[Westbrook]

> Are dirty bombs perhaps a dry run for the real McCoy?

Because the fissile material in the “real McCoy” needs to be replenished at certain intervals, and because that requires skill and techology beyond the reach of terrorists, even a “real McCoy” becomes just a dirty bomb after a period of time.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nasty weapon all the same, but with about four to six orders of magnitide less blast and heat than a freshly fueled nuke.

That’s why Amahdi-jihad in Iran is working so hard to set up his own nuke technology.

[Raven6]

Yes, the material itself and the tritium triggers do require replacement - tritium more often than fissle material... But their are plenty of former Soviet scientists out there with the skillset to do so for the amount of money that the terrorists are willing to pay. Think about it... You go from being a fairly well fed skilled technician/laborer to an unemployed hungry person and someone says "We will pay you $25,000 American if you will do this for us no questions asked." Not only "not impossible", but instead, "very possible."

Raven6