052

Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker, Kelvedon Hatch, England

gkat_052.pdf51° 40 18.5 N, 0° 15 23.6 E

icon_food.pdf icon_indoors.pdf icon_kids.pdf

Three Months of Underground Autonomy

The Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker looks like a fantasy hiding place straight out of a movie. Driving by, all you see is a bungalow tucked into a wooded area of the Essex countryside. But the bungalow is, in fact, the entrance to a secret underground facility that was designed to house up to 600 people.

The bunker was created in 1952 and used until 1994 as a safe place for central government to reside in the event of a nuclear war. Once inside the bungalow, the bunker is reached via a 120-meter-long tunnel leading to the lowest level of the facility. At the end of the tunnel are 1.5-tonne blast doors that protect the bunker from a nuclear explosion.

Inside, there is equipment for electricity generation, air filtration and pressurization (the bunker was kept at positive air pressure to prevent radioactive fallout from entering), and a water supply from a deep bore hole. Much of the bunker’s equipment was built for communication with the outside world and to ...

Get The Geek Atlas now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.