--- title: "There’s a Major Problem With the Nuclear War Bunkers The Rich Are Buying" description: "As more and more rich people rush to buy and build bomb shelters, experts suggest they're a bandaid on top of a nuclear blast. " date: "2024-12-21" modified: "2024-12-21" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-war-bunkers-problem" categories: - "Energy" - "Nuclear Fusion" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "bunkers" - "nuclear bomb" - "nuclear war" - "the digest" --- # There’s a Major Problem With the Nuclear War Bunkers The Rich Are Buying ![As more and more rich people rush to buy and build bomb shelters, experts suggest they're a bandaid on top of a nuclear blast. ]() *This picture taken on October 17, 2022 shows architecture professor Lee Tae-goo opening a hatch door as he prepares to climb out of his bunker, which is buried one metre (three feet) deep and can protect from the radiation fallout of a nuclear blast on his property in Jecheon, some 74 miles (120 km) southeast of the capital Seoul. - If North Korea unleashes a nuclear attack on the South, architecture professor Lee Tae-goo plans to retreat to his purpose-built bunker -- which was funded by a government grant -- and stay underground for at least two weeks to avoid radiation poisoning. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP) / To go with 'SKOREA-NKOREA-NUCLEAR-BUNKER,FOCUS' by Cat Barton and Kang Jin-kyu (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: ANTHONY WALLACE / Contributor\* ## Truth Bomb As [more and more rich people]() rush to [buy and build bomb shelters](), experts suggest they're little more than a psychological defense mechanism for wealthy people who want to feel a shred of control in an unpredictable world. As the [*Associated Press* reports](), the bunker business was worth $137 million last year and is slated to grow to $175 million by the end of the decade, per [analysis from BlueWeave Consulting](). According to experts who spoke to the outlet, however, these shelters do more to address atomic anxieties than nuclear realities. After all, you're eventually going to need to crawl out of your bunker and face the horrific situation back on the surface. "Bunkers are, in fact, not a tool to survive a nuclear war, but a tool to allow a population to psychologically endure the possibility of a nuclear war," explained Alicia Sanders-Zakre of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Radiation after a nuclear bomb detonation, as Sanders Zakre described it, is a "uniquely horrific aspect of nuclear weapons." Even those who [survive the fallout](), which involves radioactive particles raining down on the area surrounding the blast, will be unable to escape its long-lasting, intergenerational health effects like those [seen in Chernobyl]() after its reactor meltdown nearly 40 years ago. And that's without getting into starvation, thirst, and the breakdown of social order. "Ultimately," she said, "the only solution to protect populations from nuclear war is to eliminate nuclear weapons." ## Shelter Skelter Despite the [promises made by companies catering to]() so-called "doomsday preppers," nonproliferation expert Sam Lair told the *AP* that such efforts are likely futile. "Even if a nuclear exchange is perhaps more survivable than many people think, I think the aftermath will be uglier than many people think as well," Lair, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said. "The fundamental wrenching that it would do to our way of life would be profound." As Lair pointed out, [politicians used to urge the citizenry]() to build their own bomb shelters half a century ago. Now, the "political costs incurred by causing people to think about shelters again is not worth it" — though that sort of concern clearly doesn't extend to the big business of bunkers. While [doomsday prepping is now as American as apple pie](), the revival of bunker culture isn't limited to our shores: over in Switzerland, where each resident is guaranteed a spot in a bomb shelter in the case of nuclear war, the government is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to [update its vast array of Cold War-era bunkers](). **More on nuclear anxiety:** [*US Military Alarmed by Russian Nuclear Weapon Platform in Orbit*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()