[ RadSafe ] AW: Dirty Bomb Material Report?

Wed Mar 29 06:07:36 CST 2006

Dear Jose and other RADSAFErs,

Let me answer the key questions by some simple comparisons:

The Global Security Newswire of the Nuclear Threat Initiative reported
yesterday, that the radionuclide was Cs-137, the Washington Post reports
today, that it was 150 microCurie of Cs-137.

After the Chernobyl accident Austria was (one of) the highest contaminated
countrie(s) outside the former Sovjetunion. The maximum contamination level
for meat in Austria was then 16 nCi of Cs-137/kg meat or with other words,
150 microcuries would correspond to approximately ten metric tons –
something which is easily transported in a small lorry. Meat of wild animals
like roe dear and wild boar reached values far above 200 nCi/kg.

The average contamination of spinach was in the middle of April 1986 still
above 100 nCi/kg.

The lowest (!!!) soil surface contamination we found in all Austria was 160
nCi/m2. In other words: In this area 150 microCi were evenly distributed on
an area of approximately 1000 m2, a square of 33m x 33 m!

The highest surface contamination I measured was 3.3 microCi/m2, so 150
microCi were present on 45.5 m2 or an area of 6.7 m2. 

Not even the intimitated and totally antinuclear Austrians demanded to
“clean up” the surface of our 83 000 km2 country. The Cs-137 is of course
still out there, minus physical decay and some runoff. 

Can anybody explain to me, how 150 microCi of Cs-137 should then be used for
a “dirty bomb”, how it should (except for the detonation shock wave) scare
anybody who drank milk with up to 10 nCi/l? Where and how could it under
normal circumstances create psychological fear and economic damage, unless
mass media and involved agencies hammer every day fear and exaggeration into
the mind of people?

What our society seems to lack not only concerning radioactivity seems to be
“common sense”.

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer

PhD, MR iR

Habicherg. 31/7

A-1160 Vienna

AUSTRIA

phone (international) -43-699-1168-1319

phone (national) 0699-1168-1319

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Jose Julio Rozental [mailto:joseroze at netvision.net.il] 
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 29. März 2006 12:13
An: Raymond A Hoover; Franz Schönhofer; 'J. Marshall Reber';
radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: Dirty Bomb Material Report?

Colleagues,

What is the main purpose of a Dirty Bomb?
The main purpose of a dirty bomb is to frighten people by contaminating
their environment with radioactive materials and threatening large numbers
of people with exposure;
Do you believe the amount,  "small amount" in the scale of exemptions,  will
pose any consequences to environment  or population, to apply difficulty to
emergency response?
Dirty Bomb however spreads psychological fear and economic damage. Which
kind of scenario do you think, with the amount commented in this list can
pose such psychological fear and economic damage? 

Some key questions for the scenario in terms of radioactive material: 

•      -  Amount (activity) of radioactive material the terrorist could
steal or aquire?

•      -  Chemical and Physical Properties? 

•      -  What is the extent of the impact that would result? 

Jose Julio Rozental

joseroze at netvision.net.il

Israel

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raymond A Hoover" <ray2hoover at yahoo.com>
To: "Franz Schönhofer" <franz.schoenhofer at chello.at>; "'J. Marshall Reber'"
<jmarshall.reber at comcast.net>; <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:28 AM
Subject: Re: AW: [ RadSafe ] Dirty Bomb Material Report?

> I just read the report.  It does not state how much material was bought.
The report states "...we purchased a small amount of radioactive sources and
one container used to store and transport the material from a commercial
source over the telephone".  It doesn't say how they managed to have the one
container at two seperate points at the same time.  The purchases were made
over the telephone.
>    
>   The report states that two border crossings were made simultaneously,
one on the Canadian border and the other on the Mexican border and that
counterfeit documentation was used in the crossings.
>    
>   In both cases the sources were detected by CBP and that the counterfeit
documents were examined.  In both cases the Border Officers questioned the
investigators.
> 
> Franz Schönhofer <franz.schoenhofer at chello.at> wrote:
>   I read the story on USA today - online, though it sounded a little
> different. The NRC has - according to USA today - stated, that the
material
> involved was available without a license and not suitable for a "dirty
> bomb". USA today or rather GAO did not reveal what the material was and
how
> much it was.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Franz
> 
> Franz Schoenhofer
> PhD, MR iR
> Habicherg. 31/7
> A-1160 Vienna
> AUSTRIA
> phone -43-0699-1168-1319
> 
> 
> > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im
> > Auftrag von J. Marshall Reber
> > Gesendet: Dienstag, 28. März 2006 17:06
> > An: radsafe at radlab.nl
> > Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Dirty Bomb Material Report?
> > 
> > Is this report available to anyone other than CNN:
> > 
> > > The investigators purchased a "small quantity" of radioactive
materials
> > > from a commercial source, according to a Government Accountability
> > > Office report prepared for Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
> > > Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.
> > 
> > 
> > see:
> > 
> > http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/27/radioactive.smuggling/index.html
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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