Re: Radioactive assassinations

[Eric Denison <denison.8@osu.edu>]

At 06:35 AM 10/10/97 -0500, Ron Shepherd wrote:
>Radsafers & Melissa
>I don't really think it advisable to continue this thread since it is
possible that we could inadvertenly release enough information to make this
kind of act attractive to the wrong elements.
>
>The last thing we need is for this type of assination to become popular
and to have those that get caught say they found out about how to do it on
Radsafe.
>
Let's not get paranoid, folks.  If someone in a lab situation really wanted
to knock off a co-worker or supervisor, there are dozens of insidious
poisons and progressive toxins available (i.e. a hundred doses of one unit
are as dangerous as a single dose of 100 units) if they chose not to go
with an acute poison or physical assault.

Radioactive material would be the least attractive choice you could make,
in part because the damage patterns from radiation poisoning are pretty
well documented.  In addition, delivery is a BIG problem.  You basically
have three choices:

* apply the material in small amounts and wait decades for the target to
get cancer (very unsatisfying)
* apply the material in acute amounts and carry enough shielding to protect
yourself from the radiation (very tiring and tough to hide)
* forget the self-shielding and accept a dose at least as large as the
target will get (marks you as a suspect almost immediately, and you don't
get to live to see your success).

I really don't see that continuing this thread is going to give anyone
ideas for an assassination of their own.  It's just too damn hard.

Eric Denison

BTW -- the "analysis" above is NOT the result of personal assassination
planning.  I helped some friends handle a situation in a 007-type
role-playing game a few years ago.  We basically forced the player to
forget the sneaky stuff and just have his character shoot the bad guy.
Seems he wasn't into suicide missions...<g>

Eric Denison <denison.8@osu.edu>
Radiation Safety Technician
Environmental Health & Safety
The Ohio State University