[nwctwx]

Dirty bombs are somewhat overhyped in the way chemical weapons are overhyped... a lot needs to happen to get an incredibly successful result. There are some radiological materials that could cause significant death like Cesium-137 which is water soluble and a powder. It’s found in some medical machines as well, so theft is a possibility. Dispersing it right is the main difficulty, but it has a half life of around 30 yrs, so it's an ugly one if you can somehow get it to cover a several block area in a big city. Most casualties would probably come from the bomb unless all other conditions were perfect, and in those cases I think an unknown (possibly large) number could die from contact depending on exactly what is used in the bomb.

[Godzilla]

Dirty bombs are somewhat overhyped in the way chemical weapons are overhyped.

Agree, MSM is doing a disservice in their hype. Also to consider is an adequate quantity of the radioactive material. The radio active source from a smoke detector is too small to do much of anything when spread far and wide in the aftermath of an explosion. A substantial quantity of used uranium rods OTOH would be something different.