Many movies containing scenes of varying accuracy involving nuclear weapons have been created since their inception in the 1940s. One such scene (Nuketown) may be found in the 2008 movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where Indiana Jones hides within a lead-lined refrigerator to survive the detonation of a nuclear bomb, and walks out mostly unscathed, and with the lead-lined refrigerator mostly intact. This paper examines the viability of hiding within such a lead-lined refrigerator to insulate sufficiently against the heat and radiation emitted by the detonation of a nuclear bomb, such that one may escape without burns or immediate symptoms of radiation sickness, and whether such a refrigerator can be capable of withstanding…show more content… The Japan bombings give evidence of the extent of physical damage to buildings and other structures in the event of a nuclear explosion. In the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, buildings within half a mile from the nuclear explosion were completely demolished, but it was observed that there was relatively little Earth movement. Given this, there is a possibility of underground shelters staying intact without serious damages. But as observed in the movie, Indiana Jones quickly found shelter above-ground instead of escaping underground. Without being having the advantage of being underground, Indiana Jones was subject to the full blast effect of the nuclear bomb. The explosion from a nuclear bomb has two main sources of destruction. The first is the initial pressure wave from the explosion, and the second is the heat from the explosion create fires that destroy what’s still standing. The nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki had a unique blast due to the fact that it was blown up in mid-air rather than on the ground. This caused the explosion to exhibit lots of downward force, destroying things with large surface areas, such as buildings, while things like telephone poles managed to survive the explosion. Another unique factor of the explosion was the effect it had on buildings. While a normal explosive would take out a section of a building and have a more specific target, a…show more content… In 1986, a nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded due to a cooling system failure in the reactors. Twenty eight workers who were in the area surrounding the reactor compartment died of overexposure to radiation, while 247 other workers suffered from acute radiation syndrome. Although this incident did not involve a nuclear bomb, the immediate effects of nuclear radiation on the workers from the Chernobyl incident are significant to analyze the movie scene. Acute radiation syndrome is a result of rapid cell death caused by radiation. Along with the light, heat, and pressure wave of a nuclear blast, radioactive materials disperse rapidly in the area in and near the explosion. This makes the dosage of radiation that Indiana Jones should have been exposed to extremely high. Symptoms of acute radiation syndrome include vomiting, fever, and pains caused by thermal radiation. More specifically, radiation damages the plasma membrane of cells; one of the results being depletion of taurine, an important regulatory amino acid in the human body. Indiana Jones must have been significantly exposed to radiation if his refrigerator was in the range to be blasted in the air. However, he is only slightly agitated when he appears out of the refrigerator, making it unrealistic because he does not show signs of damage to his cell functions. If he escaped the possibility of being severely affected by nuclear