Letter: Dig deep when it comes to providing nuclear shelters

The issue of considerable merit was whether or not an individual would be prepared to press the button. Should we replace Trident? Does this really guarantee a nation's safety? What a great question for a referendum and I believe that we already have one lined up for 2017. Surely this is an issue about which very few people will not have a strong opinion.

What I would urge people to do is ask fertile subsidiary questions such as what happens if the nuclear deterrent doesn't deter? How much warning have we got and where do we go?

I can remember a public information film back in the 1960s advising locating an interior room without a fireplace/chimney and limited window space. A door would be lent against an interior wall and sacks of earth from the garden would be placed on top of the door. Residents would shelter below the door and may have to stay there for two weeks. Bearing this in mind I would suggest a downstairs cloakroom.

Food and water would be essential but I can see the need to think of other comforts. People buying property in Sweden and Finland are advised to clarify whether the building has a nuclear fallout facility.

I can also remember being given a guided tour of a primary school in Denmark and seeing metal steps going down to what I thought was the boiler room. Keen to know what fuel was used to heat the building I asked the question pointing to the steps. The guide gave me a quizzical look as if to say, 'Oh you foreigners' and then described how no school in that country is built without the provision of a nuclear fallout facility. So if we do have such shelters and they are for community use where can they be located and who has the key?

The Anderson Shelter from World War Two will not be robust enough. I would doubt that the platforms of The London Underground System would be 100 per cent safe. I would hazard a guess that the Palace of Westminster would have such a shelter and if it doesn't our MPs can rest assured that cellars are a good option, the deeper the better.

S Pearce, Berriew

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