Dirty Bombs

A recent Congressional Research Service report on conventional bombs that could spread radiation within a population base raises a host of issues on how to deal with such so-called "dirty bombs," including:

• the priority for countering [Radiological dispersal devices] vs. other [chemical,biological, radiological and nuclear weapons];

• the priority given to securing domestic vs. overseas radioactive sources;

• whether to establish a radiation detection system in cities;

• how best to prepare for decontamination following an RDD attack;

• how to dispose of potentially large volumes of waste generated by decontamination;

• whether to modify certain personnel reliability standards;

• whether to modify the pace of a program for implementing certain security enhancements for U.S. radioactive sources; and

• how to improve radiological forensics capability.

CRS doesn't normally release its reports to the public.