“Dirty Bombs” Vs Nuclear Weapons
Por Adolph EID
Mestre em proteção contra eventos CBRNea
“I have recently read several articles talking about “Dirty Bombs” or Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDD), and I have noticed that authors (especially journalists) are confused between “Dirty Bombs”/RDD and nuclear weapons.
The so-called “Dirty bombs” usually contain radioactive materials such as cesium, iridium, cobalt, and many other radioisotopes. It is also possible to use fissionable materials in an RDD such as uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) however, this will not create any nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fission even if fissionable materials are involved due to several reasons.
These radioactive materials could be taken/stolen from several places, including civil nuclear reactors, such as Nuclear Power Plants (NPP), research reactors, or nuclear weapons sites, as they may also be taken/stolen from medical and industrial gauges/devices that contain radioactive sources, and then attached to conventional explosives in order to detonate the explosives and disseminate the radioactive materials in a dedicated area. This means that “Dirty Bombs”/RDD cannot create/generate a nuclear chain reaction, like when a nuclear warhead or a nuclear bomb is detonated.”
Para ler o artigo completo, consulte a revista BioHazMag 2023
