Exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation can cause sickness or death. Because people cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or feel nuclear radiation, they are unable to tell without the proper radiological instruments whether the levels of radiation around them might be harmful.

This course is designed to teach you basic radiation safety procedures in shelters for areas that will not be affected by the blast, fire, and initial nuclear radiation emitted in the first minute close to the explosion. In a nuclear war, up to 90 percent of the land area of the 48 states of the United States and southern parts of Canada could be covered with radioactive fallout that would deliver hazardous nuclear radiation to an unprotected person over a period of several days before decaying to much less hazardous levels.