Sales of private nuclear bunkers are on the rise – but experts issue a stark warning

A private nuclear fallout shelter has long been a perk of the ultra-rich. Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian and Bill Gates have all reportedly invested in luxury underground bunkers to survive the worst-case scenario of a nuclear war.

But nuclear bunkers aren’t just for elites.

More and more, average homeowners are investing in a bunker, usually a structure made of steel, buried underground and equipped with an NBC (nuclear, biochemical) air filtration system.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in customers. After the invasion of Ukraine, my phone was ringing every 30 seconds,” says Ron Hubbard, CEO of Atlas Survival Shelters in Sulfur Springs, TX, which designs and builds private bunkers.

According to a report by consulting firm Blue Weave, the market for shelters has grown from an estimated $137 million in 2023 to $175 million in 2030.

“My clients are worried about nuclear war, biological attacks or any kind of chemical attack,” says Hubbard. Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Gaza boosted sales.

His shelters start at $20,000 and can reach into the millions.

Are nuclear bunkers necessary?

Many experts say no. Provided a person does not die in the initial blast, they point out, there is a good chance of survival. However, this survival may not be pretty.

“In times of extreme stress, like those after a nuclear explosion, people get desperate,” says California real estate investor Jameson Tyler Drew, who has sold houses with “old Cold War” bunkers. “Food and water become hard to come by for most unprepared people.”

One need only read the accounts of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, after the US dropped nuclear bombs on the cities in 1945, to know that surviving a nuclear explosion is only the tip of the iceberg.

Some experts warn that the bunkers give the population a false sense of security – and distract them from demanding an end to nuclear weapons.

“Bunkers are actually not a means of surviving a nuclear war, but a means of allowing a population to psychologically endure the possibility of a nuclear war,” said Alicia Sanders-Zakre at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Associated Press.

Massachusetts Congressman James McGovern, who has fought nonproliferation for 50 years, agrees.

“If we ever get to a point where there’s an all-out nuclear war, underground bunkers won’t protect people,” he says. “Instead, we should invest our resources and energy trying to talk about a freeze on nuclear weapons first.”

End of civil defense

Bunkers, both public and private, reached their peak in the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War.

“While fallout shelters seem to be experiencing a renaissance, their heyday was definitely in the years after World War II, a literal expression of the Atomic Age,” says Larry Samuel, author of Home Ownership in America.

“In fact, some real estate entrepreneurs of the 1950s and 1960s believed there could be a mass market for underground homes if they were properly promoted. “Underground house” was the preferred term over “vague negative shelter.”

Many other countries – even those that have been in peacetime for decades – have civil defense mandates, with many public buildings required to have underground safety zones in case of attack.

Switzerland, Norway and Finland, for example, have large networks of underground bunkers that can house tens of thousands of people.

“There is no civil defense plan in the US,” Hubbard complains. “If a nuclear bomb hit New York City, it would take everyone out.”

In the US, the fear of a nuclear bomb has generally been replaced by other fears, such as extreme weather events and mass attacks.

But those worried about nuclear annihilation aren’t waiting for the government to take action—they’re buying their own bunkers and installing them in their backyards.

While FEMA stipulates that each bunker occupant must have at least 10 square feet and 6.5 feet of headroom, those with the means also want to bring their luxuries above ground below ground. They should also check with their municipality to determine what permits may be needed.

The most advanced bunkers – designed so that people can live comfortably in them for months, if not years – contain all the rooms that a normal house would have. Sometimes much more.

Take Survival Condos somewhere outside of Kansas City. (Most people don’t want to advertise the exact locations of their bunkers, lest they be invaded by unwanted guests.)

Homes range from $1.5 million to $4 million. Common areas include an indoor pool, spa, game room, movie theater, green spaces, fitness center, hydroponic food production and a redundant water supply with 75,000 gallon reserve tanks.

What if you don’t have millions for a nuclear-proof apartment?

How to survive a nuclear attack

Most experts agree that you can survive a nuclear explosion by taking shelter as soon as possible.

“It will take about 15 minutes for the radioactive stream to reach those a mile or so away from ground zero,” Michael Dillon, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told The Associated Press. “It’s literally going to be sand falling on your head, and you’re going to want to get out of that situation. You want to go to your strongest building.”

“If your home wasn’t near the epicenter of the explosion, the biggest thing you’re going to have to deal with is radioactive fallout,” adds Drew. “As long as you don’t expose yourself to this radioactive dust, you should survive.”

He recommends buying an earthquake survival kit, stocking up on enough food and water for at least two weeks, taping up doors and windows, and keeping a dusting of dry apple juice on hand to “flush out harmful isotopes of cesium”.

If you must go outside, he recommends discarding your new radioactive clothing and cleaning it with soap and water before returning to your home.

Even Hubbard, who says he sells at least one bunker a day, admits that’s not necessarily the case need a bunker to survive a nuclear bomb.

“You want to go to the lowest level spot you can get, and you want as much ground as you can get between you and the outside,” he advises. “Nuclear effects decay at a rate of 90% per day; after four days, the radiation is at one-thousandth of its strength. You will get it on a hot day with the sun on you. Nuclear war is very survivable if you are prepared and know what to do

He points out that hundreds of nuclear warheads were dropped an hour outside of Las Vegas and “no one died.”

These days, a few generations from the Cold War, investing in an expensive bunker can seem paranoid.

But Hubbard says that even if his clients don’t think a nuclear war will break out in their lifetime, they want to have a bunker for the future.

“A bunker will last for centuries,” he says. “This is an investment for their children and grandchildren.”

Although he admits that sales have slowed a bit recently thanks to President-elect Donald Trump.