What type of bomb are referred as dirty bomb?

Answer 1

There are two types of bombs that are referred to as "dirty" bombs:

• A dirty conventional bomb or more precisely a radiological bomb. This is simply a conventional chemical explosive bomb wrapped in highly radioactive isotopes. It will likely kill everyone involved in assembling and delivering it before it can hurt anyone at its target.
• A dirty hydrogen bomb or more precisely an enhanced fallout nuclear bomb. This is a hydrogen bomb with its depleted uranium tamper replaced by or "salted" with other elements that absorb neutrons strongly and transmute into highly radioactive isotopes, producing much more fallout that is more deadly. Cobalt is commonly referred to in the popular literature but would not actually work well as its capture cross section for high energy fusion neutrons is rather small. Gold would be ideal from a military standpoint as its capture cross section for high energy fusion neutrons is large and the halflife of the radioisotopes produced is short enough to allow occupation of the affected territory within a few months (however gold is too expensive for this use).

Answer 2

A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive device that is combined with radioactive material. When detonated, it spreads radioactive material over a wide area, causing contamination and potential health hazards, but it is not a nuclear explosion. The main goal of a dirty bomb is to create fear and disrupt normal activities rather than cause mass casualties.