AC venting and ducting... And the lawn and garden...
And drinking water and shower water?

You see where I'm coming from?

So, if, while things are still somewhat clean, I stock up on wipes, (including pet wipes) paper towels, 409 cleaner, vacuum cleaner bags, and trash bags; and buy a brand new heavy duty vacuum cleaner, and thoroughly clean the house twice a day or so, and do laundry every day, would that help to mitigate the long term effects?

Haele

[shraby]

5. Mr. Shraby says a home vacuum won't work because it

has an exhaust on it. There are special vacuums that don't have exhausts but they are very expensive and you want to be sure they don't leak. Otherwise any contamination you may get will be blown all over your home. The trick is to keep as much on the outside as is humanly possible. The radiation coming from Japan is probably negligible because of the distance it has to travel, but there are plants all over the United States and no one knows what will happen at them. It's better to know in advance what one can do to mitigate the dangers. Nothing may ever happen, but that's what Japan thought, the people at 3 Mile Island thought, and the people at Chernobyl thought.

[haele]

6. Ah, I understand now. And will keep this advice in mind -

- should something happen in "the neighborhood".

There have been a lot of locals here on the southern Left Coast who are worried about radiation from Japan, but I suspect from what I learned in the Navy that it won't be much of a problem should this be a short-term event. (In fact, I'm probably in more danger than the rest of my family, being around some old, residual radiation a long time ago...)

If it went longer than a month or so, the cumulative levels can cause some problems.

And we still run into the issue of pets and teens and automobiles during any sort of fall-out disaster... :(

Haele

[hlthe2b]

3. Seems appropriate advice...

for people living near the reactor. :shrug:

[shraby]

4. Many people live near reactors. Mr. Shraby thinks people

are better off knowing enough to be prepared in an accident situation where radiation is airborne in their area. As someone once said, "preparation is all".