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So Where Are All The Dirty Bombs?

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So Where Are All The Dirty Bombs?

I've never been one to fully understand the great fear that many state and federal emergency response managers seem to have over dirty bombs, given the many training exercises that seem to include the threat as the main hazard. This USA Today article talks about the issue of loose and stolen radioactive material.

Annual incidents of trafficking and mishandling of nuclear and other radioactive material reported to U.S. intelligence officials have more than doubled since the early 1990s, says the director of domestic nuclear detection at the Department of Homeland Security.

Also up: scams in which fake or non-existent nuclear or radioactive material is offered for sale, often online, says Vayl Oxford, nuclear detection director at the department.

"We sense that people have recognized the value of nuclear material as a useful way of making money," Oxford said. "Nuclear material is becoming a marketable commodity."

The incidents tracked by the department, based on its reporting and information from foreign diplomatic and intelligence sources, average about twice the number made public each year by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Oxford said reports of nuclear and radioactive materials trafficking have ranged from 200 to 250 a year since 2000, up from about 100 a year in the 1990s....

Blog entries on this topic continue at: http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003103.html

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ERRI WMD analyst note: "Dirty bombs" are primarily "psychological multipliers" that can also be used as an "area denial weapon." They can be extremely messy and difficult to clean up...maybe necessitating the closure of several blocks for months, as remediation is carried out. The greater problem, as is pointed out in the article and replies referenced above, is that the public will panic and cause additional injuries or deaths as they react to the detonation of a dirty bomb (Radiation Dispersal Device), or to their own fears of radiation poisoning or longer term diseases like cancer.

It doesn't matter that "dirty bombs" will be of low radioactive yield and that more people will probably die from the initial explosion than eventual exposure to radiation. Panicky people will make bad decisions and "heaven forbid" that more than one incident were to take place simultaneously. The public would be screaming for action by all parts of the government to resolve the problem and stop the terrorists. This panic could also be reinforced or amplified by the media, who also have little knowledge about the differences between a 'dirty bomb' and an actual 'nuclear device.'

It is likely that in the early hours of such an incident, were it to take place in a heavily populated area, that much unconfirmed and unreliable information would be given to an already frightened public...increasing fear and maybe even causing an unplanned evacuation of a large part of major city. All-in-all, whether a "radioactive explosion" in a city center contains uranium or plutonium, or a small amount of some other far less toxic substance...it can be expected to result in a nightmare for emergency responders and government officials. Finally, we would caution people to not to take for granted that because it hasn't happened yet...that a dirty bomb attack can't occur. One thing is fairly certain...a 'dirty bomb' can cause the kind of fear, confusion, and intimidation that terrorists want...

Additional references:

On this blog: http://www.emergency.com/archive/2006/12/entry_45.htm

On Emergency.com:

04 Dec 2001: "Concerns Again Raised About Improvised Nuclear Device" -- http://www.emergency.com/2001/binladen_nuke.htm

Haz-Mat Archive Page -- http://www.emergency.com/hzmtpage.htm

Other sources:

"What We Learn About Radiation Threats from Movies?Fact or Fiction," From CDC - Q &A on "Dirty Bombs" and Radiation Hazards, w/numerous references and links to accurate data on the issue.

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