Dirty bomb: what it is, what damage it causes and who can do it
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One of the major deterrents that prevent the use of nuclear weapons, in addition to the devastating power of the bombs themselves, is the fact that they make the area where they were launched due to radioactivity for years, if not decades and beyond, impractical and dangerous. .
Here, the “dirty bombs”, despite having a detonating potential similar to that of conventional bombs, have the same effects. In recent days, the Russians have accused Ukraine of wanting to use this type of weapon, an accusation that was rejected by the sender as devoid of any basis by both Kiev and NATO.
As the Treccani site explains, a dirty bomb is a “device constructed by combining a conventional explosive and highly radioactive material, taken from some nuclear equipment: for example, a fuel element discharged from a nuclear reactor”.
How a dirty bomb works
A dirty bomb is therefore a conventional device, which does not use nuclear or fission energy to explode, such as the atomic ones launched on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or fusion, such as hydrogen bombs. Its explosive potential is therefore lower, but it is equally devastating because it distributes radioactive material capable of spreading in the air and being absorbed by the environment, making the area radioactive. The danger of the bomb therefore depends on the type of nuclear material present and its concentration.
Who can make it happen
In past years, it was believed that dirty bombs could be made and used not so much by sovereign states, but by terrorist groups. However, it must be considered that the nuclear material with which a dirty bomb can be effectively built is not at all easy to find, as it is subjected to checks both by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and by the Group of Supplier States. nuclear power plants (Nsg, Nuclear Suppliers Group). In fact, no terrorist group has ever used dirty bombs to date.
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