In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 pandemic fears in Europe have given way to another concern that nightmares are made of: the possibility that Russia could use a nuclear weapon.
Since Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, U.S. and overseas manufacturers of residential bunkers say they've seen a spike in customer inquiries and orders — a surge they attribute to the war in Eastern Europe and Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision late last month to put his country's nuclear forces on alert.
Gary Lynch, general manager of Rising S Company, a residential bunker builder based in Murchison, Texas, said he recently started receiving inquiries from prospective customers in Italy, Romania, Sweden and the U.K., in addition to the U.S. and Canada.
"We've got a world superpower threatening to use nuclear weapons; that alone is enough to be scary," he told CBS MoneyWatch.
Manufacturers say the pre-fab shelters will withstand exposure to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks. Some use a steel frame strong enough to resist earthquakes and include bullet-resistant doors. The highest-end models — which can cost millions of dollars — may include air filtration systems, solar charging stations, fresh water inlets, waste removal tanks and infrared security.
Rising S makes bunkers in a local factory and ships them overseas. Over a recent 10-day period, Lynch said he got 1,600 inquiries from people interested in an underground shelter where they could take refuge in the event of a nuclear incident. That compares with the two to six calls he normally would have fielded over that same span of time from consumers looking to build a panic room or secure storage spaces for weapons or valuables.
Forty of those customer inquiries led to sales of bunkers ranging in price from $60,000 to around $200,000, including installation.
Interest in residential bunkers is coming from people across the income ladder. Mathieu Séranne, founder of Artemis Protection, a Paris-based company that sells and installs luxury, prefabricated bunkers for a variety of uses, said he's noticed a similar uptick in interest for his company's products.
Before the war, Séranne's 1-year-old company primarily worked with wealthy clients, but interest in shelters is now pouring in from people of various income levels in Finland, France, Poland, Russia, the U.S. and Canada, he told CBS MoneyWatch. That includes inquiries from entrepreneurs, a doctor, a postal worker and an Amazon worker, among others.
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Source: CBS News
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