Two shells containing 481.4 grams of enriched uranium in powder seized by Slovak Police in east Slovakia on Nov. 28, 2007, are seen in a photo provided by the Slovak police. Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian, arrested in an attempted sale of uranium, were peddling material from the former Soviet Union enriched enough to be used in a radiological 'dirty bomb,' Slovak authorities said. (Slovak Police/CTK/Associated Press)
What is a "dirty bomb"?
A dirty bomb is an explosive device made of nuclear waste byproducts wrapped around conventional explosives. Upon detonation it would release radioactive particles into the environment.
How difficult is it to make a dirty bomb?
The technology involved in building a dirty bomb is relatively simple. After you acquire the radioactive material, all that is left to do is wrap it around some high explosives and detonate it. However, powerful radiation sources are extremely dangerous to handle. If the handler is not experienced in dealing with radioactive material, he may end up hurting himself in the process. If a weak radiation source is used, the bomb is not effective.
What materials go into a dirty bomb?
A dirty bomb is composed of both conventional and nuclear components. The conventional component is dynamite, or C-4 explosives, which provides the explosive power. The nuclear component may include therapeutic medical material such as cobalt-60, cesium-137 or radium, or diagnostic medical waste such as thallium, technetium, or iodine.
How hard is it to get these materials?
Radioactive waste material is relatively easy to obtain. It's widely found throughout the world, and in general is not as well guarded as actual nuclear weapons.
The following materials may be stolen or obtained legally:
- Diagnostic medical waste
- Therapeutic radioactive materials such as colbalt-60 or cesium-137
- Nuclear waste materials from the weapons or power industry
In the United States, radioactive waste is located at more than 120 locations in 39 states, according to the United States Department of Energy. Large quantities also exist overseas - in Europe and Japan in particular. In Russia, security for nuclear waste is especially poor, and there is concern regarding its potential for use by Islamic radicals. The old Soviet Union has many nuclear generators that were abandoned when the Soviet Union split up. The International Atomic Energy Association refers to these as "orphaned." Radioactive materials may also be found in a scrap metal yard or in a medical waste dump.
How is a dirty bomb detonated?
Detonating the device is as easy as triggering a bomb in a car or arming it from the air, but the perpetrators must ensure that they are protected from the radioactivity. Generally, dirty bombs are designed to ensure that the radioactive particles explode outwards to cover the greatest possible area.
What damage can these bombs do?
The actual explosion of a dirty bomb would injure people in the immediate area and contaminate them with radioactive material, posing risks of cancer in the future. The radioactive exposure is not likely to cause immediate harm.
Extreme versions of dirty bombs would not kill as many people as died on Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City. A worst-case calculation for an explosion at noon in downtown Manhattan: more than 2,000 deaths and many thousands more suffering from radiation poisoning, according to the U.S. Center for Defense Information.
However, experts have said that the worst effect of a dirty bomb explosion would be mass panic and stress-related aftereffects. Andrew Karam, a radiation safety officer of the University of Rochester, said the use of radiological weapons would result mostly in traffic deaths as people fled the scene, and possibly anxiety-induced heart attacks. He also says that the average dose of radiation within a half-mile of a typical dirty bomb would compare to a person's annual exposure from natural sources. The damage and injuries from a dirty bomb would vary considerably depending on the quantity and form of the radioactive material used, the means of dispersal, population density, weather conditions and the period of public exposure.
