Comments on: The Jayvee hard at work: ISIS and a dirty bomb

By: OM

OM — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:35:00 +0000

Folks out here used to guard the movement of product with armored vehicles with fully automatic weapons deployed (machine guns such as M2s, M240s). Ruthless if necessary, but also prudent.

By: OM

OM — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:27:03 +0000

Parker:

I have only 20+ years to working with remediation of Manhattan Project, Cold War, and more recent projects. Not doubting your experience, never claim to be a health physics technician (or radiation protection tech.) but have spent more than a few years in zones, in double anti-c clothing, and in respirators. I’ve learned a thing or two about cleanup after plutonium fires, spent fuel pool cleanup, soil contamination, groundwater contamination. Good to know you have background in the commercial side of the shop.

By: John Moore

John Moore — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:06:46 +0000

Yellowcake is very useful as a dirty bomb, because your exception is exactly what terrorists want: panic.

Imagine what it would cost to clean up a square mile of a major city enough that most users (office workers or residents) would return.

The actual danger is quite low, although one would not to make a habit of inhaling yellowcake. However, as is shown in the phobias that helped “environmentalists” block nuclear power, people are phobic about radiation – far more scared of it than other toxins at similar levels of risk. That phobia is all the terrorists need.

By: John C.

John C. — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:15:20 +0000

ByzantineGeneral, “…[I]t can be used to induce hysteria in the ill-informed.” That is the whole point, as far as ISIS is concerned. Whatever they find to use, no matter how weak the radiation may be, if it’s detectable the majority of the population is going to go higher-primate excrement. If people can oppose nuclear power because they are afraid the electricity will be radioactive (and people have), reason and reality will be of limited use. As for delivery systems, I saw a 2m R/C helicopter being used as a crop duster in Japan in 1998; it had a liquid capacity of about 5 liters. It’s a wonder no one’s tried this years ago.

By: Matthew M

Matthew M — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 17:00:08 +0000

Western intelligence is probably able to identify the location of the planning for this kind of attack down to the conference room in the building in the Islamic State’s “capital” that Obama keeps studiosly avoiding when he deigns to allow the assassination of some ISIS big shot nearby. When that many nasties are in one place, the message coming from the White House should be “Paging Curtis LeMay.”

By: ByzantineGeneral

ByzantineGeneral — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 16:22:27 +0000

All plausible dirty bombs use some kind of fission products from a nuclear reactor. All the naturally occurring fiercely radioactive nuclei decayed eons ago. There's enough uranium in granite to make the granite "better than coal" as a fuel, if it were feasible to extract the uranium. Uranium only still exists in nature because it's not particularly radioactive. Yellowcake, concentrated uranium ore, is worthless in a dirty bomb except for one thing: it can be used to induce hysteria in the ill-informed.

By: Sergey

Sergey — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 13:56:25 +0000

I remember discussions about this type of terrorist attack at least 30 years ago. Before invasion in Iraq, many strategy analysts were seriously concerned if Saddam could use such weapons.

By: Miriam Mendelson

Miriam Mendelson — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 13:34:16 +0000

Game plan?

Crush them in-situ before they strike here.

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:12:58 +0000

Hell, we were panicked about our own “dirty” bombs not so long ago. Remember “fall out” from nuclear tests? Strontium 90 had the same chemical properties as calcium and it was going to go into fodder, thence into cows, thence to our children’s milk.
There would be nothing living east of the Mississippi but two-headed cockroaches six feet long.
Then there were the survivors of an actual nuclear attack–whom Churchill thought might envy the dead–who would be concerned about even more fallout.
Post war mutations were part of high and low sci-fi, Canticle for Leibowitz and Star Man’s Son coming to mind.
Back in the day, in high school chemistry ca 1960, the teacher showed us how to make kitchen table radiation detectors. Sheets of foil and…something something in a jar. Needed a wire and a battery….
Plenty of panic to go around. Certainly affect property values.
Resilience is a good thing, but not needing to be resilient–let the other guy worry about that–is a better thing.

By: parker

parker — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 06:30:15 +0000

OM,

I am retired as a 30+ year rad tech foreman at nuclear power plants in IA and IL. I think I have a good grasp on the materials that would be used in a dirty bomb and the ease at which those materials could be obtained. There is no cure for ruthlessness except more ruthlssness.