Greenpeace activists gathered on Monday, October 9 at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, Canada to condemn the underground testing of a nuclear weapon by North Korea. A grim reaper added the North Korean flag to those of the other nuclear weapons states, symbolizing the arrival of a new member to the "nuclear club".
Greenpeace wants to halt the spread of nuclear power across the globe
The International Atomic Energy Agency attempts to keep
track of all kinds of radioactive materials as they move around the
globe. However as the world's nuclear reactors continue to produce
waste, and the nuclear five nations persist in having military
nuclear programs, the IAEA's task is a logistics nightmare. On the
other hand, for budding terrorist organisations or countries with a
nuclear deathwish, this is a black market dream.
Add the fall of the iron curtain, where it is generous to describe
their nuclear stock taking as slapdash, and we are faced with tons
nuclear materials that are unaccounted for. One potential use for
this material is in dirty bombs.
A
dirty bomb is not a nuclear weapon that creates a large blast.
Rather, it is a combination of a traditional explosives attached to
radioactive material designed to spread radioactive mater to create
an area of contamination.
There is a considerable range of possible dirty bomb designs.
Different explosive materials, applied in different quantities,
would generate explosions of varying sizes, and different types and
quantities of radioactive material would contaminate an area to
different degrees.
The primary danger from the use of a dirty bomb is the explosive
blast itself, even if the bomb uses a low-level radioactive source.
Estimating exactly how much radiation might be at the site of the
explosion would be difficult if the source of the radiation is
unknown. The radioactive dust and smoke could spread and be
dangerous to health if inhaled.
In light of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, government and
industry are trying to placate us by implementing additional
measures to provide security against intentional misuse of
radioactive sources. However there is so much of it around that it
is practically imposible, as engineering industries and health
services also routinely use radioactive materials.
In March 1998, the US town of Greensboro, North Carolina went on
high alert after medical instruments used to treat cervical cancer
disappeared from its General Hospital - each contained a small
amount of radioactive caesium. Surveying the hospital with geiger
counters showed they had not been misplaced. The State's
radiological protection board took over. A citywide search on the
ground and from the air failed to recover the equipment. Whoever
took the caesium got away with it.
No amount of security can stop this threat, the only way is to
create a nuclear free planet.