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Ashcroft's Warning: Dirty Bomb

Posted on 10/30/2001 4:17:08 PM PST by DrCarl

Am I the only one who heard Sean Hannity, at about 5:40PM EST, stop while on the air and say: "So that's what Ashcroft's warning is. It's a dirty bomb."


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: dirtybomb
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Comment #281 Removed by Moderator

To: Vauss
Vauss,

Be sure to let the International Atomic Energy Agency know that you know much better than they do about these dirty bombs and that what they've said hhere is false:

"The bomb would contaminate with radioactivity the area in which it detonates. It could affect the ability of a population to live in the area until it is decontaminated."

I'm sure they will appreciate your tremendous contribution.

282 posted on 10/31/2001 3:17:16 AM PST by DrCarl
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To: DrCarl
Re:Dirty Bomd

This makes sense. The CT governor responded to the security advisory by beefing up the protection around CT's nuclear plants.

283 posted on 10/31/2001 3:57:06 AM PST by VRWC_minion
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To: HiTech RedNeck
OK, how much nuclear stuff was in Chernobyl???

I don't know off the top of my head, but it was tons.

284 posted on 10/31/2001 4:12:13 AM PST by 6ppc
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To: Dan Day
For example, there's no Strontium or Iodine in the bomb itself, and not much in the environment, but the nuclear blast transmutates other elements in and near the blast into highly radioactive Strontium-90 and Iodine-131 (among others).

Actually, Strontium-90 and Iodine-131 are fission products, i.e. result from the fissioning of U235/PU239 and subsequent decay of the resulting atoms (need to go back and re-read the Rhodes book...details are a little fuzzy in my brain). If I recall correctly, dust and debris picked up by the blast become radioactive through neutron activation as well as having particles of the actual core material stick to them.

285 posted on 10/31/2001 4:25:22 AM PST by 6ppc
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To: Stefan Stackhouse
Why now the World Series? As others have mentioned it is the great American pastime.
286 posted on 10/31/2001 4:32:02 AM PST by texlok
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To: texlok
Why not the World Series I meant to say.
287 posted on 10/31/2001 4:32:35 AM PST by texlok
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To: Dan Day
I know, it's just terrible though that there might have been indications that a certain city was targetted and people were allowed to die. I don't feel the government is doing much to protect it's citizens when it decides to leave the foreign enemy and it's support group here in the US where all of us are easy targets for them. We're worried about Afghan casualties and warnings are given to those civilians but it seems American children will have to die because the enemy allowed to stay in the US has no mercy.
288 posted on 10/31/2001 4:34:26 AM PST by FITZ
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To: not-an-ostrich
The indication is that it is targeted on the "Midwest."
289 posted on 10/31/2001 4:34:54 AM PST by Abn1508
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Comment #290 Removed by Moderator

To: Abn1508
And that might have been a mistranslation. If the word was "heart" then we're looking at one of the targets the _terrorists_ would recognize as the "heart" of the US.

I think Atlanta is safe.

291 posted on 10/31/2001 4:48:12 AM PST by Abn1508
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To: FITZ
>it seems American children will have to die because the enemy allowed to stay in the US has no mercy.

That's right. Get them out! Non-citizens have no right here. Citizens have rights here. In times of emergency like this, they should all be shipped out at least until the emergency has past. We will PC ourselves to death. Many Americans may die so that we can remain pathetically, ridiculously PC.

292 posted on 10/31/2001 4:50:20 AM PST by DrCarl
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To: Boss_Jim_Gettys
Unlike anthrax we can definitely say these kind of bombs are "weaponized."

Isn't it funny that ever since Bubba, we never seem to know what anything really means anymore. I suppose that unless something is "weaponized" then the terrorists aren't seriously trying to kill us.

Richard W.

293 posted on 10/31/2001 6:46:22 AM PST by arete
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To: gusopol3
do you know this for sure, or did you just sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night?

It is public record for anyone to check into. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still large cities with very healthy populations and no more birth defects than anywhere else. The areas close to Chernobyl have people who have returned to villages the government ordered evacuated permanently. These are mostly older people who just wanted to go home. People are afraid for them, but they are doing just fine according to my Mother in Law in Ukraine.

294 posted on 10/31/2001 7:18:47 AM PST by OK
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To: Lucas1
"Bin Laden must be laughing his ass off at how terrified this nation is."

But we aren't terrified. Concerned. Observant. Alert. We discuss rumors, possibilities, and events BUT we are NOT terrified.

295 posted on 10/31/2001 7:50:51 AM PST by chantal7
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To: 6ppc
For example, there's no Strontium or Iodine in the bomb itself, and not much in the environment, but the nuclear blast transmutates other elements in and near the blast into highly radioactive Strontium-90 and Iodine-131 (among others).
Actually, Strontium-90 and Iodine-131 are fission products, i.e. result from the fissioning of U235/PU239 and subsequent decay of the resulting atoms (need to go back and re-read the Rhodes book...details are a little fuzzy in my brain).

Correct. Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I was speaking of fission products when I wrote of "other elements in" the bomb as being transmuted into Strontium-90 and Iodine-131, as well as other elements near the bomb being made radioactive as well.

296 posted on 10/31/2001 9:17:39 AM PST by Dan Day
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Comment #297 Removed by Moderator

To: VRWC_minion
More on "dirty bombs".

Note: "Thousands could be exposed, causing both short- and long-term deaths and rendering areas uninhabitable for years."

Analysis: Bin Laden's 'nuclear threat'

Nuclear material can be used in "dirty bombs"

By BBC News Online's Natalie Malinarich Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network may have acquired nuclear materials, according to the Western intelligence sources quoted in the British media.

Although it is widely believed that al-Qaeda does not have the capability to build a conventional atomic bomb, experts fear that the radioactive material could be used in a so-called "dirty bomb" - a device to spread radioactive material. These so-called dirty weapons have never been used before.

Bin Laden does not have the technology to build a bomb

Radiation could be scattered from the top of a building, by detonating explosives wrapped with the radioactive material or by piloting an aircraft into a nuclear reactor.

Thousands could be exposed, causing both short- and long-term deaths and rendering areas uninhabitable for years.

Shopping for uranium

Bin Laden and his associates have long been accused of trying to acquire nuclear material.

Pakistan has an early nuclear programme and its highly enriched uranium would be very precious to it. It would not have enough to spare

John Large, nuclear consultant A close Bin Laden associate was charged by the US of trying to buy a cylinder of South African uranium in Sudan.

A letter alleged to have been written by Bin Laden and seized in London three years ago, called on Muslim nations to acquire nuclear weapons.

"We call for the Muslim brothers to imitate Pakistan as to the possession of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons," says the letter dated May 1998.

It is not known where Osama Bin Laden may have got his nuclear materials - if he has them - is not known, but fingers are pointing to ex-Soviet republics or Pakistan.

Pakistan says its nuclear materials are "in safe hands"

Pakistan has denied the accusations and insists that its nuclear assets are in safe hands.

John Large, an independent nuclear consultant, also says Pakistan is an unlikely source.

"Pakistan has an early nuclear programme and its highly-enriched uranium would be very precious to it. It would not have enough to spare, even if it wanted to," he says.

No nuclear competence

John Large thinks that Bin Laden probably does have enriched uranium bought in a former Soviet republic, possibly Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan.

"Unfortunately, he is in the right place at the right time. That area of the world is the worst place in terms of possible proliferation," he said.

A nuclear bomb is difficult to manufacture and requires a lot of industrial infrastructure, materials, machines and tools

John Large "With the break up of the Soviet Union there were many leaks, typically about 30 cases of smuggling of nuclear materials a year. It is like an open sieve. You get a superpower like the Soviet Union break up and of course its materials will come out."

The Washington-based Center for Defense Information (CDI) warns that there is still a long way to go to bring Russian nuclear security up to international standards.

However, experts insist that al-Qaeda does not have the technical competence to build a nuclear weapon.

"It is difficult to think of a sub-national group doing it without the help of a nuclear state," says John Large.

"A nuclear bomb is difficult to manufacture and requires a lot of industrial infrastructure, materials, machines and tools. It also takes a long time to develop the capability."

Israel, for example, took about 15 years to achieve nuclear status.

But not being able to build an atomic bomb does not mean that radioactive materials cannot be used to cause extensive damage, as many specialists have warned.

Dirty weapons

Weapons involving radioactive materials can take many forms.

A "dirty bomb" could leave areas uninhabitable for years

The most accessible for any terrorist is a radiological dispersion bomb, says the CDI.

This "dirty bomb" consists of waste by-products from nuclear reactors, wrapped in conventional explosives.

On detonation the dirty bomb would spew deadly radioactive materials into the environment.

According to some experts, it would be sufficient to explode an old X-ray machine containing cobalt 60 to produce radiation poisoning.

Another feared possibility is the spread of radioactive particles.

Elements such as caesium, cobalt, plutonium or uranium can be oxidised into respirable-sized particles and then dispersed in the environment.

The particles would settle as dust, and be very difficult to detect and clean up, leaving areas uninhabitable.

Thousands of people could suffer short- and long-term effects from the inhalation of radioactive material.

But experts say the ultimate dirty bomb is a nuclear power station which could serve as a target for a terrorist attack.

Crashing an aircraft into the cooling pool that holds the spent fuel, could have a devastating effect on the nearby population and environment.

Recognising the threat, the French military has stationed surface-to-air missiles at key nuclear processing sites in western France as a precaution against airborne suicide attacks and both the UK and US governments have said security measures are being reviewed.

298 posted on 10/31/2001 9:31:20 AM PST by DrCarl
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To: auggy
The bomb will be in the Heartland.

I heard on here earlier on here that stated the threat was targeted for somewhere in "the South". Someone on here yesterday mentioned GHWB Airport, which is in Houston. Geez...glad I got my blood pressure medicine yesterday...

299 posted on 10/31/2001 9:32:11 AM PST by ravingnutter
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To: Larousse2
"Potassium iodide is an antidote for radiation poisoning."
This only protects against the uptake of radio-active iodine.
"Please explain that."

Gladly. Nuclear bombs and reactors produce radioactive isotopes (split atoms). One of these isotopes is Iodine 131. If you take potassium iodide before or during exposure to I-131, it limits the damage to your thyroid, which accepts iodine from your system. Potassium iodide is NOT a cure-all.

300 posted on 10/31/2001 12:44:24 PM PST by dbbeebs
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