I agree the psychological effects will be the most devastating result on people and the economy.

Fear is a weapon of choice for terrorism.

The smuggling doubled because everyone realized, thanks to people like Joe Wilson and Richard Clarke, that you can deal in uranium with no problems from the U.S. because we hate our President more than we hate them.

You have a point, but I think the psychological effect of such a thing will be far more potent than the actual destruction. Imagine three or four of these things detonated in different cities on the same day. You think that wouldn’t have a massive effect on our psyches and our economy?

Hypocrits.

The dirty bomb concept is largely a production of Hollywood. Will radioactive material be spread? Yes. At the same rate and dispersion of any other physical piece of debris from a conventional explosion. But, it won’t be so fragmented that it will turn an entire city (or even a region) into a hotspot for decades as some movies would have you believe.

You have to understand that it takes a shitload more power than normal explosives contain to “force” a nuclear chain reaction unless those explosives are perfectly constructed/detonated around the nuclear core. “Perfectly” isn’t about to happen unless Pakistan coughs up an actual warhead to the terrorists (not to be discounted).

Unless that happens, I see chunks of radioative material dispersing as far as bomb fragments and no further. Smart use of rapid evacuation, detection equipment and decon procedures will minimize or eliminate widespread radioactive contamination at what could be considered lethal levels.

Will it suck locally? Yes. Will a dirty bomb cause utter catastrophe (what the islamists hope for)? No.

That said, a true nuclear detonation would be quite different. Waterwashing an entire city is far more problematic than just hitting isolated sectors.

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