Argh, I had it in my head that the stuff that the KGB used to kill that guy in the UK a few years back was the same thing as is used in smoke detectors. Very wrong, bad brain. Thanks, corrected my post.
3 Likes
Given that some of the more likely substances to be used in a radiological bomb already come in powdered form, incredibly easy. Even if that weren’t the case, milling something down to a powder is still many times easier than trying to make an effective EMP bomb.
And for those who haven’t:
The shiny, blue crystals brought pain and death: The strange and heart-wrenching story of how a town in Brazil ended up contaminated with radioactive cesium chloride.
And while we’re at it, there’s always this savory classic:
The Radioactive Boy Scout: When a teenager attempts to build a breeder reactor
I see what you’re saying, although being turned into glass also has deleterious effects on the infrastructure. Being in Mad Max would suck. But the reason I’m not nearly as worried about them is that they require an evildoer to have impossible motives. If MAD ever fails, it’ll be because somebody was genuinely trying to wipe us off the map, not because they wanted to cause widespread but in many cases survivable hardship.
Now, the little ones might be quite fucking annoying or even indirectly deadly if you set one off in Times Square, or the basement of a hospital, and so forth. Again, I’m not saying you’re wrong to be freaked out by them. But you’re not wrong to be freaked out by a $500 bomb, either, which could also be assembled from readily available stuff by non-experts to bring a hospital down in a different way.
2 Likes
Seriously? You think the KGB would use Americium? Capitalist chemistry?
Polonium, obviously, because everything is the fault of the Poles.
2 Likes
5 Likes
Omitted irony tag again.
I find myself apologising to our local Poles over the moronic vote to leave the EU.
This headline shouldn’t be any great surprise; it seems that if things like the Goiânia accident can happen, then there may exist implications for this Congressionally-postulated improvised dirty bomb. If you believe that the perpetrator has more imagination, there may exist nearly as nasty things to disperse without going for radioactive contaminants per se. I agree with someone else who pointed out the bomb’s likely purpose is short term area denial, economic damage, and intimidation of the public and not achieving outright destruction or carnage per se. Apparently the IDF built and tested some, concluding they’re mostly psychological weapons.
I don’t believe that any nation-state really wants to live in a world where such things happen, perhaps that’s some part of why it hasn’t been at play.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
