[ RadSafe ] Government eyes Supertanker for dirty duty

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

At the most likely end of the spectrum of possible dirty bomb events, I
would place a crude explosive with some medical or consumer-available
rad material, with the goal being to create panic far in excess of what
the explosive itself would cause.  The chances that aerial bombardment
with gel or foam would help is very small.  

I am not sure I believe in a sophisticated dirty bomb in which its
lethality is enhanced by adding radioactive material (beyond that
material causing first responders and policy makers to make ill-advised
and misinformed decisions, which likely would cause extra casualties).
The fact of the matter is that the better the explosion is at dispersing
the radioactive material, the lower the concentrations of said material,
and the lower the dose rate.  

A nuclear weapon is a different story.  The source term is so much
higher, at least initially, so you can get dangerously high dose rates
over a large area, and the explosion is hot enough to loft fallout high
enough to go a long way.  But even in this case, is a tanker of gel 12+
hours after the event going to do anything useful?  I am doubtful.

This program will cost at least a billion dollars, and have, in my
opinion, very limited value.  A better use of that money would be to
develop GOOD educational material on radiation issues and teach it in
school.  A billion dollars could produce a lot of informed citizens. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Huffman [mailto:doug.huffman at wildblue.net] 
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 5:11 PM
To: Brennan, Mike (DOH); radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Government eyes Supertanker for dirty duty

Have we that may know merely dirty from 'bomb' ever put a sharp pencil
on one?

I find it hard to believe that an effectively dirty bomb is much
different from a nuclear device or that a practical dirty bomb is
particularly dirty at all.  'Practical' constrained by mass, specific
activity and so on.

Brennan, Mike (DOH) wrote:

> For dirty bombs, the first thing to do is keep ignorant policy makers
from doing stupid things, like requiring wounded people be deconned
before they are treated, or ordering evacuations when shelter in place
is called for.  As for deconning big chunks of a city; fire hoses and
the storm drain system will be more useful than airplanes full of hair
gel.
>