Surviving a point blank nuclear explosion

hornetstinger

hornetstinger

hornetstinger

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Would it be possible, with unlimited military and civlian spending to build a vehicle that would protect it's occupants from a point blank high yield nuclear explosion? I do know certain battle tanks will protect to a certain point, from shock waves, thermal blast, kinetic and X-rays etc, but they must be at a set distance from ground zero.
 
Nope

You'd have to build something that's akin to surviving been thrown into the sun. Perhaps in the distant future we'll have energy shields that can do it but not now and not anytime soon
 
b0redj0rd said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

Kind of relevant. If 'everything' would be atomized by plasma, how would the propulsion system in the link above work?!
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Shaping of the force direction I guess and you could use magnetic containment (the energy requirements would be colossal).

StriderX said:
Theoretically its not impossible, but right now, definitely.
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The energy requirements would be challenging (understatement) but a combination of plasma and magnetic forcefields that could do the job have working theories I believe though the practical side is another matter.
 
I would have thought that even if its not point blank range but within the blast radius the concussive blast and resulting heat would vaporise or turn someone to mush... Along with buildings, cars, anything else in the way.
 
ZXSpectrum said:
I would have thought that even if its not point blank range but within the blast radius the concussive blast and resulting heat would vaporise or turn someone to mush... Along with buildings, cars, anything else in the way.
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What if the vehicle had tens of meters of dense materal as a outer layer, such as ceramic? That would protect from the initial heat.
 
Nuclear bombs are generally used in airburst configuration these days anyhow unless used against specific targets so unless you were airborne you'd be around 100s or 1000s of meters (or more) from the blast anyhow.
 
A suitable ceramic sphere capable of withstanding a couple of million degrees of heat rise and able to be bowled along in the blast.
 
IIRC it would need to survive closer to 100 million degrees of heat if it was very close to the explosion. I don't believe even a ablative heat shield with some kind of active protection to route heat could deal with that - you'd need some kind of forcefield.
 
Nuclear weapons are typically designed to detonate in the air rather than on impacting the ground. So when you specify "point blank" I'm going to assume that the explosion is happening above you and you are directly underneath it. If you are flying a plane close to a nuclear explosion, the answer is "no". Even if the colossal blast winds didn't send you into history's least survivable spin, the level of shielding you would need to survive the blast and radiation is incompatible with anything that would ever get off the ground. I suppose conceivably you could create some sort of giant blimp. Can't imagine that going well, either.

But assuming a ground vehicle, then "yes". You specified "unlimited spending". If you throw enough lead and hardened construction material and heat shielding, then you can block any amount of radiation. Multiple cavity layers for shock absorption could also theoretically protect you from the shock wave. A 1MT nuclear bomb (and you can certainly get bigger), yields an initial exposure of 2 RAD. Safe levels are measured in millirads. So you need a protection factor of at least a thousand to get you down to non-elevated levels. I think with lead that's about 4" inches. Concrete is about 24". So sure, it's doable to deal with the radiation effects of a medium nuclear weapon up close. But you're talking about 4" thick lead encasing the occupied part of the vehicle. I don't want to estimate how heavy that would be, but lead is something like three and a half times heavier than pure iron so good luck with that. And remember that your occupied area needs to have sufficient, sealed air supply. And lead itself is not exactly a good frame or shell for a vehicle so you need other parts around that plus the aforementioned cavities otherwise you're essentially sitting in a giant Big Ben waiting for it to ring and liquefy your insides! Also, lead melts at a fairly low temperature, so keep it contained in a steel skin.

So in conclusion, if you're talking unlimited funds and you're happy for your vehicle to be a big dome of steel, lead, and oxygen tanks with very low passenger limit and crawling around with treads like these underneath it:

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/public/assets/diggerblog/2011/07/1310279950_cimg1640.jpg

** Do Not Hotlink images **

then yes, you could build a "vehicle" that could survive. But if you're imagining main battle tanks fighting on under a nuclear rain, no. It would have to be a very, very specialised vehicle and it would move like a terrified tortoise. What you want, I'm afraid, is a bunker. Or better yet, advanced knowledge of where the missiles will strike so you can be very far away.

Disclaimer: all estimates loosely back of the enveloped after a couple of minutes quick googling for amounts of radiation and protection factors.
 
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