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.
A covert but exposed _intact_ cesium source would be much more dangerous than a powered version of the same cesium spread over a large area.
> Point: If McVeigh’s truck were of this stuff, that
> downtown area would still be a ghost town today.
I’m not too sure about that.
Look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both recovered within a few years.
In fact, if you want to see a stark contrast, look at today’s Nagasaki compared with right after the fissile bombing in 1945.
Better yet, look at today’s Nagasaki compared with today’s Detroit.