Sometimes I REALLY wonder about the people I work with… sigh…
Anyhoo, what got the soapbox back out is the, to me, unbelievable fact that many people do not know what a dirty bomb is!
For starters, it is NOT a suitcase nuke (nutcase maybe, but NOT suitcase)!
Technically they are called radiological dispersal devices (RDDs), and they are a ‘terror’ weapon only as long as people mis-interpret what they really are.
The RDDs are designed to panic a city, not destroy it. Imagine somewhere like LA or Chicago or NYC, if you panic people like the last event did, everything shuts down, police, fire and emergency go to max flap mode and all other services pretty much go in the toilet. All three of those cities have a pretty large criminal population, so looting, and worse would also occur adding to the problems.
Note: MSM has NOT been real good about true definitions, as that would decrease their if it bleeds it leads mentality and ratings.
In truth, an RDD is nothing more that a standard explosive (e.g. bomb) with commonly available radioactive materials (e.g. radioisotopes from medical facilities, and what ever else can be stolen). Not to say it can’t contain serious radioactive material, but that stuff is pretty closely watched.
If an RDD does explode, you will not see the ‘standard’ mushroom cloud, you will not see hundreds/thousands die immediately from the blast and heat wave (remember, standard explosives). The ‘dirty’ isotopes will only be spread as far as the immediate blast debris radius, and some very limited ‘fallout’ of the ‘dirty’ isotopes will occur downwind of the blast site (called the hot zone). Deaths will be limited to the immediate blast zone only, with some chance of XX years downstream some lung cancer from breathing the isotopes from the hot zone. These deaths will be in the 10’s-100’s if people remain calm.
The important thing to remember is DO NOT PANIC- the average uneducated Joe/Jill is going to jump in their car and try to beat feet out of the area in a max panic, inducing gridlock, who knows how many fatalities, etc.
You best bet is to remain in your home/office under cover until the incident is over and the winds have blown the ‘dirty’ isotopes clear of your area (always helps to know which way the wind blows from your office and home).
Read and learn! The more educated you are about the threats, the more reasoned your and your families responses will be and the better chance of surviving without any injuries…
For more info- National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events CREATE ; Domestic Nuclear Detection Office DNDO
Kicking soapbox back in the corner… Now back to the regular BS…
sigh…
It is the idiots who do not want to learn about this because they are busy watching American Idol or some wasteful thing that will cause the fatalities.
When this happens the media will cause more death and damage than the bomb will by scaring the hell out of uniformed people.
ADM- Agreed! That way they get the ratings…sigh…
I’m always downwind of something and it is never good.
Seriously, I knew the minimum damage part, I’ve heard it in the past. I also know that it is not a “suitcase” bomb.
I did not know the other stuff, though. Thanks.
I’ve always wondered just what the difference was between a dirty bomb and a ‘clean?’ bomb! An ‘atomic’ device is going to raise hell with a large area, blast and fallout and I don’t see anyway that can be considered ‘good’ as compared with a dirty bomb. I also did not know the difference. I always figured the dirty one was somehow ‘loaded’ with super nasty stuff whereas the other one just vaporized you and environs for centuries! How dumb am I? Guess I don’t have to worry about one unless someone comes to downtown BI.
RT- I find that interesting that they have not ‘educated’ you educators on it…
Ev- I know what you are thinking of, and it’s not ‘dirty’ per se, but the damage quotient is MUCH higher…
Dude, they don’t even keep kids who have been arrested for stabbing other kids out of school.
They don’t prepare us for squat. We are required by the state to have various drills, which we do, but please. If there was a real “situation” it would be like herding cats (to steal a line from you).
RT- I’m relly sorry to hear that… Given that I grew up in the 50s and 60s in Tornado Alley, our teachers ‘knew’ not only those drills, but all the Civil Defense drills, and we practiced them.
Thanks NFO. I always accepted what others conveyed as the definition of dirty bomb and never thought to question if it was true or not.
I was wrong- they were wrong. Now I know better.
No biggie Snigs- Lots of people are “uninformed” as they say…
Since I happen to know, and have access to the truth, thought I’d flop it out there for people to get access to it 🙂
Thats a good post NFO. A dirty bomb is a just another bomb with any radioactive material the assclowns can get their hands on added in for good measure. It’s aim is really to disrupt rather than kill. Which is a pretty good reason to do whatever it takes to prevent them from getting any to begin with.
The funny thing is that they issued us radiation detectors to wear around our necks in case of such an event. We just laugh because it’s a given that such a devise would most likely be targeted in our area to do the most possible economic / infrastructure damage as possible. Hence the detectors would probably be going off while we are still at the kitchen table. Doh!
CA- Too true! I remember we carried the old CD geiger counters on our rigs because we had ‘major’ rail lines running through our response area. One time we went out on a response drill, drug the counters out and ran them near the rails; turns out the area was hot! Found out there had been a train wreck back in the 60’s, apparently with isotopes involved… Scared the sh*t out of us though…LOL