Regarding your comment, "but it has a large gamma signature that can be easily detected from a great distance" you can only detecct radiation if you look for it. Of course, you cannot know if a radiation source exists if you are looking for it. (1) I imagine that there are many ways into a city that do not have radiation monitroing systems. Also, (2) if confronted by the police, the terrorist might decide to blow up the source before they get to the target.
High Plains Drifter <magna1@jps.net> wrote:
It may be easy shield and transport, but it has a large gamma signature that can be easily detected from a great distance. Unless the material is removed from the encapsulation or the source was pre-scored to a proper depth, the source would just be flung away intact by a crude explosive device. An intact source would be more of a hazard, to those unlucky enough to be near it, than the dispersed source material would be, but then again it could be easily found and dealt with.The key to any cleanup is education of the masses, including regulators and politicians, with the establishment of realistic residual radioactivity levels. The risk could be established to just below some every day risk we accept, such as commuting to work in a car or getting a full body CAT scan.