Dounreay..4 minute warning..facts

[Kristafur]

Hi there, i tried googling info on this 4 minute warning stuff, couldnt fnd much, anyone got any info on the whole ' if dounreay blew up' carry on... despite the obvious, obviously...

[George Brims]

I think the old concept of the "four minute warning" referred to the Cold War era when that was all the advance notice we could get if the Russkies launched a nuclear strike. I often wonder if the general public could have got any warning at all.

[robglysen]

Try googling Dounreay criticality arrangements or Dounreay emergency arrangements.

You could even try Dounreay.com?

[Kristafur]

damn russians, i remember seeing in the groat a few years ago that russia didnt take the missiles pointing at dounreay (or ready for firing at dounreay) offline until 1992.. thats crazy

[Kristafur]

very clever rob, i know what dounreay is and what it does, they aint exactly goin to advertise on there site what would happen to us meer mortals if the place went kabooom back in the day...

[Tubthumper]

Think you'll find it was the US Navy Base at Forss they were after.

[Kristafur]

my bad tubthumper....

[Tubthumper]

Chill, no big deal...

[Metalattakk]

Think you'll find it was the US Navy Base at Forss they were after.

Would it not have been more likely they would have been after the NavCommSta at Murkle instead - at least as a priority target?

[JAWS]

The Four Minute Wqrning related to the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. There is/was a long range radar system at Fylingdales in North Yorkshire which was set up at the height of the Cold War, before there were Spy Satellites, to search for any Ballistic Missiles which may be launced from Russia in time of war. The Four Minutes was the time it would take between them showing up on the radar to actually arriving here.

In truth by that stage there was nothing which could be done about the missiles arriving.

Firstly it gave us time to put retaliatory "V" Bombers in the air to return the favour and also to order the launch Polaris before all communications were lost.
Secondly it gave the US a fifteen minute warning to enble them to launch all their bombers and missiles.
It was also assumed that there would be a fairly long period of increasing tension before that stage was ever reached to give a reasonable time to make some kind of preparations.

The main idea behind the Warning System was in order to make the threat of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) realistic. MAD was intended, and the Russians had their system also, to make Nuclear War unwinnable because both sides would launch everything and bye bye world, The assumption was that both sides were sane enough not to act in a way which assured their own total destruction.

In truth, had there been an unprovoked surprise first strike, I doubt there would have been time to arrange for the public to be warned, Probably the first we would have known would have been when there was a blinding flash followed by searing heat and, if that didn't get you, hurricane force winds throwing heaven knows what at you.

If it ever does happen in the future just pray that one of the darn things lands about fifty yards from you because that way you won't feel a thing.

[Aaldtimer]

Yup!:confused

[sandyr1]

I remember manning the ROC (Royal Observor Corps) underground post at the Latheron Cemetery. Pretty scary place for a young loon to check his BPI and flash paper or whatever it was.
You would hear noises when you went up top and it was the sheep!! Aghhhhhh.
How things have changed! Mind you it was likely as good as anything at it's time......

[brandy]

just look up nuclear fall out if you want to know about the radius and who would die instantly.. who would slowly die suffering from radiation poisoning, and who would be outside the radiation zone.. personally thursa folk would be the lucky ones as they would be gone in a blink.. us wickers not so much as we are in the fall out zone and would be the ones to slowly die from radiation poisioning. but unless we are nuked theres not much to worry about as dounreay is offline now.. and not able to have a melt down.. and if we are nuked.. no use worrying about it.. what can you do? anyone have a fall out shelter, food supply and water supply that they want to share?

[theone]

just look up nuclear fall out if you want to know about the radius and who would die instantly.. who would slowly die suffering from radiation poisoning, and who would be outside the radiation zone.. personally thursa folk would be the lucky ones as they would be gone in a blink.. us wickers not so much as we are in the fall out zone and would be the ones to slowly die from radiation poisioning. but unless we are nuked theres not much to worry about as dounreay is offline now.. and not able to have a melt down.. and if we are nuked.. no use worrying about it.. what can you do? anyone have a fall out shelter, food supply and water supply that they want to share?

Nuclear reactors don't blow up like nuclear bombs, so nobody more than a few feet away would be 'gone in a blink'.

Wick would definately be in the fallout zone if the wind was from the north west though.

The majority of deaths 'off site', not including emergency workers would be long term cancers, not radiation sickness.

[RELAX]

We"re doomed we"re all doomed

[George Brims]

Nuclear reactors don't blow up like nuclear bombs, so nobody more than a few feet away would be 'gone in a blink'.
I think the "gone in a blink" would be from the Russian bomb targeted at the Yanks' base, oh and another one for HMS Whatsitsname where they did the submarine reactor testing. And probably another one at Dounreay just for luck. After all they had thousands of warheads and they had to aim them at something. Given the number of reactors across those sites, hitting that area would have resulted in some pretty messy fallout. Given the nature of the US base, it would probably have been a ground strike too.

[Each]

Im sure as a kid in the 70's in Thurso, I once heard sirons going off one afternoon - sounded exactly like the early warning sirons were supposed to sound like.

I always wondered what was going on -nobody ever said anything about it.

Thinking back now, it almost seems like it was a day dream.

Did any one else hear them.?

[Phill]

I knew a guy in our local pub, he got an 8 minute warning 'cos he was ex SAS/MI5/James Bond or sumfink!

:cool:

[northener]

I knew a guy in our local pub, he got an 8 minute warning 'cos he was ex SAS/MI5/James Bond or sumfink!

:cool:

Biggest regiment in the world, the SAS is.:Razz

Well, it must be given the amount of people I've met propping up a bar and stating that they were in it.....but they "can't talk about it" of course.....;)

[Phill]

.....but they "can't talk about it" of course.....;)


Neither can I, all hush hush old chap.


Nope, couldn't possibly say.


No, no. All top secret.......what, another pint...oh go on then......

[sids]

I knew a guy in our local pub, he got an 8 minute warning '



"If you don't drink up and leave in 8 minutes, we're calling the cops."

[Dounreay]

If you'd like to know more about the emergency arrangements at Dounreay, there is a section on our website that provides this information.

Dounreay emergency arrangements (http://www.dounreay.com/social-responsibility/emergency-arrangements)

These pages include a copy of the handbook issued to local residents, the site emergency plan and a link to the off-site emergency plan held by Highland Council.

It's worth pointing out that the hazard at Dounreay has reduced considerably. This is reflected in a reduction recently in the emergency planning zone around Dounreay from 5km to just over 1km.

Residents advised of reduction in accident hazard (http://www.dounreay.com/news/2009-10-26/residents-advised-of-reduction-in-accident-hazard)

I'm afraid I don't recognise your reference to a "four-minute" warning. I think that refers to the Cold War and the notional time between a national alert and the impact of an attack.

I hope this helps.

Colin Punler
Communications Department
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd