Nebraska company selling domes to fend off chemical attacks

A Nebraska company says it is offering something a little more tangible than duct tape for protection against a terrorist attack.

Domes USA is offering backyard shelters, or terror domes, that are designed to allow a family to survive the aftermath of a biological or chemical attack.

The portable, prefabricated dome shelters are airtight with their own air filtration systems. Their eight pie-shaped, gel-coated pieces are bolted together over a permanent foundation or a large sheet of plastic.

"We made it as a fallout shelter. It's not designed to be a blast shelter," said Jason Sullivan, vice president of the company located in Page in northeast Nebraska, about 150 miles from Omaha.

However, the company says the domes' lightweight polymer component construction are resistant to radiation and other fallout from a nuclear attack.

The biggest selling point is the filtration system that separates out radioactive, biological and chemical contaminates from the outside air before it's brought inside, said Doug Rokahr, Domes USA president. The unit can run on electricity, batteries or by hand power.

Domes USA secured the filtration systems developed in Israel in early February, he said. The company started selling its terror domes on the Internet on Wednesday.

The dome are an ideal form of protection considering the government believes future terrorist attacks most likely will involve chemicals or biological agents and target civilians, Sullivan said.

"They are not going after hardened military targets, they're going after targets of opportunity," he said. "This system will offer you that security if something does happen."

'Do what we want'

Domes USA was started two years ago by Rokahr, a 20-year construction worker in Page, and Sullivan, a California transplant with a degree in biology who had sold domed homes for four years.

"This is kind of a good place to start with the system," Sullivan said of their northeast Nebraska location. "We're left alone out here, and we can do what we want."

The biggest sticking point is that the domes cannot be assembled on a moment's notice. Larger domes take three people about a day to put together, but Sullivan said the smaller domes can go up in about two hours.

If there is an evacuation, Rokahr said the domes can be quickly disassembled and loaded into a pickup for a quick escape into the country.

The smallest terror dome available is 273 square feet. The 17-foot, 6-inch diameter dome with a 9-foot tall ceiling costs $7,500 without interior walls, electricity or plumbing. Those can be added on for extra costs.

They offer domes up to 1,273-square feet, and in differing levels of protection. The standard wall thickness is a quarter-inch, but can be special ordered in half-inch or 1-inch thickness.

Nebraska's homeland security director, Lt. Gov. Dave Heineman, said that while a terrorist attack in the mostly rural state is unlikely, he wouldn't discourage anyone from doing what they thought was best to protect themselves.

"I didn't recommend people buy duct tape yet," Heineman said. "Everyone's got to make their individual decisions."

Domes USA has sold 12 domed homes in the upper Midwest in the last two years, including a 1,500-square-foot structure to Ray and Marlys Bokker, who live in it near Gregory, S.D.

"It keeps out the rain and heat and snow," Ray Bokker said. "I don't know about keeping out radiation."

The bar-and-restaurant owner also doubts terrorists would ever strike on the sparsely populated Plains. He joked that was more worried about homegrown problems.

"We've already had lots of biological attacks raising kids," said the father of two grown children.

If terrorists don't attack, Rokahr said the domes won't be white elephants.

"They are low-cost enough they could be used for a storage shelter," he said.

They also come in 35 different colors to match a house's paint or siding, he added.