High-tech underground bomb shelter is ready for anything

With the Doomsday Clock the closest it’s been to midnight since 1960, now might be a good time to consider investing in a survival shelter.

Business is booming in the fortified shelter industry, with some calling it the next big trend in luxury real estate.

And while shelters can come in many forms—panic rooms, bunkers, or even luxury bedrooms that can withstand a dirty bomb—the company Atlas Survival Shelters uses corrugated pipe to offer peace of mind.

The American-based company has been making bomb shelters since the Cold War, and offers to customize and then bury the corrugated pipe twenty feet underground.

An Atlas shelter includes an air filtration system with carbon dioxide scrubbers, solar panels, a decontamination room, generator, and a blast door to ensure survival. Then there are the creature comforts: a kitchen, small dining table, bathroom, and sleeping quarters for (in the smallest units) between two and four people. Larger models feature a standard Queen-size bed and a bunk-bed area—with storage under each bed—that can sleep up to ten.

Photos of completed Atlas Survival Shelters show big-screen TVs, electric fireplaces, and even computers equipped with infrared security cameras and radios. The standard models—which start at $49,900—come with white paint, linoleum floors, and formica counter tops, but other, more expensive options are available. The company will even install four of the pipes around a concrete dome to create a “family colony” shelter and it also has designs for an 90-person complex.

Security in each unit is paramount: Atlas builds escape tunnels on the opposite side of the main entrance and the company website describes how the entire shelter can be defended with lock-out systems.

Interested in checking out a bomb shelter in real life? Schedule a private tour at the Atlas factory near Los Angeles, California or visit the company’s “training shelter” near Victoria, Texas, to see one underground.