Stunning Response "Dirty Bombs (Nuclear) have been stopped at our border" it appears

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[chimera]

Prophylactic use of KI is really indicated only in a very small, very unlikely set of circumstances (reactor accident with containment breach, nuclear weapons fallout, etc.). My fear is that because of the generalized paranoia associated with “nuclear” and “radiation”, people are going to overdo it. You're going to have panicked mothers popping KI pills into their kids at the slightest hint of trouble “just to be safe”. While allergic reactions to KI are rare (numbers range anywhere from 0.5 to 2.0 cases per million exposure), if you've got 10 or 20 million nervous people out there needlessly taking a dietary supplement like KI, the risks of using it probably outweigh any realistic benefits.

[Vermont Lt]

You are operating under the assumption that your enemy fears death.

Unfortunately this is not the case. They would simply say, “Bring it on. I want to be with Allah.”

Threats like that work us up a lot more than it scares them.

[Prince Caspian]

There should be an announced policy. The first time a dirty nuke goes off in America, a ‘clean’ nuke goes off in Mecca.

It's coming. We'll get there soon enough. Too soon, in fact. And not just an announcement. Don't rush it. For all things, there is a season.

[Aglooka]

Break the radioactive source into smaller quantities and ship those into the country.

[Scutter]

Yes, but that’s a passive detector. What if you have an “active” detector? IOW, one that scans an incoming vessel with neutrons and looks for the burst of gamma rays that come back from fissile material when hit with the neutrons.

[bvw]

You don't need 2 CF of U for an ignitable nuke. For example:

The "Davy Crockett" - a recoilless rifle round. It weighed about 51 pounds, was 16 inches long and 11 inches in diameter. It produced a variable yield of up to 1 kiloton.

-- http://www.tinyvital.com/Misc/nukes.htm

[That site also says some suspect that only 1kg of a plutonium may be needed.]

One cf of U is over 300 lbs.

And you can ignite a fusion nuke with a fission nuke. That's more than 1 KT explosive.

VMI70 -- tks for the crane lift info.

[bvw]

Tks.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Don’t worry about this guy....I’m sure he got a nice promotion to commanding an evidence unit somewhere.

[antceecee]

Agree!

[Nitehawk0325]

Correct. Dirty bombs are more of a psychological attack. It can kill scores of people but a nuclear bomb can take out, let’s say, the Eastern seaboard. Or at least the sewer called Washington DC and a couple of hundred miles around it.

[yup2394871293]

That’s right. Osama’s got a warehouse full of old First Alert smoke alarms and radium dial watches. It will only take one of these to increase Bob the longshoreman’s chances of dying of cancer 0.005%... and to give the SE Podunk Port Authority the most exciting afternoon in twenty years!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[dragnet2]

The first time a dirty nuke goes off in America, a ‘clean’ nuke goes off in Mecca.

Nope...

[wrench]

Back in late Nov or early Dec they thought one got by them. Every SeaBox going east on the interstates west of Atl was stopped and scanned for several days. Huge turnout of vehicle inspection teams and equipment. This was a Fed run operation, state folks just helped with traffic control.

[dragnet2]

Extremely interesting story, but it’s been posted about 40 times in the last 40 hours.

Yes, these things are so over done and depressing...

What's on TV??

[yup2394871293]

I’m somewhat skeptical of arguments for amnesty for low-wage illegals and think that some increased border security would be prudent even if were to end our nutty drug war tomorrow morning. But you’re taking too much American made homebrew meth if you think that “dirty bomb” hysteria is the magic pill that’s going to bring back all those high paying “chicken plucker” jobs. You’ll have better luck as a “solar shingle” salesman ...at least as long as the subsidies last.

[SaraJohnson]

The first time a dirty nuke goes off in America, a ‘clean’ nuke goes off in Mecca.

---

Obama will not engage in nuclear exchanges. I really think he wants us to “take a hit.” He said we would be able to “absorb” a nuke.

It would be ideal if we threatened to take out all Muslim holy sites if they hit the US with biological weapons or nuclear bombs. In addition we should say that every Muslim foreigner in the US will be expelled from the country and all immigration of Mulsims will halt. But fat chance with an African Muslim in the White Hut.

[LukeL]

A gamma knife machine will have about 6,000 curies of cobalt 60, there are also many other sources of radioactive material in every major hospital. Get enough of the waste and pack it into a bomb the size of the one at Oklahoma City and you could contaminate a huge area of a city.

While very few would die, the psychological impact would be huge

[Danae]

You are totally right. KI has limited use only in specific situations with specific contaminants. Dirty bombs are 1000 more effective in generating fear than they are in doing any real damage. It is a physical contaminant, in general the radiation absorbed into the body is going to be relatively minimal, and ends when the contaminant is washed away. It IS a pain in the ass to clean up, and a headache for creating hot warm and cold zones. Is it a threat, yes, but mostly one of a Psychological nature.

I fear Anthrax far more than this. Shoot, I fear a bio-terror attack within the food chain more. Radioactive material is not so easy to get. The are other more effective weapons of terror.

[BradyLS]

There should be an announced policy. The first time a dirty nuke goes off in America, a ‘clean’ nuke goes off in Mecca.

I've heard the 9/11 described as a "low-yield dirty-bomb" attack. That is, it had the same effect as a low-yield primitive nuclear device.