[beckysueb]

"Imagine that the cesium in this device was exploded in Washington, DC in a bomb using ten pounds of TNT. The initial passing of the radioactive cloud would be relatively harmless, and no one would have to evacuate immediately. However, residents of an area of about five city blocks, if they remained, would have a one-in-a-thousand chance of getting cancer."

Really? I never knew this. Can you imagine the hysteria of the media, though? These facts would totally be lost in their hype.

[frankjr]

I am no radiological expert (or even amateur), but I did a little net surfing after 9/11 to learn about chem, bio, nuke (dirty bomb) attacks. Obviously if you are very close to the site of the attack you are probably out of luck. It seems like the key thing is not to be downwind (or quickly move upwind) in any of these type of attacks. However, I assume panic could set off a stampede where you would end up with gridlock anyway.

(disclaimer: this is just based on my brief reading of research. do not rely on any of it.)