Article

2003-11-11 Home Front

AP: âLostâ Radioactive Matter Poses Risk

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve White 2003-11-11 12:22:06 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 This is a load of shineola. Most of the "sources" are measured in grams, and what? 32 grams make an ounce? Tiny amounts are missing, not the pounds that would be needed for a dirty bomb.

And, as I've said on my blog repeatedly, if you don't get blown up by a dirty bomb, take a shower and you'll be fine. It's a complete non threat.

Posted by Chuck Simmins 2003-11-11 8:22:58 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2003-11-11 8:22:58 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Not enough information here to make a really tight assessment. What's missing, in what quantity? What's the half-life? What's the normal use for this material?

One of the biggest problems (sorry, Steve, but true) is with hospitals, who are so committed to working to save lives, they think they won't be a target - of theft, of mischief in any form, or of actual explosions and other harmful activities. EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE, WHO ISN'T A WAHABI MUSLIM, IN LOCK-STEP WITH AL QAIDA, IS A TARGET. Read that again, three times. That DOES mean "you".

Security starts at the personal level. It requires the attention of each individual. There are no "unimportant" links in the chain (God, how many times was that beaten into my head in the military?). Laxness in security should result in an automatic pink slip. Instead, what we'll probably get is a load of bull, a few hand-slaps, and one day, in the not-too-distant future, another 9/11.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-11-11 11:14:14 AM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-11-11 11:14:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 I'm with Chuck on this one. Unless you actually get radioactive shrapnel in you or get blown up, it's basically a non-problem.

Posted by Kathy K 2003-11-11 1:58:38 PM|| [site-essential.com/] 2003-11-11 1:58:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 You can count on natural decay as much as you can count on gravity, Steve. Otherwise, we may as well sign Kyoto.

Posted by Ptah 2003-11-11 3:18:41 PM|| [HTTP://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2003-11-11 3:18:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Okay, boys, I'll rise to my own defense :-)

I do count on natural decay as a fundamental physical principle, but I'd prefer that our security people try to stop these thefts rather than hoping the stuff decays first.

OP: hospitals -- you are correct, and I shudder to think what security is at my hospital. And yes, we're all required to look after our own security.

Chuck: 28.5 gm (approximately) make an ounce. Yes, small amounts of beta-emitters aren't a problem. Gamma emitters are more of a problem, and there are ways to accumulate the stuff. Take what OP said -- just steal a small amount from a hundred hospitals, and all of a sudden you have a large amount.

Further, while taking a shower solves a fair percentage of radiation exposures, it WON'T solve the panic of the first couple of days after a radiological bomb is used. That's what the al-Q douche-bags are counting on, and that's why lax security has to be tightened up.

I suspect we're all in violent agreement :-)

Posted by Steve White 2003-11-11 3:55:39 PM|| 2003-11-11 3:55:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 I wouldn't take the threat of a dirty bomb lightly. I have seen comments that if you are not directly in the blast zone you have nothing to worry about. While this is true, unless terrorists managed to blow up pounds of radioactive material on an especially windy day, the pychological affect would be devasting. Imagine one going off in Downtown LA or Manhattan. The ecomomic impact could be greater than 9-11. Ther area would be percieved as off limits for years to come.

Posted by Dan 2003-11-11 4:17:11 PM|| 2003-11-11 4:17:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 I'm not worried about the blast or the radiation, I'm worried about the traffic.

Posted by Shipman 2003-11-11 7:05:08 PM|| 2003-11-11 7:05:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 There are a couple of thousand ways to cause immense harm to a large number of people. What worries me more than anything is that our security people will miss one, and A-Q won't.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-11-11 10:25:17 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-11-11 10:25:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Um, just to add here (and this is a rhetorical question so DON'T give me specifics please), assuming you manage to take say 1-5 ounces from each incident at the least, then you're talking anywhere from between 37 kilos to 185 kilos of radioactive material (as a conservative estimate) being missing. I'm not sure how much radioactive material a dirty bomb needs for causing more damage/radioactivity levels that would seal off more than a city block, but I suspect it would have to be much more than that. On the other hand...I don't like the idea of the stuff missing and possibly contanminating certain things such as water, it doesn't afterall take much plutonium to poison a large body of water.

Posted by Val 2003-11-11 11:03:58 PM|| 2003-11-11 11:03:58 PM|| Front Page Top

23:49 tipper.
23:33 Jarhead
23:32 mojo
23:30 Jarhead
23:23 Jarhead
23:19 Jarhead
23:05 Jarhead
23:05 Lone Ranger
23:03 Val
22:56 Jabba the Nutt
22:45 Lone Ranger
22:44 eLarson
22:37 Old Patriot
22:25 CrazyFool
22:25 Old Patriot
22:23 CrazyFool
22:18 Jabba the Nutt
22:15 Old Patriot
22:09 Old Patriot
22:07 The Commissar
22:06 Jarhead
22:02 snellenr
21:58 snellenr
21:46 Jarhead