Dirty bomb - Wikipedia. A dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device (RDD) is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with radioactive material, serving primarily as an area denial device against civilians. It is however not to be confused with a nuclear explosion, such as a fission bomb, which by releasing nuclear energy produces blast effects far in excess of what is achievable by the use of conventional explosives.
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Though an RDD would be designed to disperse radioactive material over a large area, a bomb that uses conventional explosives and produces a blast wave would be far more lethal to people than the hazard posed by radioactive material that may be mixed with the explosive.[1] At levels created from probable sources, not enough radiation would be present to cause severe illness or death. A test explosion and subsequent calculations done by the United States Department of Energy found that assuming nothing is done to clean up the affected area and everyone stays in the affected area for one year, the radiation exposure would be "fairly high", but not fatal.[2][3] Recent analysis of the nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl disaster confirms this, showing that the effect on many people in the surrounding area, although not those in close proximity, was almost negligible.[4]Since a dirty bomb is unlikely to cause many deaths by radiation exposure, many do not consider this to be a weapon of mass destruction.[2] Its purpose would presumably be to create psychological, not physical, harm through ignorance, mass panic, and terror.
For this reason dirty bombs are sometimes called "weapons of mass disruption". Additionally, containment and decontamination of thousands of victims, as well as decontamination of the affected area might require considerable time and expense, rendering areas partly unusable and causing economic damage. Dirty bombs and terrorism[edit]Since the 9/1. The meaning of terrorism used here, is described by the U. S. Department of Defense's definition, which is "the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological objectives".[6] There have only ever been two cases of caesium- containing bombs, and neither was detonated. Both involved Chechnya.
The first attempt of radiological terror was carried out in November 1. Chechen separatists, who buried a caesium- 1. Izmaylovsky Park in Moscow. A Chechen rebel leader alerted the media, the bomb was never activated, and the incident amounted to a mere publicity stunt.[7]In December 1. Chechen Security Service, who discovered a container filled with radioactive materials attached to an explosive mine. The bomb was hidden near a railway line in the suburban area Argun, ten miles east of the Chechen capital of Grozny.
The same Chechen separatist group was suspected to be involved.[8] Despite the increased fear of a dirty bombing attack, it is hard to assess whether the actual risk of such an event has increased significantly.[9] The following discussions on implications, effects and probability of an attack, as well as indications of terror groups planning such, are based mainly on statistics, qualified guessing and a few comparable scenarios. Watch Showgirls Online Facebook here. Effect of a dirty bomb explosion[edit]When dealing with the implications of a dirty bomb attack, there are two main areas to be addressed: (i) the civilian impact, not only dealing with immediate casualties and long term health issues, but also the psychological effect and then (ii) the economic impact. With no prior event of a dirty bomb detonation, it is considered difficult to predict the impact.
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Several analyses have predicted that RDDs will neither sicken nor kill many people.[1. Accidents with radioactives[edit]The effects of uncontrolled radioactive contamination have been reported several times. One example is the radiological accident occurring in Goiânia, Brazil, between September 1. March 1. 98. 8: Two metal scavengers broke into an abandoned radiotherapy clinic and removed a teletherapy source capsule containing powdered caesium- 1.
TBq. They brought it back to the home of one of the men to take it apart and sell as scrap metal. Later that day both men were showing acute signs of radiation illness with vomiting and one of the men had a swollen hand and diarrhea. A few days later one of the men punctured the 1 mm thick window of the capsule, allowing the caesium chloride powder to leak out and when realizing the powder glowed blue in the dark, brought it back home to his family and friends to show it off. After 2 weeks of spread by contact contamination causing an increasing number of adverse health effects, the correct diagnosis of acute radiation sickness was made at a hospital and proper precautions could be put into procedure. By this time 2. 49 people were contaminated, 1.
The Goiânia incident to some extent predicts the contamination pattern if it is not immediately realized that the explosion spread radioactive material, but also how fatal even very small amounts of ingested radioactive powder can be.[1. This raises worries of terrorists using powdered alpha emitting material, that if ingested can pose a serious health risk,[1. K. G. B. spy Alexander Litvinenko, who either ate, drank or inhaled polonium- 2. Smoky bombs" based on alpha emitters might easily be just as dangerous as beta or gamma emitting dirty bombs.[1. Public perception of risks[edit]For the majority involved in an RDD incident, the radiation health risks (i.
The fear of radiation is not always logical. Although the exposure might be minimal, many people find radiation exposure especially frightening because it is something they cannot see or feel, and it therefore becomes an unknown source of danger. Dealing with public fear may prove the greatest challenge in case of an RDD event.[1.
Policy, science and media may inform the public about the real danger and thus reduce the possible psychological and economic effects. Statements from the U. S. government after 9/1.
When United States Attorney General. John Ashcroft on June 1.
José Padilla, allegedly plotting to detonate such a weapon, he said: [A] radioactive "dirty bomb" (..) spreads radioactive material that is highly toxic to humans and can cause mass death and injury.— Attorney General John Ashcroft[1. This public fear of radiation also plays a big role in why the costs of an RDD impact on a major metropolitan area (such as lower Manhattan) might be equal to or even larger than that of the 9/1. Assuming the radiation levels are not too high and the area does not need to be abandoned such as the town of Pripyat near the Chernobyl reactor,[1. This will mainly consist of tearing down highly contaminated buildings, digging up contaminated soil and quickly applying sticky substances to remaining surfaces so that radioactive particles adhere before radioactivity penetrates the building materials.[1. These procedures are the current state of the art for radioactive contamination cleanup, but some experts say that a complete cleanup of external surfaces in an urban area to current decontamination limits may not be technically feasible.[1. Loss of working hours will be vast during cleanup, but even after the radiation levels reduce to an acceptable level, there might be residual public fear of the site including possible unwillingness to conduct business as usual in the area. Tourist traffic is likely never to resume.[1.
There is also a psychological warfare element to radioactive substances. Visceral fear is not widely aroused by the daily emissions from coal burning, for example, even though a National Academy of Sciences study found this causes 1.
US population of 3. Medical errors leading to death in U.