El Paso Times
Dirty bomb: Report details nation's unpreparednessEl Paso Times Staff
Article Launched: 10/26/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
There's much discussion about what form the next terrorist attack against the United States will take.
One of the possibilities is a "dirty bomb," a device that would explode and, depending on its power, spread radioactive materials over what could be a wide area.
A congressional report released Thursday predicts that if such an event were to occur, the United States would be woefully unprepared to handle it.
Specifically, according to the report, if a dirty bomb detonates in a major city and exposes 100,000 people to radiation, it might take four years -- four years! -- to complete necessary testing. The reason is simple -- and chilling: There are too few laboratories to test the thousands of potentially exposed people.
The possibility of a dirty bomb isn't something we like to talk about, but it's something that certainly better be considered when preparing for possible terrorist scenarios.
The report prepared for the House Committee on Science and Technology said there are not many laboratories in the country that can perform the requisite tests and that available tests would only cover six of 13 radiological isotopes that could be used in dirty bombs.
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