|
Nuclear terrorism by non-state organisations is all the more likely, as states possessing nuclear weapons are susceptible to retaliation in kind. Geographically-dispersed and mobile terrorist organizations are not so easy to discourage by the threat of retaliation. Possibly the worst effect of a terrorist nuclear device would be that it could in fact trigger a nuclear war. Furthermore, while the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the Cold War, it greatly increased the risk that former Soviet nuclear weapons might become available on the black market. Russia is know to have created around 200 suitcase bombs - nuclear weapons the size of suitcases. According to a Soviet defector called Aleksander Lebed it has seemingly lost track of more than 100 - each of which could kill more than 50,000 people. Terrorists have also the capacity to build dirty bombs in a very short time
A dirty bomb is often used to refer to a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), a radiological weapon which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. Because a terrorist dirty bomb is likely to cause few deaths, many do not consider one to be a weapon of mass destruction. Its purpose would presumably be to create psychological, not physical, harm through mass panic and terror. Additionally, decontamination of the affected area might require considerable time and expense, rendering affected areas unusable, and causing extensive economic damage.
Fortunately, of the hundreds of attempted smuggling transactions involving radioactive materials that have been thwarted since 1991, the vast majority involved materials that were not weapons usable or were of insufficient quantity to construct a nuclear weapon. Only 18 of these cases involved the theft of weapon-grade uranium or plutonium from facilities in the former Soviet Union.
In 1995, rebels from Chechnya planted, but did not detonate, an RDD in Moscow's Izmailovo Park. The bomb consisted of dynamite and Cesium-137 removed from cancer treatment equipment. Reporters were tipped off about its location, and it was defused.
|
