Tiny Nukes-- the backpack threat

various websites | 09-14-01 | backhoe

[AppyPappy]

These "backpack" nukes are very heavy and larger than you think. If I remember correctly, they are more like mines. And the mechanisms have to be maintained on a regular schedule.

[VeritatisSplendor]

It doesn't have to be in a backpack. It could be as large as a washing machine and be transported in any old ship into New York harbor. Smuggling it into an interior city would be somewhat more difficult.

[backhoe]

Yes, they are more a demolition device- what I'm familiar with is about 2 feet square, 3 feet long, and takes a strong man to handle... and 2 to trigger. And yes, they need regular maintenence to be reliable.

There was a lot of talk about this in my pre-web days, on talk radio-- I was curious as to what, if any, new news there was on the subject.

[ProudFossil]

I would like to suggest a different danger. Instead of having to smuggle large, heavy, clunky devices around, what of the possibility of a quart of Anthrax being placed in a water system, or smallpox germs being dumped into an air conditioning system, or any of a thousand biological and chemical compounds which would act just as quickly and much more deadly. How would you feel if you did not know if the water coming from your kitchen faucet was poison or if that cool (or heated at this time of year) air blowing over your desk was going to drop you in your tracks? The dangers in this war are much, much more insidious than bombs or suicide missions.

[AppyPappy]

That's what people don't realize. You can put a warhead in a Ryder truck and do the same thing. Only they leak after a while. My understanding is they are easy to find with detectors.

[AppyPappy]

What percentage of Americans are vaccinated for smallpox?

You know what I think? I think we know who there people are but we haven't busted them for fear of being called "anti-Arab".

[Old Ivan]

One non-explodable plutonium warhead. One sack of ammonium nitrate. Grind finely. One spark. A lot of smoke. And most of NY will be uninhabitable for the next 30000 years. Note: no nuking, just chemistry...

[boris]

"I would like to suggest a different danger. Instead of having to smuggle large, heavy, clunky devices around, what of the possibility of a quart of Anthrax being placed in a water system, or smallpox germs being dumped into an air conditioning system"

That's what I thought was going to be "first". The danger from smuggled nukes certainly is real. And didn't Lunev mention some buried radio-controlled nukes placed in the U.S. at strategic locations by our good friends in Russia?

--Boris

[aristeides]

Hey, how come that thread about the Washington Metro being evacuated was deleted? I just heard on WTOP news radio that a suspicious package was found outside a Metro station near the White House, and that Metro exits near the White House have been shut.

[arielb]

they could've taken a hi-jacked plane and rammed it into a nuclear plant

[JimRed]

"A suitcase nuke attached to a drum of anthrax or botulism would be a hellish terror weapon,..."

The heat from the detonation would destroy the bio agent.

[Arleigh]

What percentage of Americans are vaccinated for smallpox?

Except for a few researchers, NONE. The vaccinations we got as children in the 50's have worn out.

Smallpox is highly contagious, but does not live long outside the warmth and moisture of the human body. Therefore, the ideal "delivery device" is a martyr. Infect a person, put him/her in a crowded place and you've just started an epidemic.

[backhoe]

FYI-- pass this on!

---

Couple of Good Nuclear War Survival Primers...

Couple Good Nuclear War Survival Primers...

You Will Survive Doomsday (Eye-Opening Myth Buster!)

11 Steps to Nuclear War Survival (From Canadian version of FEMA)

Nuclear War Survival Skills (280 pg 'how-to' book on-line!)

Trans-Pacific Fallout (Don't be caught off-guard by these ill winds!)

Nuclear War Unthinkable? (Russian & Chinese Preps!)

...and...

Bruce Beach's Nuclear Survival Ark II Site

This last was recently updated and also includes FEMA Nuclear Weapon Target Maps by state along with survival info and groups specific for each! Enjoy!

Shane Connor, author of...
Potassium Iodide Anti-Radiation Pill FAQ

[Tree of Liberty]

A large portion are not. Smallpox vaccines ceased being given as a matter of course in 1977. That was the year I was born, so I'll be going in to the doc's to get a Dryvox (the trademark name of the vaccine) injection this week. It'll be pretty hard going after a possible smallpox attack, too, since there is very little Dryvox in reserves.

[backhoe]

---more---

To all Physicists and Military Men.... What Types of Nukes Are at Our Disposal?

FAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS FAQ

Nuclear weapons facts

Taking the Pulse: Nuclear Warheads

[backhoe]

---more info, re: blast & thermal effect---

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To: Yaelle

And how much damage (radius in miles) could a suitcase nuke deliver?

Max yield of a "suitcase nuke" is about 1 kiloton That's 1/15th the yield of the (relatively small) a-bomb we dropped on Hiroshima.

The smallest US nukes ever made had yields on the order of 0.02 kilotons:

That's about 5 times the power of the OKC bomb, so you could pretty much wipe out any single building or close-spaced cluster of buildings, but you couldn't wipe out all of DC with it. Total damage wouldn't be any greater than that already achieved in lower Manhattan right now.

Something up into the 1 kiloton range would destroy a few city blocks and wreak havoc a lot farther, but still wouldn't wipe out the whole city. You could probably set one on the steps of the Capitol and the White House would be somewhat worse for wear, but easily still standing

It would cause third-degree burns from the direct thermal effects out to about .40 miles, cause a 5psi overpressure out to about .43 miles, and give a 500 rem radiation dose out to about .84 miles. Each of those amounts (third-degree burns / 5psi / 500 rem) represent the "you're screwed" threshhold, basically. So beyond about 1 mile for a 1kt blast, things start looking up considerably.

The "little" nukes are less powerful than most people assume.

15 Posted on 09/28/2001 00:53:15 PDT by Dan Day

[backhoe]

--adding cross-link---

Report: 100 Terrorist Groups have 'The Bomb'!

[backhoe]

---more---

Do "backpack" nuclear weapons exist?