The ‘dirty bomb’ which, according to Moscow, Ukraine intends to detonate on its own soil it is not a nuclear device but a conventional bomb wrapped in radioactive materials intended to be dispersed in powder form during the explosion.
Russia affirmed this Monday that Ukraine entered “in the final phase” for the manufacture of its ‘dirty bomb’, a threat promoted by Moscow since Sunday and which kyiv’s Western allies firmly rejected.
Also read: The war in Ukraine: a current threat to the unity of the European Union?
“According to the information we have, two Ukrainian organizations have specific instructions to create the so-called ‘dirty bomb’. Their work has entered the final phase,” Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, in charge of the Russian Army, said in a statement. radiation, chemical and biological products.
If Russia says that Ukraine is preparing something, that only means one thing: that Russia has already prepared all that.
According to him, “the goal of this provocation is to accuse Russia of using weapons of massive destruction in Ukraine and thus launch a powerful anti russian campaign in the world,” he accused, considering that Kyiv sought to “intimidate the local population and increase the flow of refugees throughout Europe”.
“If Russia says that Ukraine is preparing something, that only means one thing: that Russia has already prepared all that,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky reacted, accusing Moscow of trying to justify an escalation in the conflict.
What is dirty bomb?
The term ‘dirty bomb’, also called “device of radiological dispersion” (DDR), designates any device that, when detonate, spreads one or more chemically or biologically toxic products (NRBC: nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical). That type of pump is not considered a atomic Weapon, whose explosion results from nuclear fission (A-bomb) or fusion (H-bomb) and causes immense destruction in a wide radius.
Making an atomic bomb requires complex uranium enrichment technologies. Much less complicated to manufacture, the ‘dirty bomb’ uses a conventional explosive and its main purpose is contaminate a geographical area and to the people who are there, both with direct radiation and by ingestion or inhalation of radioactive materials.
“A dirty bomb is not a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ but a ‘weapon of mass disturbance’ that primarily seeks to contaminate and scare,” summarizes the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC).
A dirty bomb is not a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ but rather a ‘weapon of mass disturbance’ that primarily seeks to pollute and scare
The main danger from a “dirty bomb” comes from the explosion and not from radiation. Only people who are very close to the blast site would be exposed to levels of radiation capable of causing immediate serious illness.
However, the dust and smoke radioactive can spread further and represent a health hazard in case of inhalation of air or ingestion of contaminated food or water. The radioactive materials necessary for the elaboration of this type of device are usually used in hospitals, research centers and industrial or military establishments.
“The radioactive substances that come from nuclear fuel storage facilities used in the nuclear power plant [ucraniana] from Chernobyl can be used” to make a dirty bomb, Russian General Igor Kirillov, in charge of radioactive substances and chemical and biological products in the Russian army.
In March 2016, the terrorist cell responsible for the Brussels bombings had planned to build a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’, after video surveillance of a Belgian ‘nuclear expert’.
AFP.
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