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RE: Comments on Franz' "nail bombs"
Dear colleagues,
I do not want to discuss nail bomb x dirty bomb, but rather give some inputs
why International Organization are worried about the possibility of a Dirty
Bomb. The reason of not discussing the nail bombs is just because the main
focus in Radsafe is radiation safety. There is not difficulty to comment
about nail bombs once living in Israel, we have enough real experience about
this type of bomb. However,before going ahead, only one comment about the
Franz Topic ¨When I during a stop-over in Paris wanted to leave my luggage
at the Charles de Gaulle airport for a day there was no place to leave it,
because they had been closed and all the automaticlockers were closed
because bombs had been exploded there also¨
Today I think for this purpose, any place at airport or free area, it will
appropriate, as it have happened recently at the Cafeteria of the University
of Jerusalem.
Now why International Organization is worried about dirty bomb? – Because in
many countries the necessary laws and regulatory framework are lacking. It
is estimated that there are more than 60 countries having totally
insufficient radiation protection and waste management infrastructures which
encompass laws and regulations that are the basis on which these
infrastructures are developed and in many of these countries still there are
old sources in use out of standard and obsolete equipment's.
Recently we could learn at the IAEA Press Release the fantastic picture of
lack of control. Please take a look at
http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Press/P_release/2002/prn0209.shtml
Inadequate Control of World's Radioactive Sources
¨Vienna, 24 June 2002 -- The radioactive materials needed to build a "dirty
bomb" can be found in almost any country in the world, and more than 100
countries may have inadequate control and monitoring programs necessary to
prevent or even detect the theft of these materials, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says.
The IAEA has identified radioactive sources used in industrial radiography,
radiotherapy, industrial irradiators and thermo-electric generators as those
that are the most significant from a safety and security standpoint because
they contain large amounts of radioactive material -- such as cobalt-60,
strontium-90, caesium-137, and iridium-192.¨
Please, pay attention to the fantastic number mentioned ¨more than 100
countries may have inadequate control and monitoring programs necessary to
prevent or even detect the theft of these materials¨
If we consider 130 IAEA´s Member States, that’s mean that more than 75% of
Member States are included in that figure. That’s also mean not only
developing countries should be taken into consideration but also countries
with large use of radioactive material.
Finally to those interested in this subject, please take a look at the
recent Commission of the European Communities document
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/lip/latest/doc/2002/com2002_0130en01.doc
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE on the control of high activity sealed
radioactive sources, Brussels, 18.3.2002
And at the IAEA
http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/About/GC/GC44/Documents/gc44-7_attachment.pdf
IAEA - Categorization of Radiation Sources, July 2000
Jose Julio Rozental
jrozental@hotmail.com
Madrid, until 02-10-2002
--------------------------------------------------------
>From: "Gray, William" <WGray@cslanet.calstatela.edu>
>Reply-To: "Gray, William" <WGray@cslanet.calstatela.edu>
>To: "'Franz Schoenhofer'" <franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT>, maury
><maury@WEBTEXAS.COM>, "Kim D. Merritt" <k.merritt@larc.nasa.gov>
>CC: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu, Todd Brautigam <brautt@myapc.com>
>Subject: RE: Comments on Franz' "nail bombs"
>Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 14:41:37 -0700
>
>First let me start by saying that I am personally not impressed by the
>statement that "even the lowest level boulevard newspapers" are concerned
>with the effects of "dirty bombs". I am not sure why I am supposed to be
>swayed by any provincial street level pulp distributor.
>
>Second, concerns tend to be relative. If one has been attacked by nail
>bombs, then nail bombs tend to be what one worries about. If one has been
>attacked by deranged individuals that crash fully loaded aircraft into
>large
>skyscrapers and subsequent investigation reveals that there were intentions
>to create and use radioactive dirty bombs, then perhaps it is reasonable
>that one should worry about that.
>
>Regarding "point of efficiency" in a nail bomb versus a dirty bomb, it
>should be clear by now that efficiency is not always the objective and the
>objectives are related to desired outcomes. If the outcome is a simple
>cost/benefit analysis related "kills" then a nail bomb might be the way to
>go. But if the objective is to play on fear and maximize media exposure
>that
>is sure to continue for many days, and in the process create "area denial"
>at the detonation point that could have significant consequences to trade,
>commerce or finance...then a "dirty bomb" might be an appropriate weapon of
>choice. It should also be noted that a nail bomb would be considered "low
>tech / low concept". Our current antagonists seem to prefer "low tech /
>high
>concept" tactics. Dirty bombs fit that profile of weapon choice.
>
>And lastly, I do believe you are overly optimistic in your assumptions
>regarding the difficulty in obtaining radioactive material for constructing
>dirty bombs. Large amounts of material in several nations remain
>unaccounted
>for. And in America, during a "peace time transfer" of bars of highly
>enriched uranium to a nuclear reactor project in the Sudan during the
>Clinton era, things got nasty in Sudan, the energy reactor never got built,
>and to this day all but one of the bars remain unaccounted for. The one bar
>that was recovered was stumbled upon during an Italian wiretap of organized
>crime figures during which the sale of the bar was attempted to an
>individual representing Middle Eastern "concerns". A sting operation by
>Italian authorities recovered that one bar. When last seen the remaining
>bars were in North Africa and they were apparently making their way to
>Western Europe. North Africa would be the same origin of the suspects that
>victimized your country with nail bombs and at least one of the bars had
>already made it to one of your neighbors. Maybe the lowest level boulevard
>newspapers should reassess their concerns.
>
>With respect,
>M. Gray
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Franz Schoenhofer [mailto:franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT]
>Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 4:47 AM
>To: maury; Kim D. Merritt
>Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu; Todd Brautigam
>Subject: AW: ABC Tests U.S. Border Security
>
>
>
>
>-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
>Von: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
>[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]Im Auftrag von maury
>Gesendet: Dienstag, 10. September 2002 19:15
>An: Kim D. Merritt
>Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu; Todd Brautigam
>Betreff: Re: ABC Tests U.S. Border Security
>
>
>Great jumpin' butterballs!!! Who'd ever have imagined strapping nails or
>ball bearings onto a bomb?
>
>-------------------------------------------
>
>Sorry, I cannot distinguish, whether your comment on nails in a bomb is
>cynical or not. The fact is, that several such bombs spreading nails, were
>exploded in Paris about ten years ago, killing several persons and wounding
>many more. They were deposited in garbage bins in places where a lot of
>people went by during rush hours. This has resulted in closing the Paris
>garbage bins by welding locks on them. When I during a stop-over in Paris
>wanted to leave my luggage at the Charles deGaulle airport for a day there
>was no place to leave it, because they had been closed and all the
>automatic
>lockers were closed because bombs had been exploded there also. Maybe I
>should mention that North African terrorists were suspected and convinced,
>but they were not necessarily islamic fundamentalists, if I remember
>correctly.
>
>Let me draw the conclusion in comparison to a so called "radiologically
>dirty bomb": Nails you can buy by the tens of thousands in any "Do it
>yourself" market, without being suspected to be a terrorist. Radioactive
>solutions like I-131 or Tc-99m are relatively difficult to obtain and it
>takes much more sophisticated logistics compared with nails. The
>difficulties to obtain fission products is by orders of magnitude larger
>and
>to obtain spent fuel is more difficult by even several more orders of
>magnitude, not to talk about the difficulty to spread uranium-dioxide or
>uranium-carbide fuel so that it could be inhaled and harm somebody. And
>where to obtain plutonium?
>
>From the point of efficiency something like the Paris nail bombs are by
>fare
>more effective than any radiological bomb would be. There are immediate
>deaths, not really by the explosive, but by the injuries due to the nails.
>Exploding a radiological bomb would probably kill some people in the
>immediate vicinity by the explosion, but the radionuclides will have not
>only no immediate, but hardly any long term effects.
>
>Why are people in the USA "not" afraid of a nail bomb, which is so much
>more
>easy to make and to deliver - but they are afraid of the risk of several
>magnitudes lower of a "radiological bomb"?
>
>Nobody in Europe discusses the effects of "dirty bombs", not even the
>lowest
>level boulevard newspapers.
>
>Food for thoughts.
>
>Franz
>
>
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