TECHNOLOGY

Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years.

Many decades after the end of the Second World War and also the Cold War, we now have the opportunity to enter the historic bunkers used to defend against the threat of nuclear attack.

The secret nuclear bunker at Hack Green in Nantwich, UK, played a key role in the defence of Britain for almost sixty years. The site was chosen during World War II to protect the territory between Birmingham and Liverpool from hostile attack, and also as a location for new radar equipment.

The secret bunker is now privately owned by the Siebert family and is operated as a trust museum.

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Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years.
Many decades after the end of World War II and even the Cold War, we now have the opportunity to enter the historic bunkers used by nations to defend themselves against the threat of nuclear attack. The secret nuclear bunker at Hack Green in Nantwich, UK, played a key role in Britain's defence for almost sixty years.
Getty Images
Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years.
This site was chosen during the Second World War to protect the territory between Birmingham and Liverpool from hostile attack, and also as a location for new radar equipment.
Getty Images
Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years.
The bunker was then used as shelter and protection during the Cold War. With the thawing of relations between East and West, many of the UK's nuclear bunkers were sold.
Getty Images
Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years.
The secret bunker is now privately owned by the Siebert family and is run as a trust museum.
Getty Images
Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years.
Especially during the Cold War, the people of Europe lived in constant fear of an imminent nuclear attack, which could come at any time. A human characteristic, however, is habituation, and after a while when nothing happened, after a while when these attacks did not come, the fear wore off, and even bunkers fell into disuse. This fact is quite funny, because the amount of nuclear weapons in the world has only increased since the end of Soviet atomic fear.
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Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years.
A fallout bunker is usually built deep into the ground to take advantage of the shielding action of the soil and avoid contact with the radioactive atmosphere. The outermost shell is made of reinforced concrete, which acts as a radiation shield as well as a load-bearing structure. The thickness of the walls can vary according to the desired resistance, which ranges from 1 to 3 atmospheres, while the interior walls and floors must be covered with special insulating slabs. Each bomb shelter also has two entrances: one for people and another for air.
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Inside the secret nuclear bunker that defended Britain for 60 years
Nowadays, bomb shelters are designed to defend against chemical weapons and biological weapons, but also to cope with secondary effects such as the collapse of a dam and thus provide short-term protection. In the United States, the threats of terrorism and the use of biological weapons have given rise to the market for prefabricated bomb shelters, a business for some manufacturers. However, there are bomb shelters in many countries.
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