Does a dirty bomb spread radioactive contamination through conventional explosives?

Answer 1

Yes and no. One can use conventional explosives to make a dirty bomb or attack a nuclear facility to produce the same result.

Radiological weapons, or "dirty-bombs," use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material. These weapons are relatively easy to make. Dirty bombs need not contain highly enriched uranium or plutonium but can use any type of radioactive material or waste. For example, this was can come from dismantled nuclear weapons, power plant storage areas, hospital x-ray machines, or cleanup from nuclear disasters. An individual can take this waste and use any means to disperse it: conventional explosives, ammonium nitrate bombs, or simply gasoline filled drums. Detonating this radioactive material in an urban environment would render the immediate area indefinitely uninhabitable.

Similarly, attacking a nuclear power plant or waste storage facility would create a second type of dirty bomb. For example, this attack would occur by planting explosives within a facility or by flying an airplane into a reactor. A nuclear power plant presents a tempting target, since a meltdown of its reactor would contaminate hundreds of square miles. This attack would create a much higher concentration of radiation than a small, homemade device.

See, Gopal B. Saha, Physics and Radiobiology of Nuclear Medicine, 260.

John Baylis, et al, Strategy in the Contemporary World, 299.

Answer 2

Yes, a dirty bomb combines conventional explosives with radioactive material to spread contamination over a wide area. The explosive force disperses the radioactive material, contaminating the surrounding area and potentially causing harm to people and the environment.