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P10 Disaster Shelter |
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Air Filtration The air is purified through a three-stage filtration system. The first filter is the HEPA filter located on the entranceway. This filter intakes air at ground level and physically removes dust and airborne contaminates including radioac-tive fallout and biological warfare agents. The HEPA filter system is specifically designed to operate in very heavy dust/fallout conditions. It is connected to the entranceway by a hose within a fiberglass pipe to allow the HEPA filter housing to break away from the shelter in severe ground shock and still be watertight and completely functional. This design allows the HEPA filter housing to move independently of the entranceway. The second and third stage of air filtration takes place in the carbon filter housing built into the counter. Here two layers of carbon are used. The air blower is mounted on the cover of the carbon filter housing. When the carbon filter housing is filled with the optional activated and Whetlerite carbons, it will remove radioactive iodine gas and chemical warfare agents. Leaching Septic Tank Opposite the HEPA filter housing on the command station is the 60-gallon fiberglass leaching septic tank which has a duration of 3-6 months depending on the number of shelterists and diet. It is easily pumped out with a manual septic pump from the ground surface by removing the septic tank cover The leaching septic tank is connected to the shelter by a hose within a fiberglass pipe and is designed to break away, like the HEPA filter housing. Shelter Facilities The P10 contains 1337 cubic feet (10,000 gal) with headroom from 6'-4" to 8'-4". This allows for normal living and a very spacious feeling. There is ample light for reading anywhere in the shelter supplied by a 10,000-hour fluorescent light located on the bathroom cowling. Fresh filtered air is brought into the shelter by a 12-volt 40,000-hour air blower designed to operate 24 hours per day for approximately 30 days and supplies many times the breathing volume of air required by adults. This system has the advantage of maintaining constant shelter temperature, constant shelter oxygen levels, constant shelter carbon dioxide levels, and constant shelter mois-ture levels, plus it prevents overheating which is common with manual air blowers in warm cli-mates. Exhausting of hot, moist, spent air is facilitated through the entranceway which is located on the end of the shelter but very close to the highest point of the ceiling. The hot, moist, spent air rises up through the entranceway to the venting hatch where it exits the shelter. This is the most efficient geometry for exhausting, especially when power consumption is critical. Twelve 12-volt deep-cycle sealed batteries are stored in a fiberglass battery box under the floor. The normal loss of battery power is approximately 1.5% per month. A photovoltaic panel (solar panel) can be used to maintain the batteries if desired. A 50-foot battery charg-ing cable can also be connected from the batteries in the shelter to the battery in a car to allow the car alternator to charge the batteries. Hatch The hatch is made of structural fiberglass or combat composite for maximum corrosion resistance and stealth. It produces little or no thermal signature, little or no metallic signature, and little or no radar signature. When the shelter is installed in the ground, all that can be seen is the dark army-green hatch on the top of the entranceway, which is 46-inches in diameter and 3 inches above the ground, making it easy to camouflage its visual signature. This makes it almost impossible to be detected by modern target acquisition equipment. The hatch is also designed to protect the shelter from a fire reaching 1750oF for one hour while maintaining its structural integrity in compliance to ASTM E119. It is designed to resist 500 mph winds and 8.5+ on the Richter Scale. It is specifically designed to resist seven basic assaults from people trying to break into the shelter in compliance to P.O.P. The P10 hatch, HEPA cover, and Septic cover are made of the same material and have a number of options for resistance to various threats based on the NIJ (National Institute of Justice). The material and thickness vary as the threat level increases. The classes listed below are based on resisting 90% of all of the bullet types at various velocities listed known as (V-90). The barrel length, feet per second (fps) or meters per second (mps) for the test are noted. Shelter Defense When the shelter is not in use, the hatch cover is locked from the outside by two stainless steel hasps and padlock. When the shelter is in use, the stainless steel hasps and padlock are removed and brought into the shelter. The P10 is not impenetrable but it is difficult to break into while shelterists are inside. There are also optional fiberglass rocks available to cover the hatch and HEPA cover. Storing survival supplies in a house may be a false sense of security during wartime or major natural disasters. Under the 1984 War Powers Act, the President of the US can order local government officials to use limited force to commandeer necessary supplies such as generators, fuel, food, supplies, etc. from houses recorded on tax records. Even if the location of the shelter were known, it would require much more than limited force to defeat the P10. Sealed Shelter Atmosphere When ground fires are present around the hatch, the air blower should not be turned on to bring in fresh air. During this time, the shelterists must breath in a sealed shelter atmosphere. The safe duration time is based on a 3% carbon dioxide limit. The time it takes for the shelter atmosphere to reach this limit is a function of the number of shelterists, degree of physical activity of the shelterists, and the volume of the shelter above the floor. This duration is shown below for adults performing mild work. Seismic Joint This seismic joint allows the command station, free and independent movement from the main shelter. The command station is located within the frost line while the shelter is well below the frost line. This creates tremendous stresses during winter months when the command station is forced up 0.5 to 1.25 inches due to frozen ground. The seismic joint removes these stresses by allowing vertical movement of the command station and also allows the top of the command station to move laterally to maintain structural integrity during rolling ground motion from severe ground shock. Plumbing System Sink- The fiberglass counter has a molded in 5 gallon sink. A hand pump at the head of the sink brings water from the external water tank into the sink where dishes and clothes are washed. The sink drains into the gray water tank molded into the shower floor. Shower- A shower bag is filled at the sink and hung on the bathroom wall to be used for showering. The fiberglass bathroom floor allows all water to drain into a graywater tank. Chemical or nuclear decontamination is per-formed in this same way except that the contaminated water is taken to the surface and dumped. Toilet- The toilet is powered by a manual hand pump and uses water from the gray water tank. The sewage is pumped up to the leaching septic tank through an internal hose. Fittings- The shelter also contains three 3/4 inch NPTF pipe thread outlets five feet below ground level for connection to the water tank and seven 1/2 inch NPTF threaded outlets one foot below ground level for bringing in, antenna lines, a phone line, a power supply, and a 12-volt power cable from a solar panel to recharge the batteries. Gas Agent Tester Housing (GATH) -This stainless steel unit is installed on the incoming air line and is located under the sink. It allows visual confirmation of chemical warfare agents without exiting the shelter. The GATH is also designed to collect and drain condensation from the HEPA filter housing. Storage There is 137 cubic feet of storage (1000 gal.) under the floor. An optional Food Tank package consists of 44 - 5 gallon food tanks which fit under the upper deck, a 25 gallon aluminum methanol tank which fits under the floor, a methanol stove/oven, and handmill. The 5 gallon food tanks are used to store grain, powdered milk, salt, sugar, beans, TVP, honey, etc. and hold approximately 2000 lbs of food forming a 15 month food supply for four people. The food supply can be extended to 2 years with the additional purchase of 12 more food tanks. Additional food packages are available from Walton Feeds. The material and thickness of these food tanks allows the much preferred carbon dioxide packing of food as opposed to the nitrogen packing of food. The 25 gallon aluminum methanol tank was sized to boil all the water in the 550 gallon water tank plus all the food in the 56 food tanks. Storage is more easily managed with the optional Utility Line which is connected to the shelter with stainless steel eye bolts through which a 1/2 inch diameter climbing rope is run. On this line net bags and hammocks can be hung. Radiation Shielding Radiation shielding from overhead in the P10 is provided by 8 feet of earth at the crown of the shelter ceiling. With a TRS (Total Rems in Shelter at the bed area) of one rem at 20 psi, a person would receive a maximum acute radiation dose from overhead and through the entranceway for neutron and gamma radiation equivalent to a mammography x-ray (1 rem). This dose is based on a 500 KT air burst nuclear weapon, which produces a higher neutron radiation dose than the larger MT weapons, plus fallout doses from a 1 MT surface burst nuclear weapon to maximize the fallout gamma radiation dose. Based on the worst cancer cases (leukemia) from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims, a 10-rem dose may increase the cancer rates from the cur-rent rate of 352/100,000 up to 355/100,000. It should be kept in mind that the Hiroshima victims were totally unprepared and uneducated. They were malnourished and already suffering from many diseases during a critical wartime period where food, medical supplies, and other necessities were in short supply. In addition, they were not only exposed to heavy, acute external radiation doses but also internal radiation doses from eating contaminated food and inhaling radioactive fallout. Educated shelterists can avoid such damaging effects and can determine the radiation levels with a simple radiation survey meter. |