yasin_khan
New Member
Experts have reassessed the threat posed by radiological dispersal devices, or dirty bombs and they conclude that the threat is far greater than previously imagined. Poor international regulation makes it relatively easy for terrorists to acquire radioactive material.
Many experts now believe that the terrorist use of radiological dispersal devices (RDDs or ‘dirty bombs’) would not merely constitute a weapon of disruption capable of inflicting economic damage, but that some forms of radiological attack could also kill tens or hundreds of people and sicken hundreds or thousands. This is in marked contrast to earlier assessments that concluded that an RDD would be unlikely to cause death or injury beyond the area immediately destroyed by the high explosives.
RDDs are devices using conventional explosives to spread radioactive material over a large area, exposing people to both internal and external radiation doses. Costly clean-up is required and access to buildings and contaminated areas would be denied. The radioactive materials are readily available for medical or commercial use. They include, primarily, cobalt-60, strontium-90, cesium-137, iridium-192, radium-226, plutonium-238, americium-241, and californium-252. Uranium would not be much use in a RDD as, unlike cesium and cobalt isotopes, it has extremely low radioactivity and can only cause injury if ingested or inhaled. Nevertheless, people would probably still be unwilling to enter an area that had been contaminated with uranium or anything else connected with radioactivity.
Much depends on the amount and type of radioactive material used. Radioactive isotopes can also be spread widely with or without high explosives. Disruption will always be the result, but casualty levels and an increase in cancer risk are variable. The shorter the half-life - the amount of time it takes for half of the atoms in a given sample to decay - the more intense the radiation. Cesium-137, for example, has a half-life of 30 years.
Many experts now believe that the terrorist use of radiological dispersal devices (RDDs or ‘dirty bombs’) would not merely constitute a weapon of disruption capable of inflicting economic damage, but that some forms of radiological attack could also kill tens or hundreds of people and sicken hundreds or thousands. This is in marked contrast to earlier assessments that concluded that an RDD would be unlikely to cause death or injury beyond the area immediately destroyed by the high explosives.
RDDs are devices using conventional explosives to spread radioactive material over a large area, exposing people to both internal and external radiation doses. Costly clean-up is required and access to buildings and contaminated areas would be denied. The radioactive materials are readily available for medical or commercial use. They include, primarily, cobalt-60, strontium-90, cesium-137, iridium-192, radium-226, plutonium-238, americium-241, and californium-252. Uranium would not be much use in a RDD as, unlike cesium and cobalt isotopes, it has extremely low radioactivity and can only cause injury if ingested or inhaled. Nevertheless, people would probably still be unwilling to enter an area that had been contaminated with uranium or anything else connected with radioactivity.
Much depends on the amount and type of radioactive material used. Radioactive isotopes can also be spread widely with or without high explosives. Disruption will always be the result, but casualty levels and an increase in cancer risk are variable. The shorter the half-life - the amount of time it takes for half of the atoms in a given sample to decay - the more intense the radiation. Cesium-137, for example, has a half-life of 30 years.