Two experts spent about 5 minutes down playing the dangers of dirty
bombs.
Both agreed that you would be more likely to be harmed by the explosives
than the radioactive material. They agreed that no one would be killed
by radioactivity and likely no one would even harmed.
There was a little disagreement about the cost of clean up afterwards. One quest said it would be very expensive to meet EPA standards and the other guest said that it is time to take another look at those standards.
John Grant
BobCherry@AOL.COM wrote:
Radsafers,Here is an interesting observation from my son, Chris, a recent addition to
the medical physics ranks.Bob C, the proud papa
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Dirty Bomb
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 10:54:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris Cherry <cpdcherry@yahoo.com>
To: Bob Cherry <BobCherry@aol.com>The public’s idea of nuclear terrorism may depend on
which newspaper articles they read. Two wire service
reports on the terrorist arrested for plotting a
“dirty bomb” attack describe the nature of such a
device. The plot was in the planning stage, and I did
not find specific details on the nature of the
radioactivity.>From AP:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=514&e=2&cid=514&u=/ap/20020610/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terror_arrest_16
A "dirty bomb" would not result in a nuclear
explosion, but experts say such a device could release
relatively small amounts of radiation over several
city blocks. Its most devastating effect would be in
the panic it likely would cause. For that reason, it
has been called an ideal terrorist weapon.>From Reuters:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=1&cid=578&u=/nm/20020610/ts_nm/attack_dirtybomb_dc_5
A so-called dirty bomb involves exploding a
conventional device wrapped in or laced with
radioactive material that can kill victims in the
immediate area and spread highly toxic material to
humans, causing mass death and injury.-Chris
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