For an excellent talk about radiation and other effects of nuclear weapons, go to the TACDA (The American Civil Defense Association) presentation on YouTube by Sharron Packer.
And to best prepare yourself and your family to handle a nuclear event, I highly recommend you go to our TACDA (The American Civil Defense Association) Survival Store and get the items below.
More important, go to our archives and read our extensive collection of courses on nuclear and other disasters. It is your experience, brain, creativity, resourcefulness, grit, skill stack and knowledge that get you through a natural or manmade disaster. So bone up on your skills while also purchasing these items as a way of ensuring your survival and that of your family.
But you should buy and have on hand, at a minimum, the following TACDA items.
EMP Resistant Waterproof USB Drive to keep your essential data safe. Most small businesses go out of business after a fire or flood from loss of data, not the event. About 5% of the memory is our disaster preparation course work, so you can study up on that area. The other 95% is for you to back up your family and business data.
The Communist Chinese Party and the Chinese People Liberation's Army have been very open their plans to take down the United States via a cyber war. That war has been ongoing for approximately 20 years. Back up your data daily to ensure you can start over quickly after a major cyber or EMP attack. Even if that never happens, you have a device to store your data to start over after a major disaster event.
K-103 or Potassium Iodate to protect your thyroid from nuclear fallout absorption in your body. We have had to restock our supply multiple times, so be patient if you cannot get it delivered immediately. It is worth buying ours and not the cheap Chinese CCP knock off product. So many in California bought that sawdust when they were worried about the Fukishima cloud fallout.
WaterBricks are essential to keep enough clean, safe drinking and sanitary needs water available for the long term. Most means of storing water, like the milk cartons people recyle, are not safe of sanitary as bacteria grows in them. WaterBricks, in contrast, keep your water safe until you need it.
Full Disclosure: I am the volunteer Vice President and have been writing civil defense articles for their Journal of Civil Defense for 15 years.
NOTE: Burns are the most far-reaching of any of the immediate nuclear weapons effects. Thermal radiation can cause burns through absorption of the energy by the skin, or by ignition of clothing as a result of fires started by the radiation. So stock up on burn treatment supplies. North American Rescue is your best source for burn treatment supplies.
Introduction
It's just regular science, not rocket science, and it is easy to learn again if we have the will to survive.
The energy characteristics and output from nuclear weapons
differ significantly from conventional weapons. Nuclear detonations
exhibit much higher temperature within the fireball and produce peak temperatures
of several hundred million degrees and intense x-ray heating that results in
air pressure pulses of several million atmospheres. Conventional chemical
explosions result in much lower temperatures and release the bulk of their
energy as air blast and shock waves.
In an atmospheric detonation, such as was deployed in Japan, it
is the blast and thermal component of the nuclear explosion that is the major
factor in destruction and death, not nuclear radiation, as the public
believes. The effective range of immediate harm to humans from nuclear
radiation from the atmospheric explosion is much less than the effective range
from blast and thermal heating.
In order to limit the discussion of weapons effects to
elementary terms, this discussion is based upon a single worst-case scenario.
Probably the largest weapon that might be employed against a population would
have a yield of less than one-megaton (or 1 million tons of TNT equivalent
energy or simply 1 MT). However, a crude terrorist nuclear device would
probably be in the range of a few thousand tons of TNT equivalent energy or a
few KT). The discussion here is based upon a nuclear detonation of 1 MT.
Yield
The destructive power of a nuclear weapon, when compared to the
same amount of energy produced by TNT is defined as the ‘yield’ of the nuclear
weapon. A 20-kiloton (KT) weapon, such as was detonated over Japan in World War
II was equivalent in energy yield to 20,000 tons of TNT. A 1-MT yield
weapon is equivalent to 1 million tons of TNT.
Nuclear Weapons are much smaller in volume and mass than
conventional weapons. But nuclear detonation produce energy release
thousands of times greater and over a shorter time period (chemical explosion –
milliseconds, nuclear explosions – microseconds). The energy from a nuclear
detonation can result from two basic nuclear processes—nuclear fission and
nuclear fusion.
The first nuclear weapons were only fission devices made from
either uranium-235 (a relatively scarce isotope of uranium), or from a man-made
isotope of plutonium, namely Plutonium-239.
When certain isotopes of uranium or plutonium (U-235 or Pu-239
or fissile isotopes) are bombarded with neutrons, the nucleus of these isotopes
can split apart (fission) releasing about 200 million electron volts of
energy. This energy release is about a 100 million times greater than the
burning (oxidation) of a carbon atom in a fossil fuel. Furthermore,
during the fission process additional neutrons are released (typically two or
more) and these neutrons can fission other fissile isotopes. This process if
carefully designed can lead to a rapidly increasing chain reaction releasing a
great amount of energy before the remaining fissile material is blown apart by
the rapid increase of energy. Indeed, the essential design feature in the
design of an effective nuclear weapon is containing the fissile material
together for sufficient time to liberate the energy yield desired.
The fusion and fission reactions produce energy in different
ways. Fusion occurs when two light isotopes (usually deuterium and
tritium – heavy isotopes of hydrogen) at very high temperatures and pressures,
unite and form a heavier isotope (usually helium). A fission reaction can
produce both the high temperature and high radiation pressure required for
fusion to occur and so in the design of all fusion weapons (often called
thermonuclear systems) a primary fission reaction is used to initiate the
secondary fusion reaction. One pound of the hydrogen isotope can release as
much energy as is found in 26,000 tons of TNT.
During the fusion process, high-energy neutrons are also
liberated as in fission. These high-energy neutrons can cause a fission
reaction in the abundant isotope, uranium-238. Some large yield, thermonuclear
weapons use this fission-fusion-fission process.
Types of Bursts
Phenomena from weapons effects vary with the type of burst. The
desired effects to be maximized dictate the burst type. The burst types fall
into four basic categories:
·
Surface Burst
·
Air Burst
·
High Altitude Burst
·
Subsurface & Underwater Bursts
Surface bursts maximize the reach of high overpressures and
would most probably be used against hardened strategic targets such as missile
launch control centers, harbors and submarine pens, and large airports.
Destruction of ICBM silos, and deep underground shelters require ground bursts
of 300 KT and greater. Ground bursts are also indicated if a planner wishes to
maximize residual fallout radiation.
An airburst is defined as an explosion that occurs below 100,000
feet elevation, but high enough so that the fireball of this explosion does not
reach the surface of the earth. Airbursts extend the range of lower
overpressures. Maximum blast damage of soft targets (such as cities) would
occur from airbursts of MT yield weapons. Smaller yield air bursts exploded at
optimum height of burst give more targeting flexibility in destroying important
targets in a large city while allowing collateral damage to be held to a
minimum.
Bursts occurring above 100,000 feet elevation are defined as
‘high-altitude bursts’. High altitude bursts are designed to cause an
electro-magnetic pulse (EMP). These high altitude radiations interact
with the atmosphere and cause rapid EM changes and ionization, which seriously
effect radio and radar signals and other critical electrical power dependent
equipment.
Most of the shock energy in underground or underwater
detonations is contained below the surface. Much of the thermal and nuclear
radiation is absorbed within a short distance of the explosion, contaminating
the earth or water with radioactive fission products.
Subsurface bursts are generally used during testing to minimize
radiation fallout, or in wartime by means of burrowing missiles, which penetrate
below the surface to destroy underground facilities.
Thermal Radiation Exposure
Within less than a millionth of a second of the detonation,
large amounts of energy in the form of invisible x-rays are absorbed within
just a few meters of the atmosphere. This leads to the formation of an
extremely hot and luminous ionized mass called the fireball or plasma.
Even at a distance of 50 miles from a 1 MT burst, this fireball would appear as
many times the brightness of the noonday sun.
The heat from the fireball is emitted in the form of thermal
radiation or EM in the ultra violet, visible, and Infrared range. The EM
pulse travels at the speed of light and can persist up to several seconds,
depending on the yield of the weapon, local clouds, and the height of the
burst. The thermal pulse from a 1-MT weapon lasts about 8 seconds.
If we were far enough away from the blast, and could drop and cover quickly, we
would minimize the burns caused by this pulse. At 8 miles from the
detonation, only minimal structural damage takes place, but flash burns caused
by the thermal pulse at that distance would cause severe burns if people were
unprotected. Every effort should be made to limit exposure time. ‘Drop and
cover’ is still a wise exercise to practice during a nuclear attack.
Skin burns are classified as 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree. Third
degree burns can occur out to 8.5 miles from a 1-MT burst.
Second-degree burns occur at about the same range as the 1.4-psi
overpressure level, which is about 10 miles from ground zero for a 1-MT
airburst. First-degree burns can occur from 10 to 12 miles from ground
zero. Evasive actions are required in order to limit harm.
Evasive Actions
Much burn injury from large yield weapons can be avoided in the
low overpressure area (1 psi to 2 psi), if protective shielding is found in the
first seconds. The evasive action of ‘drop and cover’ should again be taught
and exercised.
If there is any warning of incoming missiles, the best available
shelter should be taken. Ditches, culverts, basements, or large structures
would provide some shielding against the thermal pulse.
Materials inside rooms of buildings (such as curtains,
upholstery, or papers) could be ignited by the thermal pulse of a nuclear
blast. If sheltering in the home, efforts must be taken to extinguish fires
that may be ignited in the home.
In areas of overpressure less than 2 psi, many residences will
remain intact. Test results suggested that if there is adequate warning time,
light colored drapes should be closed to shield upholstered furniture and beds
from the thermal pulse, and electricity and gas should be turned off to avoid
secondary fires.
Experience has shown that ignition, such as would occur in
upholstery, might remain smoldering and later rekindled. It is advisable to
check for primary fires after the initial blast and then to check again after
15 minutes in order to extinguish any secondary fires that may be rekindled.
Fire extinguishers should be supplied in your sheltered area for this purpose.
Care should be taken never to look at the fireball. Because of
the focusing action of the eye lens, the eyes can be temporarily or permanently
injured and blinding may occur.
Underground shelters will give total protection from the thermal
pulse. Of course, this requires an effective warning system to know when
to enter the shelter.
f there is an escalating crisis we should enter our shelters and
remain there. It is more probable, however, that a nuclear attack would
come as a surprise–particularly from a terrorist attack. The only
initial warning may come from the electro-magnetic pulse.
EMP Cause
All nuclear explosives induce sudden electrical currents and
voltages, which can damage or destroy unprotected electrical and solid-state
electronic equipment within line-of-sight of the explosion. The size of the
area affected by an EMP increases with the height of the burst. In a
nuclear explosion 50 miles above the ground, the affected area on the earth
will have a radius of about 600 miles. A high altitude EMP (HEMP) from a
nuclear explosion detonated at an altitude of 200 miles could produce a rapid
electrical energy pulse on the order of 60,000 volts per square meter and could
affect and even disable equipment within the entire continental United States.
Smaller EMP pulses produced at lower altitudes could cause cascading failures
in an already stressed electric power infrastructure (transmission lines,
transformers, etc) and also telecommunications.
The affects of this type of weapon would not pose an immediate
danger to people. However, it could damage satellites, and computerized
ignitions in automobiles disrupt telephone and radio communications, destroy
navigational aids and computers, and would most probably cause electrical power
distribution to be lost for many months. Transportation would be
paralyzed, food refrigeration and distribution would cease and water
purification and sewer systems might fail. Financial institutions, hospitals,
trade and production of goods and services would cease functioning. Key
infrastructures and utilities are interdependent and very vulnerable to
electrical power interruption. A recent report to the Congress stated “an
EMP could have irreversible affects on our country’s ability to recover”. (Report
of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from
Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack; Volume 1: Executive Report 2004).
Terrorist countries and their organizations understand our
vulnerability and could use relatively unsophisticated missiles armed with
nuclear weapons to produce a high altitude EMP (HEMP).
Many nuclear strategists believe that if our country were
attacked in a limited exchange or full-scale nuclear war, the attack would be
initiated with a high altitude EMP to disable telecommunications. If this
weapon were deployed by a satellite, we would likely have no warning before the
explosion occurred. Immediately after the HEMP, missiles would be
launched against targets in the United States.
Every occurrence of sudden power failure should be viewed as
possibly having been caused by a high altitude nuclear explosion.
Certain simple tests will quickly reveal an EMP verses power loss from a
natural cause.
EMP Detection
If an electrical power drop is detected, immediately check a
corded phone to see if the telephones are functioning. If there is no
dial tone, you should do a second test using a battery-powered radio.
Approximately 5% of the radio stations in the United States have been hardened
against EMP and could continue transmitting. However, if you are unable
to access several radio stations that normally transmit in your area, you
should take shelter immediately. Contact radio stations within your area
to locate frequencies that may continue to transmit during this kind of an
emergency.
A simple power drop alarm can be constructed in the event the
EMP was to occur while you are sleeping. Ask a certified electrician to
construct such an alarm using a relay switch, a 12-volt gel-cell battery, and a
horn. However, no solid-state electronics should be employed in the
construction of this alarm.
Protection of Equipment
During an escalating crises and when not in use, all sensitive
equipment should be unplugged from the wall outlets. Power cords should
be wound into a coil. Wherever possible, electronic equipment should be
stored in an encompassing metal cage called a ‘Faraday cage’. Metal
garbage cans with tight fitting lids make good Faraday cages. Insulate
your equipment with toweling or cardboard before placing it into the can.
It is not necessary or even advisable to ground the can. As a further
precaution, fold metal screening material over the lip of the can before
closing the lid to assure tight metal-to-metal contact. Do not place the can directly
on a concrete floor.
Ammunition boxes make good Faraday cages. Remove any
gasket material from the lid and sand the painted areas where the lid fits to
the body of the can. Do not store the can on metal shelves, which contact
a concrete floor.
Microwave ovens (not plugged in to an outlet) also make good Faraday cages.
Radios should not be attached to any antenna longer than 30
inches. Remove all removable antennas and push all retractable antennas
to the shortest possible length.
Blast Effect and Over-pressure
In a 1 MT yield weapon, 10 seconds after the blast, the fireball
is over a mile wide. In one minute it has grown to 4 1/2 miles from the point
of burst.
At the same time the fireball is forming and growing, a
high-pressure wave develops and moves outward from the fireball. This blast
wave is a moving wall of highly compressed air called a shock wave. In 10
seconds the blast wave has traveled 3 miles. In 50 seconds, it has traveled 12
miles and is then moving at slightly greater than the speed of sound (1000 feet
per second).
We measure this pressure in pounds per square inch (psi). Normal
ambient atmospheric pressure is about 15 psi. Any pressure over and above this
level is considered to be ‘over-pressure’.
Many unsheltered people can withstand and survive this shock
wave and blast effect if they are outside the 5-mile radius of the detonation.
Dynamic Effect
High velocity winds are associated with the blast effect, and
the effects from the wind blast must be added to the effects of over-pressure.
This effect is called the dynamic pressure. Dynamic pressure is proportional to
the square of the wind velocity and the density of the air behind the shock
front.
Divers experience about l0 psi of over-pressure at a 23-foot
depth and 20 psi at a 45-foot depth. If acclimatization to the pressure
increase has been gradual, no ill effects will be experienced even though the
pressure differential seems amazingly large. Over-pressures experienced in
a blast, however, are complicated by the sudden dynamic (blast wind) effect.
A 20-psi over-pressure is associated with a wind velocity of 500
mph and without proper shelter; over-pressures of this strength cannot be
survived. Injuries at over-pressures under 20 psi are due almost entirely to
this dynamic effect. Blast winds at even 1-psi over-pressure can cause injury
from flying glass fragments and other small sharp objects.
The over-pressure from a 1-MT weapon at 4 miles is approximately
5 psi and the wind velocity is about 160 mph. At this distance it is generally
believed people could survive outside a hardened blast shelter if they can find
adequate sheltering which would give protection from the blast wind. Structures
such as culverts, ditches, tunnels, caves, mines and basements could give
adequate protection at this over-pressure level if the occupants were protected
from falling debris. At over-pressures over 5-psi, however, a residential
basement would not provide adequate blast protection. A discussion of expedient
shelters is given in another lesson.
Many thousands of people live and work in areas considered by
planners to be under the 5-psi over-pressure range, and would be saved if they
can seek shelter in their basements.
Radiation Effect and Fallout
Radiation is the most far reaching of all the weapons effects.
If the fireball of the weapon touches the ground, the blast is defined as
a ground burst. In a ground burst, rock, soil, and other material in the area
will be vaporized and taken up into the cloud. Strong winds cause dust, dirt,
and other particles to be sucked up into the fireball as well. All of
this debris is then mingled with fission products and radioactive residues and
becomes radioactive itself. As it cools, the debris falls from the cloud
onto the ground. This material is what we call radioactive fallout. It
has been estimated that for every ton of yield, an equivalent one-half to one
ton of matter is vaporized into the fireball. In a one megaton explosion,
there could be as much as 500,000 to l million tons of dirt and debris taken
into the fireball, which will later fall to the ground as radioactive fallout.
Protection From Fallout
Time – Radiation diminishes with
time in a process called radioactive decay. Each radioactive isotope has
a unique ‘half-life’. This is defined as the time required for the
radioactivity of that isotope to diminish (or decay) to one half of its
original value. The passage of 10 half lives for a given radioactive material
reduces its activity by a factor of 1000.
During the fission process in a nuclear detonation, hundreds of
isotopes with different decay patterns are produced. It has been found
that the average decay rate for these radioactive products can be estimated
with the 7 / 10 rule. Simply stated, this rule states that for every seven-fold
increase in time after detonation, there is a ten-fold decrease in the
radiation exposure level.
7/10 RULE – To estimate radiation levels from
fallout by this rule, at 7 hours after the detonation, the level of radiation
would be expected to be 1/10th of the original level. At seven times
seven hours (49 hours or about 2 days), the level would be 1/100th of the
original level. At seven times 2 days (or two weeks) the level
would be 1/1000th of the original level.
Distance – Radiation levels diminish
with distance as well as time. In a localized event, everyone within the
area of radioactive fallout should find shelter or evacuate and move as far as
possible from the location of the radioactive material.
Shielding – Shielding also decreases
(attenuates) radiation levels. Four inches of soil will attenuate half of
the gamma radiation from fallout. This is called the ‘half-value’
thickness for shielding. One ‘half value’ thickness gives a protection
factor (PF) of 2. This rule is multiplicative. A total of 8 inches of
soil will provide additional reduction, or a PF of (2 x 2)=4. Four more
inches (a total of 12 inches of soil) will provide 3 halving thicknesses, or a
PF of (2 x 2 x 2)=8. The half value thickness for concrete is about 3
inches. Ten layers of the halving thickness for any shield provide a
protection factor of over 1000.
Alpha Radiation
Alpha particles have a range of about 2 inches in air, and are
completely stopped by the outside layers of the skin. Therefore, alpha
particles are not an external hazard. However, they can do considerable
damage internally. So it is essential not to breathe in or ingest alpha
contaminated materials. Ventilation systems in fallout shelters should be
fitted with filters to remove these materials from the breathable air.
Beta Radiation
Energetic electrons (called Beta Particles) have a range of up
to 12 feet. Most fission products are beta emitters. Beta radiation
poses a small external hazard if the fission products in the fallout come into
actual contact with the skin and remains there for an appreciable time.
This contact may result in a skin burn referred to as “beta burn”, which causes
damage similar to sunburn. Fallout should be brushed and/or washed from
the hair and skin as soon as possible.
Beta emitters cause considerable damage if they enter the
body. Alpha and Beta particles in fallout can enter the body through the
digestive tract (through consumption of contaminated food and water), through
the lungs, (by breathing contaminated air), or through wounds.
Some radioactive elements tend to concentrate in specific organs
in the body. The body cannot distinguish between the stable chemical element
and the radioactive isotope of that chemical element. Radioactive
strontium and barium are similar in chemical nature to stable calcium and may
be deposited in the bones.
Care should be taken not to eat food, which has been
contaminated with radioactive materials. If the food has been carefully
washed, however, it can safely be eaten. Potatoes and carrots can be
peeled; apples and other hard skinned fruits and vegetables can be washed clean
of surface contamination. Soft foods, such as strawberries, lettuce,
bread, and such are not easily decontaminated and should be discarded unless
they are known to be uncontaminated. Canned food containers should be
washed before opening.
Animals, which have been exposed to radiation, may have
significant levels of strontium and barium in fur and in their bodies.
These animals, if healthy appearing, may be slaughtered and eaten, if the bones
and organs are discarded before the meat is cooked.
Iodine-131 generally poses the largest threat to humans because
iodine chemicals are deposited in the thyroid. Iodine can enter shelters
in a gaseous form. Ventilation systems must have good high efficiency
filters to filter this radioactive element from the breathable air.
Thyroid blocking agents (TBA) are available commercially.
They are inexpensive and have a long shelf life. TBA consists of iodine
in the form of potassium iodide or iodate. The thyroid fills with the
healthy iodide and the radioactive iodine is then removed biologically from the
body. Regular iodine is poisonous and should not be taken
internally. Use only the commercial TBA at its recommended dosages.
TBA agents have an extremely bitter taste and will need to be
consumed with other foods in order to cover the taste. Children, in
particular, will find the TBA to be distasteful. The tablet form of TBA
is more easily consumed than the liquid from the crystalline form.
Iodine 131 has a half-life of 8 days and will be a threat for 10
half-lives, or approximately 3 months. Enough thyroid-blocking agent
should be stored for each person in the shelter for a 3-month period. If
there is no warning of an attack, TBA should be taken as soon as possible after
a nuclear attack. However, TBA is a strong medicine that has some
undesirable side affects. It should not be taken unless a nuclear attack
has occurred or is believed to be eminent. TBA should be left in its originally
packaging whenever possible until needed.
Gamma Radiation
Gamma radiation is highly penetrating electromagnetic radiation
and poses a sustained exposure threat for the first 2 weeks after a ground
burst. Gamma radiation is measured in Roentgens. In a full-scale
nuclear attack, over a two-week period, the accumulated radiation dose in some
areas can be several thousand Roentgens.
Gamma Radiation is reduced or attenuated by limiting time near
the gamma source, distance from the source, and shielding (placing material
mass between you and the source). If whole body exposure is limited to
less than 175 Roentgens, no medical care should be needed and there will be few
if any anticipated deaths. To attenuate the exposure anticipated in a
full-scale nuclear attack to this level, a minimum radiation protection factor
of 40 would be required. If at any time the dose rate exceeds 10 Roentgens per
hour, the total exposure will exceed the 175 Roentgen level. (Note that the
value of 1 Roentgen is equivalent to about 1 rad or 1 rem).
TABLE – RADIATION PENALTY
TABLE
Acute
Effects
|
Accum.
Exposure
1
Week
|
Accum. Exposure
1
Month
|
Accum. Exposure
4
Months
|
Medical Care Not Needed
|
150
Roentgens
|
200
Roentgens
|
300
Roentgens
|
Some
Need Medical Care
Few
if Any Deaths
|
250
Roentgens
|
350
Roentgens
|
500
Roentgens
|
Most
Need Medical Care
50%
+ may die
|
450
Roentgens
|
600
Roentgens
|
600
Roentgens
|
Lethal
Dose
|
600
Roentgens
|
|
|
The accumulated exposure should not exceed those in the first row. 
If radiation levels reach 10/R/hr in the sheltered area, the doses in the first
row will probably be exceeded. In this eventuality, the shielding
in the sheltered area should be increased.
In a full scale attack, about
35% of our population would be expected to exceed the above doses.
EXPOSURE AT 30 MILES
DOWNWIND (500 KT surface burst, 15 mph wind)
Time
|
In
Open
|
In
Shelter PF 15
|
In
Shelter PF 40
|
1
Week
|
3450
Roentgens
|
230
Roentgens
|
86
Roentgens
|
1
Month
|
4100
Roentgens
|
273
Roentgens
|
103
Roentgens
|
4
Months
|
4500
Roentgens
|
300
Roentgens
|
113
Roentgens
|
Initial Radiation
Initial radiation exposure is considered to take place in about
the first minute after the nuclear explosion.
During the fission and
fusion process, high-energy neutrons, x-rays and gamma rays are expelled from
the fireball.
The threat of this initial radiation exposure from the nuclear
explosion is confined to a radius of about 1.5 miles from ground zero. A very
small percentage of the surviving unprotected population would be within range
of this initial radiation.
The blast and thermal effects would be fatal
within this radius for unsheltered people.
However, in a hardened blast
and radiation shelter, people could survive all nuclear weapons effects,
including initial radiation, at distances of 1/2 mile or more from ground zero.
In the absence of a hardened shelter, any practical, available, expedient
shelter should be utilized, since some shielding protection is offered from
blast, thermal heating, and nuclear radiation.
See...not so complex.
Given the current nuclear threat, Americans need to learn again what they once knew for how to counter the effects of nuclear weapons.
The first step is learning what it is...as above.
It is a wonder
of utilitarian engineering. The base is easy to screw on. It has a gasket that
keeps it tight and prevents any leaking. The valve uses a simple handle that
you turn to open the water flow. Turn the handle back and the flow stops. 
Standard
Size Specifications
Half
Size Specifications
