dirty bombs
Contamination-spreading explosives
A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive device that disperses radioactive material when it detonates.
Unlike nuclear weapons, dirty bombs don't produce a nuclear explosion—they use ordinary explosives to spread contamination over an area, making them weapons of terror rather than mass destruction.
The term appears frequently in discussions of homeland security and terrorism: Officials worried about dirty bombs targeting major cities.
- falloutPost-blast atmospheric particles
- bombingAttack with explosives
- cesium-137Radioactive fission byproduct
- contaminationIntroduction of impurities
- explosivesDetonating substances
strontium-90 · terrorism · iodine-131 · radioactive material · blast · radiological · dispersals · cobalt-60 · radiation · uranium · smoke · isotope · suitcase · attack · ground zero · Geiger · nuclear · plutonium
- weaponsknife, gun, sword, swords, rifle
- Nuclearnuclear reactor, atomic bomb, nuclear energy, uranium, nuclear fusion
- Munitionsmissiles, bullets, ordnance, warheads, munitions
- Nuclear Threatsnuclear threat, nuclear terrorism, plutonium, enriched uranium, radioactive material
- WMDsnuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons, nukes, atomic bomb
- global issuesclimate change, water scarcity, inequality, pandemics, poverty
dirty bombsnuclear weapons
Explosive devices using fission
thermonuclear weapons · hydrogen bombs · atomic bombs · nuclear warheads · fission bombs
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