Steel shelters are the most cost effective way to protect people from weapons of mass destruction, be it nuclear, biological, or chemical. The cost per occupant space for a 50 person shelter is about US$650.00.

Shelters are not intended to have beautiful interior home-like appearances, but rather are very focused on the function of keeping people alive during extraordinarily terrible events.

Beautiful cabinets and shelves cannot be built into blast shelters because they and their contents would become dislodged and hurtle through the shelter to injure or kill people due to the acceleration forces of ground shock. The shelter pictured here would fare well if subjected to moderate blast overpressures not exceeding, approximately 25 psi (1.6 Bar). At higher overpressures, occupants would start to experience injuries from the hard furniture and possibly items stored on the shelves. Soft hammocks, suspended from yhe yellow "eyes" on the ceiling, and slung diagonally across the aisle, would be the preferred furniture in harsher blast environments. These would effectively isolate people from floors and walls.

A center section of the floor is equipped with removable panels for easy access to tbe 36" deep "basement storage area. This is an excellent area for storing bulk post attack food supplies clothes, tools, and the like. Food stuffs intended for consumption during shelter occupancy should be stored on shelves like the ones shown here with care to leave a few inches between the shelter wall and stored items.

Lighting is 12 volt DC, and is of two types. The peacetime lighting is provided by fluorescent fixtures which consume about 1500 milliwatts of power each. While not excessive during peacetime, they would exhaust a fairly large bank of 12 volt batteries in a few days. Unless their power was needed for something like a medical procedure or a specialized task, small incandescent bulbs or LEDs using only 100 milliwatts or so would still provide adequate light and enable the shelter batteries to last for weeks or mouths before requiring to be recharged. (A small lightweight gasoline generator for this purpose should be kept inside the shelter, to be hauled topside for this purpose.)

The largest shelves can be used by two very compatible people for a bunk if it is required.