I have a tiny advantage over your students on the issue of ideal placement of a nuke. I get paid to pick the ideal way to do it. NATO and USSTRATCOM. The usual delivery vehicle isn't a jihadi in a C182 either :-)
I don't think so, either. But I was responding to somebody else's idea on the subject. Actually the nuke scenario is the one most abhorrent to contemplate so of course we're all obsessed with this one. But I think it's far more likely that a jihadist or such group (well funded like AQ) will get their hands on some chemical landmines or other form of munition. Maybe a binary artillery round. TONS of those sitting nearly unguarded in warehouses in the former USSR. A "cash starved" and "hardware rich" economic environment. A binary munition would present a problem in successful detonation and dispersal. They tried that in Iraq and it didn't work.
The chemical mines present the most difficult scenario, I believe. Made of nonferrous plastic, inert until detonated, nondescript......easy to setup and displace if needed. In fact most of these WARSAW pact weapons were designed with the intention of having less educated satellite forces use them, so they came with pictograms as instructions.
Want to strike a really soft target and strike true fear into the very heart of this country? It's not a new idea so I'm not giving anybody ideas, I'm sure. Strike in the CENTER of the country. Oklahoma City sound familiar? Set up a chemical minefield upwind of a county fair. Lot's of kiddie rides.....
Sick? Sure. But classic Sun Tzu. Know your enemy......Know yourself and you will be successful. We have to think like they do.