I'm writing a story that involves the planet being blasted by 2 CMEs, the first one classified a bit higher than the 1859 storm slams into the magnetosphere traveling at a speed taking a couple days to reach the Earth. The second one is much bigger the largest recoded CME in history going to say around X-25, also travels at higher speeds due to the first CME clearing a path for it, although it happens a few days later it hits the Earth within 12 hours, or within a half an hour of the first CME. Now this is where I need help. While still a work of fiction I want to make the event as realistic as I can.
So the first CME hits the magnetosphere and weakens it by quite a bit, so much the second stronger CME isn't fully shielded and breaks through the magnetosphere exposing the planet to a massive radiation wave while eroding a bit of the atmosphere. For one what radiation waves would be present in a massive CME? I know x-rays for sure but since it is larger than a normal CME I was curious if it would contain gamma rays or anything else. And for the second question, would our standard method of radiation prevention for lets say a nuclear attack still work for x-ray and gamma ray exposure?
Thanks in advance. Will probably have more questions after these ones are answered.