Italian Guy
Milforum Hitman
Hi y'all. Can anyone explain me the difference between a regular nuclear bomb and a so-called dirty nuke? Or direct me to a link or something.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Dirty Bomb
A dirty bomb is a bomb made of conventional explosives, like TNT, with the addition of radioactive isotopes, designed to spread over a wide area. Dirty bombs are less devastating than nuclear devices, but easier to create.
Dirty Bombs
A "dirty bomb" is a conventional explosive, such as dynamite, salted with radioactive waste that scatters when the bomb goes off. It is not a nuclear bomb. The bomb can kill or injure through the initial blast of the conventional explosive and possibly through the dispersal of the radioactive materials-- hence the term "dirty." Such bombs could be small devices or as big as a truck bomb. There are four categories of radioactive waste ranging from very low-level waste that can be safely disposed of with ordinary refuse, to high-level waste such as spent nuclear fuel. Substantial amounts of radioactive waste are generated through civilian and military applications of radionuclides in medical facilities, food irradiation plants, chemical and manufacturing plants, etc. Some types of radioactive waste would be easier to obtain than others in order to make a "dirty bomb". Which brings us to Potassium Iodide. Radioactive iodine, of which Potassium Iodide protects against (see below), would most likely not be present in a dirty bomb due to the fact that it is a byproduct of nuclear fission which takes place only within nuclear reactors and during the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Obviously this type of 'radioactive waste' would be very difficult to obtain and incorporate in the makings of a dirty bomb. If a dirty bomb detonates in your area, follow the instructions of local health officials concerning evacuation, decontamination and the administering of potassium iodide (though unlikely). A dirty bomb could very well contain radioactive waste such as Cesium-137, found in the waste of nuclear power plants, and Thallium. The FDA has encouraged manufacturers to develop a "dirty bomb pill", known as Prussian Blue, to counteract the deadly effects of this type of radiation. Unfornately, the FDA has so far only approved one manufacturer, located in Germany, and there product is not available in this country through your physician.
Damien435 said:Iraq was working on building a dirty bomb using depleted uranium pellets before Israel blasted the h**l out of their nuclear reactor in Bagdad.
Charge 7 said:Nuclear bombs vary in how "clean" they are as well. That is to say, how much fallout they generate. For instance, Russian nukes are much "dirtier" than US nukes as they generate a significantly larger amount of fallout.
But the term "dirty bomb" does apply to using radioactive dust/particulate, etc. to radiate a given area. The effect of fallout without the detonation of a nuke.
EnigmaNZ said:Say you want to create a 15-20 kiloton bomb, you can do this 3 ways. One is to build a fission bomb like the ones used on Japan in 1945, Fatman used 6kg of Plutonium and 260kg of Uranium, Little boy used 60kg of uranium. These are dirty bombs in that there is a lot of fallout from the explosion. Another way is to make a salted bomb, this is a fission bomb with a fusion shell desgned to produce the neutrons to ignite a outer uranium layer, or tamper. this also makes for a dirty bomb thanks to the large use of uranium. The third way is to use the smallest ammount of uranium or plutonium possible and use it as the igniter for a fusion outer shell. I think the smallest fission yield able to be used is about 0.3 kilotons, this is enough to fuse the lithium outer shell creating most of the yield, the fission core is the sparkplug. Around 2 kg of plutonium or about 6 kg of uranium is sufficient for this. This is referred to as a clean bomb as there is little fallout compared to the other types. By adding additional fusion stages the yield can be greatly increased without using more dirty trigger material. The w-80 warhead has yields from 0.3 kiloton using just the sparkplug, to 170 kt with the outer fusion stages.
specialasiankid said:There pretty much the same thing.
dirty bomb is much smaller and easier to build. also can cause more devastation by the thought
conventional is something used normally to start a war. like the 2 nukes we dropped on the japs. thats more conventional.
correct me if im wrong anyone
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