Is the nuclear shelter market booming in Hungary?

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the demand is growing for nuclear shelters. In Czechia and Slovakia, a huge number of shelter constructions started. What about Hungary? How is the nuclear market performing in the shadow of the looming mushroom cloud? Let’s take a look at what is going on in the construction sector.

Mfor.hu interviewed three different entrepreneurs about the current trends in the Hungarian market. Sándor Balogh, the manager of a company building underground storage facilities, tried to disperse the misconceptions. Abroad, these kinds of underground storage facilities are transformed into nuclear shelters, but the concept is very complicated. Although, the largest container they sell costs only about HUF 6 million (EUR 15,000), transforming it would cost hundreds of millions of forints.

What does a shelter need?

A private nuclear shelter needs many things to keep it operational after an explosion. The first problem is air, which needs to be cleaned before it is breathable by humans. Other than that, the inside air needs to be recycled and carbon dioxide needs to be converted to oxygen again. Now, everything needs electricity to operate, but after an attack, it is plausible that there will not be energy production on the service. Water supply faces the same problems as it also requires electricity to be cleaned.

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A proper shelter requires immense amounts of money, but even with that, the survivors will not last long. They will either die of hunger or they will run out of air. A self-sustaining shelter would cost astronomical sums of money that only a very few can afford.