Russia has recently claimed that Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb.
Details –
- It is a bomb that contains radioactive material, such as uranium, which is scattered through the air when its conventional explosive detonates.
- It does not need to contain highly refined radioactive material, as is used in a nuclear bomb. Instead, it could use radioactive materials from hospitals, nuclear power stations or research laboratories.
- This makes them much cheaper and quicker to make than nuclear weapons. They can also be carried in the back of a vehicle.
- However, as weapons, they are very unreliable.
- For the radioactive material in a dirty bomb to be scattered across its target zone, it has to be reduced to powder form.
- But if the particles are too fine or released into strong winds, they will scatter too widely to do much harm.
- Material used —
-
- Cesium-137
- Cobalt-60
- Iridium-192
- Dynamite
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