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Ok, I'll add my 2 cents to this tread. Once upon a time, I use to design and license nuclear power plants. I have done the calculations that determine the number of people killed or injured following an unbelievable theoretical nuclear accident. In Graduate School while getting my Masters Degree in Nuclear Engineering, I also had the opportunity to witness the decontamination of a laboratory that was accidently contaminated by some nuclear material when some equipment broke. At that time we all looked up the LD 50-30's on various radionuclides. (Sorry, that is Leathal Dose for 50% of the exposed population within 30 days of exposure)

The type of bomb these folks are talking about is what that uses convensional explosives to spread radioactive material over a large area. In my opinion the impact would be mostly monetary. It would be very expensive to clean up after. Based on what I know, I doubt that anyone would be killed by the radiation. Anyone exposed could be easily decontaminated quickly and with the extensive use of radiation treatment in cancer, we have come a long way in taking care of people who have had significant exposure to radiation. The biggest problem would be associated with people ingesting food contaminated with radioactive material, but I think we are smart enough to keep that to a minimum.

Nuclear bombs are a lot less radioactive fallout killers, than generally thought, it there are other sources of clean food and water and there are decontaminated places one can go to. In a nuclear war, those options don't usually exist. With a small bomb spreading radioactive material they do exist.

Now as to the decontamination of the laboratory. We had to package up just about everything and throw it away. It was not cost effective to try to clean it. It was packaged and then shipped off to a nuclear reservation where it was burried with other low-level nuclear waste. That, getting rid of just about everything and having to deal with huge volumes of radioactive wastewater used for decontamination of buildings and streets, would cost a bundle and be the chief difficulty.

Such a bomb would be a lot like the anthrax scare we now have. Huge cost and disruptive impact, but very few if any deaths. Lots of people contaminated and treated by the medical system, but again few deaths.

The nice thing about such a dirty bomb, would be that if one had a radiation detection device, at major ports of entry, it would be difficult to sneak into the US.

So to the FBI monitoring this, get some gamma and neutron monitoring devices at major points of entry and a few extra for use in roving stops of big trucks, vans, etc. Also mobilize some of the Army and National Guard folks who are trained in Decontamination. Better yet, talk to some of the folks in the national labs, Oak Ridge, Hanford, etc.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Sadly, since I think the goal of all this nonsense is to bring capitalism to its knees and have it degenerate into mass hysteria, a "dirty nuke" in the right place would go a long way towards achieving that end.

"The nice thing about such a dirty bomb, would be that if one had a radiation detection device, at major ports of entry, it would be difficult to sneak into the US.

If they have got one, you can be sure it got into the US BEFORE 9/11. The guys running this show are not dumb. The guys who fly planes into buildings are, the guys who a waiting for the 70 virgins ARE dumb.