Dirty bomb
Most often, dirty bomb is a colloquial term used to describe a radiological weapon. It refers especially to a weapon which disperses radioactive material with conventional explosives. The term was put in focus on June 10, 2002, when U.S. officials announced they had a month earlier captured an alledged al-Qaida terrorist named José Padilla in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Padilla was charged with assisting in the construction of such a device. The purpose of such a device can be to taint victims at the time of a large-scale explosions, or to taint an area undetected, through which people will travel frequently, exposing them to above-average radiation over a prolonged period of time.
The term dirty bomb also refers to any nuclear weapon that generates a significant amount of radioactive waste in the form of nuclear fallout. Due to the inefficiency of early nuclear weapons, 2% or less of the nuclear material would be consumed during the explosion. Thus, they tended to disperse large amounts of unused fissile material. The term does not necessarily refer to a specific nuclear weapon design, but is typically used to contrast with newer, more efficient bombs. Some nuclear weapon designs feature the inclusion of a salting metal (most commonly cobalt) which will create large amounts of long-lasting fallout radiation when radiated by the weapon core.
The term "dirty bomb" has also been used in the press to describe improvised explosive devices which are designed to disperse a chemical weapon payload other than nuclear material, particularly when used in unconventional warfare.
See also
- area denial
- doomsday machine
- nuclear war
- nuclear weapon
- nuclear weapon design
- nuclear strategy
- nuclear terrorism
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