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Fortunately, as of writing no one has managed to deploy a dirty bomb, but incidents in several countries involving loose or orphaned radioactive devices have shown how easy a successful attempt to do so could be. In 1995, a group of Chechen rebels boasted of their ability to construct a radioactive bomb to a Russian television news network and claimed to have buried the materials needed in a Moscow park. Authorities found a buried container of cesium at the exact spot the rebels claimed they had buried it, though neither the source of the material or the identities of the rebels were ever identified. This type of attack is known as a RED (Radiological Exposure Device).

 

Dirty Bombs Continued…

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The effectiveness of RDDs as weapons is controversial. Their impact can vary sharply due to the time it might take to absorb a sufficient amount of radiation through ingestion, inhalation, or exposure. According to the DOD’s findings, a RDD would not produce a nuclear yield, but it would spread contamination. This would give the weapons greater potential for intimidation than for immediate damage.

There are hundreds of nuclear reactors throughout the world, not to mention many more nuclear sources such as radiological materials used in hospital technology. Both international and national measures control these devices and the radiological materials associated with their use, contributing to proliferation prevention.

The Effects of Radiological Weapons

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LESSON SIX: RADIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND THREATS

Obtaining nuclear weapons for use in achieving goals would be difficult if not impossible for a terrorist group. One possible alternative would be the use of radioactive materials in conjunction with conventional explosives. Another possibility would be the hostile takeover of a nuclear power plant with subsequent threats of sabotaging it. Using the threat of radioactive contamination in any form is a powerful tool in the hands of non-state actors with a proscribed agenda.

 

Topics to be covered include:

 

What is a radiological weapon? Sources for radioactive materials How radiological weapons are transported and deployed Dirty bombs Sabotage as terrorism The effects of radiological weapons

 

Introduction

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A radiological weapon, or radiological dispersion device (RDD), disperses radioactive material and is designed to kill or, more likely, cause disruption. A group or country attempting to create terror may seek out radioactive materials to combine with high explosives. The explosives would propel radioactive materials within a desired area. Designed for implementation in highly congested population centers damage and the explosive materials combined with radioactivity would cause disruption. Additionally, certain substances can be utilized to increase the radioactive fallout depending upon what is used and how it is deployed.

Men attempting to scrub contaminated ship during Operation Crossroads.

Soldiers testing mine-clearing rake during the Gulf War.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) defines an RDD as, “any device, including any weapon or equipment, other than a nuclear explosive device, specifically designed to employ radioactive material by disseminating it to cause destruction, damage, or injury by means of the radiation produced by the decay of such material” (Ford, 1998).

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What Is a Radiological Weapon?

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Dirty bombs should definitely not be equated or categorized with nuclear bombs. A nuclear bomb’s explosion is millions of times more powerful, and the cloud of radiation that one can produce can spread hundreds of square miles. A dirty bomb, on the other hand, can only produce enough radiation to spread within a few city blocks at the most. If human casualties occur, they will be the results of the initial blast of the conventional explosive. The radioactive particles that the bomb scatters, which constitute the “dirty” part, are far less dangerous than the explosives themselves.

 

Testing of China’s first nuclear bomb.

Dirty Bombs Continued…

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A radiological weapon, or radiological dispersion device (RDD), disperses radioactive material and is designed to kill or, more likely, cause disruption. A group or country attempting to create terror may seek out radioactive materials to combine with high explosives. The explosives would propel radioactive materials within a desired area. Designed for implementation in highly congested population centers damage and the explosive materials combined with radioactivity would cause disruption. Additionally, certain substances can be utilized to increase the radioactive fallout depending upon what is used and how it is deployed.

Men attempting to scrub contaminated ship during Operation Crossroads.

Soldiers testing mine-clearing rake during the Gulf War.

However, shortly afterwards, the military abandoned the idea of developing radiological weapons for use in warfare. In recent years, the use of RDD weapons by non-state actors has been a far greater concern than the possibility of a state developing them. During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Iraq claimed to possess “secret,” “unusual” weapons, and U.S. intelligence concluded that these were possibly of the radiological variety.

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What Is a Radiological Weapon?

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EFFECTS AND TREATMENTS

ACCIDENTAL INCIDENTS

SPREADING FEAR

Radiological weapons can kill or injure by exposing people to radioactive materials. Victims are irradiated when they are near to, touch the material, inhale, or ingest it. Radiation can sicken and even kill if the level of exposure is high enough; it damages cells in living tissue, destroying cell constituents that are essential to normal cell functions. The effects of a given device will depend on whether the exposure is acute or chronic.

It is very difficult to design an RDD that would deliver radiation doses high enough to cause immediate health effects or fatalities in a large number of people. The risk of radiological material causing cancer, for example, is of great concern to many, but even this risk will likely be extremely small. Doctors specializing in radiation health effects will be able to assess the risks and suggest what medical treatment, if any, is needed, once the radioactive source and exposure levels have been determined.

There are some medical treatments available that help cleanse the body of certain radioactive materials in the case of an RDD attack. Prussian blue has been proven effective for ingestion of cesium-137 (a radioactive isotope). Potassium iodide (KI) can be used to protect against thyroid cancer that may result from exposure to iodine-131 (radioactive iodine).

The Effects of Radiological Weapons Continued…

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A radiological weapon, or radiological dispersion device (RDD), disperses radioactive material and is designed to kill or, more likely, cause disruption. A group or country attempting to create terror may seek out radioactive materials to combine with high explosives. The explosives would propel radioactive materials within a desired area. Designed for implementation in highly congested population centers damage and the explosive materials combined with radioactivity would cause disruption. Additionally, certain substances can be utilized to increase the radioactive fallout depending upon what is used and how it is deployed.

Men attempting to scrub contaminated ship during Operation Crossroads.

Soldiers testing mine-clearing rake during the Gulf War.

In 1946, the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons tests were conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. When ships used in these tests showed signs of contamination, the potential for radiological material as weaponry was evidenced. The following year, the DOD began studying the offensive and defensive aspects of what it called “Rad War.” A series of tests conducted in the 1950s, which involved releasing radiological material into the atmosphere, showed that while RDDs were not effective as battlefield weapons but could nonetheless have widespread and powerful effects.

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What Is a Radiological Weapon?

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A radiological weapon, or radiological dispersion device (RDD), disperses radioactive material and is designed to kill or, more likely, cause disruption. A group or country attempting to create terror may seek out radioactive materials to combine with high explosives. The explosives would propel radioactive materials within a desired area. Designed for implementation in highly congested population centers damage and the explosive materials combined with radioactivity would cause disruption. Additionally, certain substances can be utilized to increase the radioactive fallout depending upon what is used and how it is deployed.

Men attempting to scrub contaminated ship during Operation Crossroads.

Soldiers testing mine-clearing rake during the Gulf War.

Radioactive materials have never been widely used in non- nuclear weapons, but the possibility of such was first considered during World War II. In 1941, the National Academy of Sciences proposed that the military could use atomic energy for the purpose of radiological warfare before the first nuclear weapons were developed. The first option proposed by the Academy was the “production of violently radioactive materials . . . carried by airplanes to be scattered as bombs over enemy territory.” Attention quickly turned to nuclear weapons after their development was shown to be feasible, and this remained the case for the balance of the war.

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RADIATION EVERYDAY USE THEFT OF MATERIALS

Most radioactive source materials (devices or items with radioactive material) that are produced and used in the United States do not meet the definition of a weapon of mass destruction because they do not “release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life.” Smoke detectors, tritium night sights on firearms, radiopharmaceuticals (radioactive drugs), lantern mantles, tungsten welding rods, and industrial moisture/density gauges, all of which contain radioactive material, could not under any circumstances be used as weapons.

At the same time, many other sources do contain radioactive material in amounts that can be considered life threatening. Irradiators and sterilizers found in hospitals and cancer treatment facilities contain these levels of materials, as do radiography cameras and food irradiators in industrial and construction sites and used (or spent) fuel rods from nuclear reactors in nuclear power plants. Isotopes such as cesium-137, cobalt-60 and iridium-192 can be used in blood transfusions, cancer treatments, or the creation of potentially dangerous weapons.

Many, but not all, radioactive materials can be used to construct an RDD, including fission products, spent fuel from nuclear reactors, and relatively low-level materials, such as medical, industrial and research waste. Weapons grade materials (i.e., highly enriched uranium or plutonium) are not needed, although they could be used.

 

Sources for Radioactive Materials

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In the United States, an incident shortly after the 9/11 attacks shook millions of Americans with the fear of a dirty bomb attack. An American citizen and Chicago gang member named Jose Padilla, who was known to have ties to the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda, was arrested at the O’Hare airport on suspicion of planning to build and detonate a dirty bomb. It was believed by authorities that Padilla had studied the mechanics of dirty-bomb construction in Pakistan, including how to wire explosive devices and how to optimize bombs for radiological dispersion.

 

Dirty Bombs Continued…

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The extent to which this radiation could produce contamination would depend on a number of factors. These include the size of the explosive, the amount and type of material used, how it is dispersed, and the types of weather and environmental conditions present. Victims who are very close to the bomb’s explosion site are likely to experience injuries, but those further away would be less likely to experience any sort of harm from the blast.

 

Dirty Bombs Continued…

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Immediate health effects from exposure to the low radiation levels expected from a dirty bomb would probably not be very strong. The effects of radiation exposure on a victim would depend on the amount of radiation their body absorbs, whether the radiation is alpha, beta, gamma, or neutron, how far the victim is from the radiation, whether the radiological material is absorbed by the skin, inhaled, or ingested, and the length of time exposed. In other words, the higher the radiation dose, the higher the risk of injury.

 

Dirty Bombs Continued…

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RADIATION EVERYDAY USE THEFT OF MATERIALS

Federal and state regulations require licensing to use or store radioactive material and for this material to be secured from theft and unauthorized access. Lost or stolen radioactive material must be reported immediately. Local authorities assist in the effort to find and retrieve missing sources. Usually, when material is lost or stolen, the sources are so small or short-lived that they are not useful for building an RDD.

A terrorist may obtain materials such as these by obtaining a fraudulent license. In the 1990s an American named Stuart Lee Adelman tried to illegally acquire radioactive material on several occasions, posing as a university professor in one instance, before he was finally arrested.

Radioactive materials might also be stolen from hospitals or universities, which are fairly accessible to the public, or while in transit and from parked vehicles. One 2013 case involved the theft of Cobalt-60 from a hijacked truck outside Mexico City. Terrorists might be able to acquire radioactive materials from an “orphaned” radioactive source that has fallen outside of regulatory control due to loss, theft, or abandonment.

Many, but not all, radioactive materials can be used to construct an RDD, including fission products, spent fuel from nuclear reactors, and relatively low-level materials, such as medical, industrial and research waste. Weapons grade materials (i.e., highly enriched uranium or plutonium) are not needed, although they could be used.

 

Sources for Radioactive Materials

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Radiation is potentially dangerous, and its potential as a weapon has been recognized and understood universally. For this reason, many people fear the possibility that terrorists or other non-state actors will try to use radiological material to build a crude bomb that may cause great devastation. However, it is as important to understand the myths associated with radiological weapons as what they are capable of producing—and for the most part, their most dangerous effects are simply public panic.

Conclusion

KEY TERMS

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EFFECTS AND TREATMENTS

ACCIDENTAL INCIDENTS

SPREADING FEAR

Radiation is something that is feared largely because it is not understood by many. While it can be dangerous in large amounts, it is also profusely useful in helping doctors diagnose medical problems, in cancer therapy, and as a source of energy—not to mention its applications in a wide array of consumer products that many people are not even aware are radioactive. In fact, every human being on Earth naturally receives radiation every day from sources like the sun.

The great difficulty a terrorist would face in obtaining a powerful or harmful amount of radiation, and the fact that the radiation from a dirty bomb would be spread out over an extremely large area after an explosion, make the risks involved with radiological weapons so low that it would not be a cause for any concern. The dose of radiation that a victim of a dirty bomb would be exposed to would probably be less than the typical dose each person receives every year from the sun and other sources.

City and state officials, on the other hand, have much more to fear from radiological weapons. The negative consequences that may result from panic would almost certainly do more harm than the deployment of the weapon itself. This panic could cause traffic accidents, dangerous rushes to evacuate, and stress and anxiety-related health problems for potentially millions of people. This particular risk illustrates the importance of knowing and understanding the capabilities and limitations of RDDs.

The Effects of Radiological Weapons Continued…

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EFFECTS AND TREATMENTS

ACCIDENTAL INCIDENTS

SPREADING FEAR

A few past radiation accidents illustrate what can occur after exposure to radiological material. In 1987 a man in Goiania, Brazil discovered a large amount of blue cesium-137 powder that had leaked from a discarded x-ray machine in a junkyard. He collected it and showed it to several people, who found it rather fascinating; one young girl even rubbed the powder all over her body. In the end, of the over two hundred people who had direct contact with the powder, four died and about thirty others suffered injuries caused by radiation exposure. Similar but less severe accidents occurred in Mexico in 1983, Turkey in 1998, and Egypt in 2000.

In these cases, contamination and injury were as severe as they were because the release of the radiation went unrecognized for so long. In many instances, the people involved brought the material into their homes. These were accidents, not intentional attacks, but they nonetheless involved circumstances that allowed radiation to accumulate over a longer period of time. In the case of a radiological attack, the release of radiation is not likely to go undetected for such a significant period of time.

The Effects of Radiological Weapons Continued…

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A radiological weapon, or radiological dispersion device (RDD), disperses radioactive material and is designed to kill or, more likely, cause disruption. A group or country attempting to create terror may seek out radioactive materials to combine with high explosives. The explosives would propel radioactive materials within a desired area. Designed for implementation in highly congested population centers damage and the explosive materials combined with radioactivity would cause disruption. Additionally, certain substances can be utilized to increase the radioactive fallout depending upon what is used and how it is deployed.

Men attempting to scrub contaminated ship during Operation Crossroads.

Soldiers testing mine-clearing rake during the Gulf War.

An RDD is designed to scatter radioactive debris over a wide area. The end result is to contaminate the area and possibly cause casualties through radiation sickness. In addition, military forces or others will be denied the use of the area for a period of time that may be very lengthy. The DOD states that RDD weapons carry a triple threat. The blast and fragmentation effects from the conventional explosive pose the first threat, and the radiation exposure from the radioactive material used a second. The psychological impact that would be produced from the fear and panic that the use of a RDD would spread among the target group or population would constitute a third.

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What Is a Radiological Weapon?

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