|
A radiological weapon is any weapon that is designed to spread radioactive contamination, either to kill, or to deny the use of an area (a modern version of salting the earth) and consists of an device (such as a nuclear or conventional explosive) which spreads
radioactive material. They have recently been called "dirty bombs", although
that term more correctly refers to a type of nuclear weapon.
Radiological weapons are widely considered to be militarily useless for a state-sponsored army and are not believed to have
been deployed by any military forces. Firstly, the use of such a weapon is of no use to an occupying force, as the target area
becomes uninhabitable. Furthermore, area-denial weapons are generally of limited use to an attacking army as it slows the rate of
advance so the need for a radioactive denial system is limited. Finally, like biological weapons, radiological weapons can take days to act on the opposing force. They therefore not
only fail in neutralizing the opposing force instantly, but they also allow time for massive retaliation.
Means of radiological warfare that do not rely on any
specific weapon, but rather on spreading radioactive contamination via a food
chain or water table, seem to be more effective in some ways, but to
share problems with chemical warfare.
Iraq under Saddam Hussein is
reported to have tested a radiological weapon in 1987 for use against Iran. This weapon was
found to be impractical because the radioactive isotopes in the weapon would decay
quickly, rendering it useless within a week after the weapon was manufactured. Furthermore, it was found that for the radioactive
material to spread, weather conditions had to be ideal. These problems are in general shared by all forms of air-borne
radiological warfare.
Useless as they may be to an ordinary military force, the weapons have been suggested as a possible terror weapon in order to
create panic in densely populated areas. They do not require weapons-grade materials, and common materials such as caesium-137, used in radiological medical equipment, could be used. In fact even very mild
sources would likely be enough to cause panic. Anything from dynamite to compressed
air could be used to create an aerosol of the material, or it could be dumped from
the air using crop dusters - the
latter use however being not a weapon so much as a means of warfare involving many different components.
There is currently (as of 2004) an ongoing debate about the damage that
terrorists using such a "dirty bomb" might inflict. Recently it has often been
stated that such a bomb would be unlikely to harm more that a few people and hence it would be no more deadly than a conventional
bomb. Hence, this line of argument goes, the objectively dominant effect would be the moral (and economical) damage due to the
massive fear and panic such an incident would spur. On the other hand, however, the fatalities and injuries might be in fact much
more severe. This point is e.g. made by physicists Paul Zimmerman et al. (King's College London) who reexamined the Goiâna accident which is arguably comparable. (Ref.: Nature
Science Update of 5 May 2004 )
See also: Weapon of mass
destruction, nuclear weapon, magnetic weapon, radioactive contamination
|