Terrorists 'Could Make Atom Bomb By Raiding Hospitals'

TERRORISTS seeking radioactive material for use in a “dirty” atomic bomb could steal it from hospitals, which lack the security to prevent such a theft, the world’s nuclear watchdog said yesterday.
Isotopes that could be packed with explosives in a crude but deadly nuclear device are commonly used in cancer treatment, yet are rarely protected by adequate security, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Standards in many parts of the world are so poor that such radioactive sources are effectively “orphaned” of any regulatory control, and would be simple to steal. Many are currently unaccounted for, and may already have fallen into the hands of terrorists, the agency said.

Tens of thousands of radiation sources are used around the world in radiotherapy, with many more found in other medical, industrial and food irradiation devices.

Abel Gonzalez, the agency’s director of radiation and waste safety, said the lack of security surrounding them was almost an invitation to terrorists, particularly those who, like the September 11 attackers, would not be deterred by the great personal danger they would face by handling such material.

“Security of radioactive materials has traditionally been relatively light,” he said. “There are few security precautions on radiotherapy equipment and a large source could be removed quite easily, especially if those involved have no regard for their own health.

“Moreover, in many countries, the regulatory oversight of radiation sources is weak.

“We are dealing with a totally new equation since September 11. The deadliness of handling intensely radioactive material can no longer be seen as an effective deterrent.”

The potential effects of a dirty bomb, the agency said, are shown by an incident in Goiânia in Brazil in 1987, when a highly radioactive caesium-137 source was stolen from an abandoned radiological clinic by scrap-metal thieves. The 20-gramme capsule was cut into pieces, and the thieves handed sections to friends and family members to sell on. As a result, 14 people, four of whom died, suffered radiation burns and another 249 were contaminated. More than 110,000 people had to be monitored for exposure over the following months.

A dirty bomb detonated in a major city might be expected to have similar effects. The death toll might not be high, but the impact on the city would be great.

Western intelligence sources said that such an attack was possible but unlikely. “Of course this is something that terror groups could do, but the worry is that we are being unnecessarily alarmist about al-Qaeda’s likely tactics,” one source said.

“The morbid fear is that even with a minuscule amount of radoactive material packed into a conventional bomb, it would cause mayhem with people for miles around afraid of being contaminated.”

Osama bin Laden may have access to such material in Afghanistan, he added. “There are hospitals in Kabul which had cancer and x-ray equipment that was provided by the Red Cross and other international organisations so it is on his own doorstep.”

In Britain, security of medical radioactive sources is governed by the Radioactive Substances Act, which requires hospitals to keep a precise account of where its materials are. Access is tightly controlled, and all materials are shielded and inspected by the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive.

“Every hospital must account for every source in its possession, and waste material must also be disposed of properly,” Michael Clark of the National Radiological Protection Board said.

Most radiotherapy devices in Britain rely on isotopes such as iridium-192 and iodine-131. These would cause serious contamination if used in a dirty bomb, but would be unlikely to cause large numbers of deaths. Some hospitals keep several hundred grammes of such material.

The IAEA, which is holding a symposium of experts on nuclear terrorism this week at its headquarters in Vienna, also gave warning of the dangers of an attack on a nuclear power station.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the agency’s director-general, said: “After September 11, we realised that nuclear facilities — like dams, refineries, chemical production facilities or skyscrapers — have their vulnerabilities. There is no sanctuary any more, no safety zone.

“We are not just dealing with the possibility of governments diverting nuclear materials into clandestine weapons programmes. Now we have been alerted to the potential of terrorists targeting nuclear facilities or using radioactive sources to incite panic, contaminate property and even cause injury or death among civilian populations.”

Our friendly neighborhood "nuclear watchdogs" are apparently drunk and hooked on crack. First the need to understand the different between an "atomic" bomb and a "radiological" bomb. What they're talking about is that later: a normal bomb packed in radioactive material that will get atomized and spread. Not nearly as dangerous as an atomic bomb (the explosive force is the same as a regular bomb, because it is; and the radiation doesn't spread as far because it doesn't get that added oomph), but definitely nastier than a purely conventional bomb, though also much more dangerous to work with, I don't think most terrorists want to go by radiation sickness.

Second, these guys need to get their head around just how much radioactive material is actually present in hospitals. The answer is: not that much, and it's not that easy to get to; most of it is INSIDE rather heavy equipment, the rest is behind big thick doors in the cancer ward. A much better way to get lots of radioactive material is to rent a lot of appartments that were built in the 70's and early '80's. Most older model smoke detectors have a very small amount of radioactive material in them (look on the inside next time you check you battery, there's probably a little warning label on a small metal box). You could take those out and most folks would never notice, and since you rented the place you even have time and privacy.

Finally, you really need to get off this deportation kick. The bad guys are such a miniscule percentage of the immigrant/ visa/ illegal population it's just stupid to punish the others for it. Obviously we need to enforce the laws, get rid of those who are here illegally. But this deport them all kick has just got to end. You make all of us look like paranoid racist morons.

I wouldn't worry too much about plutonium dust either from a nuclear blast or from a radiological bomb. Plutonium of just the right particle size to be inhaled is difficult to make, and without special blowers Batelle Northwest laboratory researchers found they couldn't cause cancer in rats because the plutonium plated out on the cage surfaces because of its high density. Plutonium also doesn't react chemically with too many substances, so it is not likely to find its way through the food chain. Injested, Plutonium is about as deadly as caffeine, since it doesn't pass across the gastrointestinal tract very well.

Just as in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the number of deaths from blast and fire from a small nuclear weapon device will vastly outweigh the excess cancer deaths from radiation poisoning over the next 30 years.

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