"Dirty Nuke" Terror Devices

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that a "dirty nuke", a radiological dispersion device (RDD), is a combination of conventional explosives and radioactive material designed to scatter dangerous and sub-lethal amounts of radioactive material over a general area. The author points out that the consensus among experts is that that terrorists are more likely to use a "dirty nuke" rather than a conventional nuclear bomb because materials for this device are more accessible and it does not require as high a degree of technological knowledge to create as does a conventional nuclear bomb. The paper relates that, while not as destructive, a "dirty nuke" can create terror and destruction on a large scale.

From the Paper:

"As experts point out, there is a great fear in the public perception of radiation and if a "dirty nuke" is detonated in a city the danger of contamination would mean that the inhabitants would firstly have to be immediately evacuated. This leads to another important reason why the terrorists would use this type of bomb; namely, that large-scale evacuations are extremely costly. However, the greatest damage would be the psychological rather than the radioactive fallout."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Are You Ready? [essay on-line]; available from http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030207-10.html; Internet: accessed 11 June 2007.
• Experts warn of substantial risk of WMD attack.New survey predicts 70 percent chance of attack in next decade [essay on-line]; available from http://research.lifeboat.com/lugar.htm; Internet: accessed 11 June 2007.
• Barnaby, Frank. "A Terrorist Weapon Waiting to Be Made: At the Very Least You Get Mayhem, at Most Armageddon." New Statesman, 29 September 2003, [Database on-line]; Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/; Internet: accessed 10 June 2007.
• Keller, Bill, "Nuclear Nightmares," New York Times Magazine, 26 May 2002.
• Kristof, N. "A Nuclear 9/11". The New York Times. 10 July 2007.

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