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"Dubov said that Zakhar had claimed that the portable bomb was one of several made by Soviet scientists during the early 1990s. “One of them disappeared during the mess of the early 1990s,” Dubov wrote in a report. “The person who holds this suitcase with a bomb wants to sell it and he (Zakhar) is empowered to act for him."

The smaller the nuke, the shorter the shelf life.

The less shielding that you have, the sooner that your electronics and conventional explosives deteriorate from the radiation.

The less fissionable material that you have, the faster you generally need your atomic trigger isotopes to emit neutrons. The faster you emit neutrons, the shorter your half-life. The shorter your half-life, the less time that you have before the nuke simply fizzles instead of booms.

This is simple physics. Moreover, heavy metals like uranium and plutonium are among the most brittle materials known to man, and the slightest bit of humidity turns them into uranium oxide or plutonium oxide (i.e. worthless rust).

So a "suitcase nuke" from the 1990's is likely little more than a rusted, shattered, fragmented collection of wiring and explosives today.

Even if a dirty bomb is detonated, it would create chaos and economic disaster.

Risk of radioactive "dirty bomb" growing
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99995061

"Since 1993, there have been 300 confirmed cases of illicit trafficking in radiological materials, 215 of them in the past five years. And the IAEA warns that the real level of smuggling may well be significantly larger, citing reports of a further 344 instances over the past 11 years which have not been confirmed by any of the 75 states that monitor illicit trafficking.

The only two known incidents that could be classed as radiological terrorism have occurred in Russia. In 1995 Chechen rebels buried a caesium-137 source in Izmailovsky Park in Moscow, and in 1998 a container of radioactive materials attached to a mine was found by a railway line near Argun in Chechnya."

Moreover, heavy metals like uranium and plutonium are among the most brittle materials known to man, and the slightest bit of humidity turns them into uranium oxide or plutonium oxide (i.e. worthless rust).

The uranium or plutonium is plated with metals to protect them from corrosion.

I believe that the "suitcase" nuke was just a term coined by our DOD or CIA to describe a small nuclear weapon that could be deployed easily to stop enemy troops as part of a scorched earth defense. The Russians would send a small detachment of men armed with this "mini-nuke" to use in a city or town to deprive enemy troops from supplies, water, and to inflict mass causalities.

Very effective in an overall scorched earth plan. The main purpose of such a device was never for "offensive" use by as a last resort against overwhelming odds. That purpose may have changed over time...planting them in strategic locations etc. etc. The technology did not allow for that however due to deterioration as mentioned...they don't last long.

That said...a weapon such as this..though nonfunctional..could be back-engineered by kerrorists for future use. Even an old, useless, and nonworking "suitcase" could be a blue print for upcoming or ongoing operations by Islamic kerrorists. The Russians did at one time test these I believe and the desired result was achieved. But, don't quote me on that...just some things I read in Janes, etc. etc.