Yes, but you don't have to go far to get Americanium . . . it's in smoke detectors.
Posted at 2007-07-13 15:42:48 [PermaLink]I don't think so, Bob; mine are made in China...;)
Posted at 2007-07-13 17:42:32 [PermaLink]I read in another article that the gauges in question cost around $5,000 each. Thus the total price being nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
If anyone thinks terrorists with that kind of money will buy and disassemble expensive underground surveying equipment, rather than something more effective and dangerous*, well... I don't even know how to respond to that.
(* Like plain old high-explosives. For far less than 200k and change they could buy a box van outright, and build the biggest nitrate bomb you've ever seen; and if they bought the nitrates in small quantities, nobody would ever notice.)
"Dirty bombs" aren't worth even worrying about, in all honesty (from a strategic standpoint).
Though if press like this keeps terrorists working on them rather than on far more effective large conventional bombs, I suppose that's a win.
Sigivald,
"Dirty bombs" are not a likely threat as you've stated because of the difficulty in obtaining the material, handling it without debilitating yourself, building a dispersal device, etc.
They are, however, a very powerful terrorist tool because of the panic that would ensue. Imagine an improvised dirty bomb going off in a major city. Say 10 people die quickly from the blast and significant exposure, and a couple of thousand are sick from the exposure.
That's a drop in the bucket, in terms of the effect on society, compared to the absolute and total inundation of emergency rooms, the police response to evacuate the area and maintain security, and the extensive cleanup that would have to take place before you could go back into the city. That's some real lasting chaos ans that's what the terrorists are after.
Everybody understands nitrate bombs. Blast, shockwave, and if you're still standing, it's over. Radiation scares the crap out of most people because their only understanding of it is based mainly on warning labels.
I agree with you wholeheartedly that it's not likely that some group would be able to pull it off, but if they did, it wouldn't have to do much to do a lot of damage.
Americium-241 is commonly used in oilfield. Every open-hole wireline unit is carrying some. We use it combined with Beryllium to generate neutrons which in turn is absorbed hydrogen in the formation. This is used as a proxy for measuring fluid volume.
However the amount is less than the top section of your pinky finger.
Cesium-137 is used to generate gamma radiation which is absorbed by electrons. Therefore it is a way of measuring electron density which is close to actual density. Density is useful by itself or with matrix and fluid density assumptions can be used to calculate fluid volume.