Duck and Cover! An American Spinoff of Protect and Survive.

Some states might end up swallowed by other bigger states,Delaware or Rhode Island especially if the fallout killed almost everyone here not taking into account a few hits on them.Its actually quite hard to come up with a new map for the US some regions which have high levels of radioation projected to last years would probably be declared no-go zones.You would end up with a country which has regions pretty much outside any control for the simple fact that no one dares enter.Most would be in the Midwest but there would be other places like the Bangor region in Washington a main submarine base for the US Navy.One risk in the long term comes from other countries in Latin America possibly trying to take advantage of what's left of the country.Some might attempt to organise raids or even small scale invasions on US soil.Considering the global situation its pretty much a free for all.Sure there would be the risk they encounter some surviving nukes from the US arsenal but with the severe economic downturn organising raids to find anything of value on what's left of the coastline might be worth the risk.
 
To be blunt, the entire Northeastern United States has been rendered as close to "completely inhospitable" as possible. Even if we operate solely off the Secretary's list and assume no additional strikes occurred, which is highly unlikely given that the list restricts itself to civilian targets, New England has been plastered. It is unlikely that the region will ever fully recover. The landscape will have been rendered nigh unrecognizable in some parts and require major remapping.

IqvBc.png


Given that the population of Rhode Island is probably around 5 people now, it is difficult to imagine state borders remaining as they are.
 
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Some of the smaller eastern states may end with only a representative at large and the 2 senators (along with the abolishment or suspension of several counties for a very long time*, all being subsumed in the few that were not severely affected by the war).

*The time needed for the radiation to drop to safe levels and the population and resources are enough again to resettle the area.
 
Given that the population of Rhode Island is probably around 5 people now, it is difficult to imagine state borders remaining as they are.

Two senators, one representative, leaves an electorate of a further two. Everybody loves a rotten borough.

Now, however, I tend to think that state borders are not redrawn, actually. First of all, there is a lot of power in denial.

Then, a reduction of the overall number of states stands out of the question. If states disappear, others will have to be divided - or Canada being annexed in order to keep the flag in order. Reducing the number of stars would look like admitting defeat. Not a good symbolic start.
 
Two senators, one representative, leaves an electorate of a further two. Everybody loves a rotten borough.

Now, however, I tend to think that state borders are not redrawn, actually. First of all, there is a lot of power in denial.

Then, a reduction of the overall number of states stands out of the question. If states disappear, others will have to be divided - or Canada being annexed in order to keep the flag in order. Reducing the number of stars would look like admitting defeat. Not a good symbolic start.

Indeed. In Rhode Island's case, those three members of Congress may be the only people who live in Rhode Island.
 
Indeed. In Rhode Island's case, those three members of Congress may be the only people who live in Rhode Island.

Well, they actually live in Columbia (Walla Walla), or wherever Congress finds a home in the end. And as there is no need to campaign, there is little reason to leave the capital. :D
 
Update!

[FONT=&quot]DUCK AND COVER[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]PART VII: California[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]While Columbia’s attention was gripped by the growing war to their south, most were unaware of the battle being fought within their own borders, the war against starvation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Departments of Agriculture and Strategic Resources, with the cooperation of local CERT teams, law enforcement, and refugees, began a serious of dramatic and risky programs in the hopes of quickly restarting what was left of agriculture in the Provisional Government. Unusually the path to caloric freedom began with the refugee relocations.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In Columbia, refugee relocations would be different than many found across the other states. Unlike Texas there was little land for the refugees to be spread out on. Unlike Nevada there wouldn’t be any OPERATION INTERCEPT. Unlike California there was no fascist army for them to be drafted into. And unlike Cleveland there were few industrial jobs for the refugees to fill. But the Columbians had an advantage. The Corpse Crisis had delayed any organized efforts of relocation, giving them time to learn from the other Fragments’ mistakes and successes.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yet, the problems that refugees caused in camps far outweighed the ease of management that the refugee camps posed. The Corpse Crisis further outlined the diseases that would surely follow the refugees if they stayed in camps. In short, the choice became relocate the refugees or the problems would only get worse.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The relocations in Columbia were to be complete in progression. The refugees would initially fill civic centers and schools, public buildings clearly in control of the government. Next the Department of Housing asked for volunteer rooms in hotel and apartments. Finally refugees would be housed in private homes. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] While the initial relocations were just getting started, a large debate broke out in the Supreme Court. The argument broke out over the constitutionality of one of the clauses of the Relocation Order. Specifically, that the refugees could find housing in buildings owned by private households.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The argument against the settlement of refugees in private homes was based upon the Third Amendment of the Constitution stating that “No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” The dissenters (mostly prominent businessmen and owners houses who were angered by some of their new ‘tenants’) argued that with the near universal conscription of refugees into work battalions, combined with the ease of volunteering and enlistment in the local militias, would cause almost any refugee to become a soldier at a moment’s notice. Thusly they could be forced quarter a soldier without their knowledge. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The large debate which broke out in the newly reinstated Supreme Court, communicating with Columbia from their bunker by means of the MARS network, was not about the constitutionality of quartering refugees in private homes but rather to what degree should break or bend the Constitution. The Justices were divided roughly in half into two groups. One group believed in a slippery slope argument that if they broke the Constitution just once, they would lay precedent that would quickly render the foundation of their country irrelevant in a matter of months. The other faction argued that the Constitution should be bent if not outright broken, and could be if the divergence was supported by one of the clauses in the first sentence: “to form a more perfect union,” “establish justice,” “ensure domestic tranquility,” “provide for the common defense,” or “promote the general welfare.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Eventually the more conservative section, those who feared the slippery slope, won the argument in a 6-3 vote (with a last minute switch by Justice Rehnquist) favoring the private owners. The Court’s opinion clearly argued their fearful stance that “by no means, and at no time, even under a national emergency should the Constitution be ignored with such blatant disregard."

However, when official militias were established, the volunteers had to OK the decision with their landlord if they could join. The caloric bonus given to all members of a house with at least one militia member inside generally swayed the argument in favor of the militiaman. Soon private homes, and the militias were swelling with refugees.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]While the Court’s decision was the law of the land, the referendum would prove to be hard to enforce and in many places most notably in Cleveland, the Constitution would be a foggy memory of the golden days of the past.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After the relocations the next step in stemming the tide of starvation fell to the Department of Agriculture. Working closely with the Department of Housing and Relocation, they divided much of the provisional territories into agriculture districts. Agriculture districts divided the territory by a variety of attributes, including population, terrain, and water sources. The refugees were spread out in order to make the populations, and thus the calorie burdens, as fair as possible.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Agriculture would take two forms. Futilely, over the course of the next year people would plant winter wheat, corn, barley, and other grain crops in droves only to see the plantings collapse into nothingness. In many of the areas where these crops were planted, the local government planted these crops with the full knowledge that they would fail. They sought two goals, to keep the refugees busy and to preserve/experiment with forms of hand tool based agriculture that had vanished centuries ago.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]However crop agriculture would survive through roots and tubers. Potato, beets, and other root crops would prove to survive the lack of sunlight better than their grain cousins. Across the continent, and the world in general, the potato became one of the few crops that grew in any quantity above the 2% survival average for domesticated crops. The potato thrived unusually well, in pre-strike conditions potatoes usually did not survive above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, rendering them a “cool weather” crop. With the layers of ash in the upper atmosphere blotting out the sun, the cool season was extended, replacing summer, allowing more areas to grow larger and healthier potato crops. As long as the top soil was properly disposed of, the potato could be grown without absorbing large amounts of radioactive strontium or cesium.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Animal agriculture, particularly smaller animals, would prove to be the growing backbone of resurgent agriculture. Chickens were the cornerstone of the new agriculture system. With a gestation period of roughly 60 days, chickens have one of the fastest generational cycles of any animal of the planet. Combined with their ability to lay dozens of eggs, which could then be fertilized and hatch new chickens, and the wide variety of farming styles, the most efficient being battery caging allows for chickens to thrive in most any situation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As many were raised in rurally located factory farms, chicken supplies survived relatively intact and became vital to the emerging food supplies post strike. Besides chickens, other animas with low gestation periods and high litter sizes would fill the gaps left by grain based agriculture. In many areas rabbits, dogs, cats, and rats would supplement the survivors’ caloric needs. Food was food.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]But the War on Starvation was not the most important war being fought in Columbia.[/FONT]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[FONT=&quot]*The Child Soldier wrenched the slide thingy on the side of the gun. A rusty bullet found its way into the chamber. He warily eyed the huddled masses along the far wall of the room. A pile of dirty dishes sat next to a spackle bucket filled with ... Poop. Combined with the fact that none of the Baddies had showered in days; the smell was making him want to throw up. Yet he stood guard. Like all of the troops, children or not, he wanted to follow the Colonel’s orders. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The door to the root cellar creaked slowly open. As the clomping of feet coming down the stairs grew louder the Child Soldier threw himself as tall as he could. The first rule of the Wave was “Strength through Discipline!” and he was proud of his discipline. Of himself and of the Colonel and of the food in his belly and of…[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Colonel tousled his hair as he walked past. “You’re doing great son” a warm smile broke out on the Colonel’s face. The Colonel handed the Child Soldier a small candy and motioned for the form behind him.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*The Militiaman stood on top of the Supermarket and looked south. As the most southern tall building in the town, he could easily see across the border into California. Peering through the binoculars he looked closely on a figure at the edge of the forest. Something about the figure puzzled him. The way he carried himself just wasn’t right. When more figures appeared out of the forest he sounded the alarm. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*The Chief of Staff was listening to the Colonel, or more aptly trying not to. She tried distracting herself by watching the Doctor working on the other people in the basement. He was currently working on MAILMAN. The old man was having a hard time, but compared to a majority of Columbians in the basement he was pretty well off. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]But she couldn’t pull herself away from the Colonel. Something about his personality, his affability even with his enemies, was completely engrossing. In some other situation they could have possibly been friends, not enemies sitting across from each other in a basement. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“You see I didn’t want to end up as a dictator. One of the most important parts of my life revolved around that specific concept. Dictators are bad, they manipulate, they lie, and they steal. But somehow I find myself here. Wearing fatigues, and talking to you in a basement with people with guns following my every command. It’s surreal.[/FONT]"

[FONT=&quot]"When I was a sophomore in Palo Alto High School, I had an unusual history teacher. He was loved by all the kids, and frankly I felt that he liked us back. He always treated us with respect and was the most lenient about rules and regulations. He always seemed to have an answer for any question. No matter how big or small he had an answer. [/FONT]"

[FONT=&quot]"But one day he was stumped. [/FONT]"

[FONT=&quot]"The topic of the day was Nazi Germany and we were wondering how come no one did anything about the Holocaust. Surely your average German would be horrified by the thought of slaughtering their neighbors by the millions, even if they didn’t like their beliefs.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He couldn’t tell us so he showed us. He showed us why the Germans could do it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*The Militia assembled in front of the court house at the sound of the alarm. A mix of local police officers, state troopers within a few minutes’ drive, and civilians too old or too young to join the army the militia assembled as fast as possible. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Militiamen quickly spread out among the buildings on the south edge of town. Barricading themselves behind piles of crates, boarded up windows, and pre created firing positions, their one goal was to hold the town to give the civilians time to flee. They were not there to win the battle, but to stem the defeat for as long as possible.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The figures began to attack out of the darkness, their inhuman screams echoing across the town. Firing from the hip, dozens of the bandits swarmed across the field. The Militia began to fire back. A battle had begun.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*The Colonel was pacing now, gesticulating wildly as he talked. His eyes grew far away.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“The teacher ran an experiment on us, the kids in his class. He started small, asking us to sit in a posture he designed. Then the rules became more dramatic. All grades in the class became a massive average. Everyone got the same grade on everything, based on the class average on the assignment. We had a salute, a slogan, a motto, and armband and soon more and more rules. Don’t rebel, don’t fight, stay calm. There were meetings for the class before and after school. Soon other kids wanted to join, we created an initiation ritual and soon more and more kids joined the experiment. And at the end of the week, what started with a class of 40 sophomores became a 200 student movement. We called ourselves the Third Wave, the strongest wave in any chain of waves on the beach. We were strong! Strength through Discipline!” [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Colonel shouted the last statement his fist bursting into the air, a smile crossing his face.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Children from other schools would show up and ask to join or create their own chapter. It had gotten wildly out of hand. But the teacher ended the experiment. All 200 or more of us piled into the school auditorium for a rally to support a candidate for president from our movement, and then he broke the news. There was not National Third Wave movement, we had been scammed. Then he showed videos of the Third Reich, comparing what we had done over the past week to what the Nazis had done. Some of us threw up out of shock, others ran out of the auditorium crying, the counselors were trying to comfort us.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Colonel stopped pacing and crouched right in front of the Chief of Staff. He began to talk in an almost rhythmic conspiratorial tone.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“After that my life became boring. I was drafted and went to Vietnam. There I learned to fight, I learned to survive. Later I went into small business, I got elected to the local school board, distinguished citizen etc. I was normal. But somewhere in the back of my mind the Third Wave still sat. Waiting.[/FONT]"

[FONT=&quot]"When the bombs fell, I was up here on vacation. In the following chaotic days I saw such horrors. Refugees fighting each other, military units killing refugees, raping and pillaging all around. There was nothing I could do. Until I came across a band of refugees, like me, alone and leaderless. [/FONT]"

[FONT=&quot]"Then it all came back, the chants, the unity, the strength, the calm, and the community. I realized no matter how bad it was how evil we had been, we were survivors. I applied the lessons that fateful week had taught me.[/FONT]"

[FONT=&quot]"I began small with one other refugee, the Doctor over there. And soon my band of refugees was growing. By the end of the first week I had folded a small military unit into my growing band. Within a few days we grew more and after a couple of days of fighting we had captured many of the food warehouses across the state. Refugees turned to us for help, not the assholes calling themselves the Government. They couldn’t do anything, we had the food, and following the food came guns, and with guns came order…”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*The Militiaman was firing into the mass of attacking troops. They were getting closer, no matter how much he fired into the maw. With a crack in the distance the man to his left fell. An explosion went off, the roof collapsed, he fell, and all went black.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*The Colonel looked up. Someone was running down the stairs, an orderly with a message. He bent over and whispered in the Colonel’s ear.

“Good. Good.” The Colonel said softly.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]To Be Continued[/FONT]
 
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To be blunt, the entire Northeastern United States has been rendered as close to "completely inhospitable" as possible. Even if we operate solely off the Secretary's list and assume no additional strikes occurred, which is highly unlikely given that the list restricts itself to civilian targets, New England has been plastered. It is unlikely that the region will ever fully recover. The landscape will have been rendered nigh unrecognizable in some parts and require major remapping.

Given that the population of Rhode Island is probably around 5 people now, it is difficult to imagine state borders remaining as they are.

Vermont and northern Maine are doing reasonnably well based on this map to be fair. A lot also depends on the yield of the weapons used, I would be very surprised if everything was in the megaton range.

Agriculture would take two forms. Futilely, over the course of the next year people would plant winter wheat, corn, barley, and other grain crops in droves only to see the plantings collapse into nothingness. In many of the areas where these crops were planted, the local government planted these crops with the full knowledge that they would fail. They sought two goals, to keep the refugees busy and to preserve/experiment with forms of hand tool based agriculture that had vanished centuries ago.

As I have explained before in the main protect and survive topic, there will be enough petroleum available even with very limited supply (95% less) to fully meet the needs of agriculture. I accept the fact that machines will be used more sparingly to preserve them, but the idea of volunteers tilling huge fields by hands when tractors are still available and can still be used, is a huge waste of manpower.

Winter wheat is planted in october of the previous year, the 1984 wheat crop will therefore already be in the land. I can see the idea of keeping refugees busy, but wasting seed is not the way to go there I am afraid. Digging mass graves instead of dumping bodies in lakes and river would be a far more effective use of manpower.

[FONT=&quot]
However crop agriculture would survive through roots and tubers. Potato, beets, and other root crops would prove to survive the lack of sunlight better than their grain cousins. Across the continent, and the world in general, the potato became one of the few crops that grew in any quantity above the 2% survival average for domesticated crops.
[/FONT]

I would like to get a source for this figure please, as it seems extremely low. I accept that yields will decrease as a result of radiation but a 98% decrease in yield is very excessive, even taking into account the impact of a slightly colder climate. Bear also in mind that the effects of radiation will greatly depend between various geographic locales.

On the topic of agriculture, the DoA had a rather interesting guide available here. The seventh tenth rule of fallout decay is confirmed here as well.
More resources are available on this website.
 
Dunois, excellent guide!
I found some more recent emergency stuff from USDA, which I sent to Chipperback, though it's more on USDA's organization in the event of an emergency. It's more recent, though post 1984, so some things may not apply. I'd be glad to help send the info to you!
 
To be blunt, the entire Northeastern United States has been rendered as close to "completely inhospitable" as possible. Even if we operate solely off the Secretary's list and assume no additional strikes occurred, which is highly unlikely given that the list restricts itself to civilian targets, New England has been plastered. It is unlikely that the region will ever fully recover. The landscape will have been rendered nigh unrecognizable in some parts and require major remapping.

Well, there goes my Protect and Survive: Maine spinoff!
 
Well, there goes my Protect and Survive: Maine spinoff!


Well not really... out of the states that comprise New England, Maine has the best chance of having the largest land area non-contaminated.

BTW sorry about no update this week, been out of town and only been surfing the web from a phone. AH.com doesn't show up well on a smartphone, and updating is hell.

Promise massive update as soon as I get home,

-Gen_Patton
 
"The topic of the day was Nazi Germany and we were wondering how come no one did anything about the Holocaust. Surely your average German would be horrified by the thought of slaughtering their neighbors by the millions, even if they didn’t like their beliefs.
He couldn’t tell us so he showed us. He showed us why the Germans could do it.”
I see what you did there. :D nice allusion.
 
As I have explained before in the main protect and survive topic, there will be enough petroleum available even with very limited supply (95% less) to fully meet the needs of agriculture. I accept the fact that machines will be used more sparingly to preserve them, but the idea of volunteers tilling huge fields by hands when tractors are still available and can still be used, is a huge waste of manpower.

What we are talking about with the post-strike world is, at least in America, a less than .1% supply. My figure of .1% is less of an informed decision but a pragmatic guess. How many people are going, in the first couple of weeks, to be worrying about conserving gasoline. I have a car, a mushroom cloud behind me, and stuff to trade for gasoline. I am getting out of their as fast as possible, fuel conservation be damned. And that's not even throwing in the medley of other civilian and military uses gasoline is going to be used for. Your 5% will soon be collapsing down toward nothingness.

Where does your five percent figure come from? The fuel in lawnmowers, in basements, in gas cans found in the shed or garage?
Sorry about the rage, but fuel is practically gone, and even if the governments do nationalize what ever remains from the fleeing refugees in the tanks of gas stations and centers very little will be left over for agriculture.

Police cruisers and food carting trucks will have to be filled up at least once a week, if you have very stringent gas conservation policies. With the trucks perhaps twice a week. The military has helicopters that have to fly, trucks needed to cart troops around, and CAP planes to fly. Then there are still other things that need petroleum more than agriculture.

Hospitals still need to run off of power most use back up generators, which run off of petroleum. So do police buildings, military bases, and even some apartment complexes. Even if they are lucky, some schools and colleges (which are being used for refugees and government administration) use gasoline powered backup generators.

After the coal runs out, and the power plants slowly shut down (that is even if they are even running,) you will only have hydro-electric dams and other reusable energy sources besides the gasoline. In the 80's the green movement was just starting, wind farming and solar farming nascent technologies barely found outside of the Southwest. While yes there are nuclear power plants, what chance do you give that the Soviets will not launch a small one at the plants and take advantage of the Chernobyl+ level radiation.

The Government will probably replace every possible fuel consuming machine they can with refugee power. If you have tons of fugees standing around, why waste the fuel on tractors?

Until some kind of refinery is built in Texas, and the fuel produced, and somehow shipped. Man power is the way to go. Even after such a system of fuel distribution is created we are talking about shipping a liquid across areas the size of many European countries. It may cost more fuel to get the fuel to where it is going. I think that some form of wind powered oil tanker is the most efficient mode of transporting fuel possible. Perhaps they convert the missile silos of nuclear subs into improvised fuel tanks. But I have a feeling that no one will do it. But it does sound awesome doesn't it?

I would like to get a source for this figure please, as it seems extremely low. I accept that yields will decrease as a result of radiation but a 98% decrease in yield is very excessive, even taking into account the impact of a slightly colder climate. Bear also in mind that the effects of radiation will greatly depend between various geographic locales.

Winter wheat is planted in october of the previous year, the 1984 wheat crop will therefore already be in the land. I can see the idea of keeping refugees busy, but wasting seed is not the way to go there I am afraid. Digging mass graves instead of dumping bodies in lakes and river would be a far more effective use of manpower.

I am basing my data off of data gathered during the "Year With no Summer" 1816. The 2% figure is that of crops of winter wheat in the New England area of America. In a situation that doesn't even come close to the temperature shift of nuclear winter. Killing frosts came every month. People fled south. Everyone starved. But crop figures recovered by the next year. With nuclear fallout that situation may drag out for at least another year. Food supplies look harshly low.

I hope the cool weather crops will make up some of the slack.


On the topic of agriculture, the DoA had a rather interesting guide available here. The seventh tenth rule of fallout decay is confirmed here as well.
More resources are available on this website.

Really good sources. I've taken a look at them, the DoA one was especially helpful.

Thanks,

Gen_Patton
 
One fuel source I haven't seen mentioned here is wood. During WWII, a lot of civilian vehicles in Europe were operated on wood gas produced on board in homemade gasifiers. In 1989, FEMA published a guide for operating vehicles on wood gas during a petroleum emergency. I don't know how much knowledge of this fuel source was considered in 1984.
 
What we are talking about with the post-strike world is, at least in America, a less than .1% supply. My figure of .1% is less of an informed decision but a pragmatic guess. How many people are going, in the first couple of weeks, to be worrying about conserving gasoline. I have a car, a mushroom cloud behind me, and stuff to trade for gasoline. I am getting out of their as fast as possible, fuel conservation be damned. And that's not even throwing in the medley of other civilian and military uses gasoline is going to be used for. Your 5% will soon be collapsing down toward nothingness.

Where does your five percent figure come from? The fuel in lawnmowers, in basements, in gas cans found in the shed or garage?
Sorry about the rage, but fuel is practically gone, and even if the governments do nationalize what ever remains from the fleeing refugees in the tanks of gas stations and centers very little will be left over for agriculture.

What a lot of people don't realise is that there are abundant fuel stocks available more or less everywhere, in petrol stations and fuel depots. The supply chain for the petroleum industry is not as lean as say for supermarkets and other similar concerns for obvious reasons, which means that there is usually largish stockpiles around.

Fuel usage is going to plummet post strike. Commercial air traffic is gone and that by itself will realse a large amount of fuel in airports, more than enough for CAP and the military. Individual car usage which is the main consumption source peacetime, will be virtually null as well.

I would also like to point out that as opposed to many countries in the world, the United States has an extensive network of small scale refineries, sometimes owned by independent refiners. There is an extensive list available on wikipedia which makes for an interesting reading. As it stands Washington refinery of Blaine should be intact and ready to operate with a minimum amount of fuss.

There are also extensive statistics on energy use available on the DOE website. These and not pure guesswork should be used to have an idea of what will be going on.

After the coal runs out, and the power plants slowly shut down (that is even if they are even running,) you will only have hydro-electric dams and other reusable energy sources besides the gasoline. In the 80's the green movement was just starting, wind farming and solar farming nascent technologies barely found outside of the Southwest. While yes there are nuclear power plants, what chance do you give that the Soviets will not launch a small one at the plants and take advantage of the Chernobyl+ level radiation.

Once again, you are forgetting the fact that most power plants have large coal stockpiles at hand, ready to be transfered to the boilers via conveyor belts. We are talking about millions of tons here and I would not be surprised if the stockpiles have been increased during the crisis period just in case. The plants will ran at a reduced regime anyways since the demand will be lower, further lenghtening the ussage of the existing stocks.

The nuclear power plants have in all likelyhood not been targeted as they don't constitute targets per se. Whether or not Chernobyl style levels of radiation will occur depends on what happens in any plants which has been attacked. I think Fukushima or Three Mile Island style situations as opposed to Chernobyl are far more likely. For a start there is such a thing as defence in depth in most western power plants.

The Government will probably replace every possible fuel consuming machine they can with refugee power. If you have tons of fugees standing around, why waste the fuel on tractors?

I very much understand this, but in agriculture a large amount of machinery should still be in use, especially for the most hardeous tasks.

Until some kind of refinery is built in Texas, and the fuel produced, and somehow shipped. Man power is the way to go. Even after such a system of fuel distribution is created we are talking about shipping a liquid across areas the size of many European countries. It may cost more fuel to get the fuel to where it is going. I think that some form of wind powered oil tanker is the most efficient mode of transporting fuel possible. Perhaps they convert the missile silos of nuclear subs into improvised fuel tanks. But I have a feeling that no one will do it. But it does sound awesome doesn't it?

See my previous list of refineries, I bet that at least a dozen refineries if not more are in usable condition within the borders of the United States.

The stuff you propose does not make any engineering or technical sense. The best way to move fuel around the nation will be by train or by boat, fuel use can be limited by travelling slower.

I am basing my data off of data gathered during the "Year With no Summer" 1816. The 2% figure is that of crops of winter wheat in the New England area of America. In a situation that doesn't even come close to the temperature shift of nuclear winter. Killing frosts came every month. People fled south. Everyone starved. But crop figures recovered by the next year. With nuclear fallout that situation may drag out for at least another year. Food supplies look harshly low.

I hope the cool weather crops will make up some of the slack.

I still have my doubts as 98% is extremely excessive, it may have been the case in one area for one crop but still I think that saying that 98% of the wheat crop is gone is vastly exagerated. I would be interested to get your primary source of this figure.

As for nuclear winter, the consensus on the other P&S threads was for limited effects. Temperatures will certainly decrease, but not by a huge amount.
 
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