Posted on 06/08/2015 11:23:34 AM PDT by McGruff
Israel built and exploded so-called "dirty bombs," explosives laced with nuclear material, to examine how such explosions would affect the country if it were to be attacked by the crude radioactive weapons, the Haaretz daily newspaper reported Monday.
Israeli defense officials and scientists refused to comment on the report when reached by The Associated Press. However, Israel has what is widely considered to be an extensive nuclear weapons program that it has never declared.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.660067
You do not need to have radioactive materials to test this.
Ping.
For instance you could use chemicals that are detectable in UV. But, it is possible to use harmless radioactive materials to get good measurements.
excellent!!!
Israel isn’t a terror state. Is this being reported as an “oh noes”? Or to back up Iranian nuclear development?
It doesn’t say what the radioactive source was. Do you have more information?
To a lot of leftists, Israel is somewhere in-between Apartheid South Africa, and the Third Reich. They’d disagree with you.
They’re retarded.
Well put!
However, it’s scary that they’re trying to use the same divestment strategy used against South Africa with Israel.
We should be so lucky as to have terrorists try this stuff rather than something dangerous like high explosives.
Yes. To those nazis (Satan’s legions), basic human decency, morality, and ethics are their “enemies”. They hate Christians and Jews . So, it’s helpful that they are made to realize Israel could, if necessary, reach and destroy them by any number of means. This simple reality may be just about the only thing keeping them in check from doing any more damage.
Once again, the AP shows it cannot perform proper
information research, for any story on something
greater than what comprises a tasty beefsteak
tomato.
A dirty bomb, first referenced ny Ian Fleming, in his
1950’s novel, “Goldfinger”, is a standard explosive
device inside a radioactive metal casing, dispersing
pulverized and fragmentary radioactive debris in the
detonation, contaminating and poisoning all matter
and life within the area, making it uninhabitable for
a time between months and years, and the effected
human lives inherit radiological poisoning to severe
radiological contact burns to cancerous growths,
along with injuries from the explosion, itself.
Since the detonation is wrought from standard
explosives, it is the availability of the radioactive
metal, machined to the desired shape of the casing
which is the bugger.
Point: If McVeigh’s truck were of this stuff, that
downtown area would still be a ghost town today.
You are referring to a novel, and not a text book. It is understandable as the conventional bomb itself is more dangerous than the dirty stuff that is added. Please note that a dirty bomb is dirty due to the radioactive material in it. This material is not a nuclear device, it just contaminates the area with the radioactive materials. This contamination will last a only short time, depending on the material, the amount and the particle size.
The danger is due to its psychological effect nothing else.
You say this contamination will last a only short time. However it is my understanding that some suitable elements for a “dirty bomb” have a half life of a number of years, not a “short time.”
That is true, and it depends how fast it is washed away by rain and this depends on the chemical form, pH and size of the particles etc.
According to the Haaretz article, it was Technetium-99m, commonly used as a radioactive tracer in medical testing. It has a half-life of six hours.
Thanks, so it was more or less harmless.
Quite correct and shielding necessary to conceal and safely transport such a device would make it prohibitively heavy and large.
Much better bang for your buck with conventional explosives. Don't get me wrong it will make a big mess but that is about it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.