Nuking the Fridge: Could You Really Survive a Nuclear Blast Like Indiana Jones?

In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy famously survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator. It's a memorable scene, but how much science is behind this Hollywood moment? Let's dive into the facts and separate nuclear reality from movie fiction.

How Powerful Was the Bomb?

The film is set in 1957, during a period of intense nuclear testing. The on-screen explosion is reminiscent of Operation Plumbbob, a series of nuclear tests conducted in the Nevada desert. One test, codenamed Smoky, involved a 44-kiloton bomb mounted on a tower, similar to the movie. To put that in perspective, it's about three times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and twice the size of the Nagasaki bomb.

The Incineration Zone

In a hypothetical scenario involving a bomb of this magnitude, anything within approximately 360 meters of ground zero would be instantly incinerated by the fireball. Temperatures would reach millions of degrees Celsius, making survival impossible. A refrigerator wouldn't offer any protection in this zone.

Shockwave and Overpressure

Could a refrigerator offer protection from the shockwave of a nuclear blast? Operation Cue, a 1955 American test, provides some insight. In this test, a model village called Survival Town was constructed. One concrete house, located 1.4km from the blast center, contained a chest freezer filled with food. After the test, the freezer was still standing inside the house.

Factors Affecting Survival

The bomb used in Operation Cue was less powerful (29 kilotons) than the one in our hypothetical scenario. The overpressure, measured in pounds per square inch (psi), decreases with distance from the blast. Within 0.67km of the Operation Cue blast, the overpressure would have been high enough to destroy most buildings, with hurricane-force winds reaching 800 KPH and fatalities approaching 100%. Even heavily built concrete buildings would likely be demolished or severely damaged.

Why Did the Freezer Survive?

The freezer in Survival Town survived because it was far enough from the blast center (1.4km) that the overpressure had dissipated to around 5 psi. While wind speeds would still have been significant (260kph), the concrete building provided substantial protection. The freezer was located in one of only two buildings that weren't demolished at that range.

The Reality of a 44-Kiloton Blast

In our original scenario, a 44-kiloton nuke would produce a 20psi shockwave up to 0.77 km from ground zero, with a 5psi shockwave extending to 1.62 km. Jumping in a fridge in this zone wouldn't offer much help. The force of the blast would likely turn the refrigerator into a deadly projectile.

Radioactive Fallout

Even if you survived the initial blast and shockwave, you'd still face the danger of radioactive fallout. Within an hour, the radioactivity will have decayed by 50%, and within 24 hours, it will have decreased by 80%. After two weeks, 99% of the radioactivity will be gone. However, surviving inside a fridge for that long presents its own challenges, including limited air and supplies.

What About Indiana Jones?

According to Molecular Biologist Dr. David Shechner, Indy's airborne escape in the fridge wouldn't have been possible. The pressure required to lift the fridge and accelerate it to the speeds shown in the movie would have crushed it. The pressure would have been “47 TIMES GREATER THAN THE PRESSURE REQUIRED TO LIBERATE A RAILWAY CAR FROM ITS TRACK AND CRUSH IT”.

Radiation Shielding

While the freezer in Survival Town kept the food inside safe, it's important to consider radiation shielding. A 2016 study calculated that a nuclear bomb the size of Smoky would require 5.74cm of lead to provide a safe level of shielding. Modern lead-lined fridges, used to store radiopharmaceuticals, typically have a lead lining of only around 0.3 cm thick. Therefore, jumping in a fridge wouldn't have protected Indy from a dangerous dose of radiation.

The Role of Concrete

The food in the Survival Town freezer remained safe due to the concrete house it was in. Approximately 60cm of concrete will reduce gamma radiation by a factor of a thousand, and just 6cm of concrete will halve it. Without knowing the exact thickness of the walls in Survival Town's concrete house, it's likely that the concrete provided significant shielding.

Conclusion

Unless you have a fridge with an extremely generous lead lining and are far enough from the blast, it's probably not going to make much difference to your odds of surviving a nuclear blast. Concrete structures offer far better protection.

Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only and should not be considered a guide for surviving a nuclear attack.