Radioactive Devices Go Astray in Canada?

Dozens of radioactive devices have been lost or stolen in Canada since 9-11

OTTAWA (CP) - At least 76 radioactive devices - several of which could be used in a terrorist attack - have gone missing in Canada over the last five years, newly compiled figures show.

They're stolen from cars, disappear from construction sites, fall off trucks and generally go astray at an alarming pace.

The Canadian Press has compiled a database showing the rate at which these widely used devices vanish, often for days, sometimes without a trace.

It chronicles dozens of thefts and mishaps involving hazardous equipment employed daily in tasks ranging from oil-well measurements to pioneering medical research.

Thirty-five of these were nabbed by thieves. Three others were found in a roadside ditch, a garbage landfill and a farmer's field.
Oh (dear!), Canada

How do radioactive devices go "astray" at all?

Does it up and decide to go on an unscheduled vacation? Sprout legs and take a trip to Vegas? I'd have thought that maybe someone would be keeping a serious eye on this sort of thing...considering...

I'm not sure if this has been posted somewhere already but this is pretty alarming considering the surge of new threats and recent attempted attacks. That coupled with the US Govt recently claiming a terror "Spectacular" could come this summer, makes me wonder if we're being prepped for the big one that our Government in the States already sees coming.

I remember news reports back in the late 90's
about radioactive devices stolen from construction
sites around South Florida.

I would joke with my Dad that someone
must be building a bomb. I haven't heard
anything about such things until you
brought this forward. Great find.

The stolen devices from Canada I find a bit disturbing.

"At least 76 radioactive devices - several of which could be used in a terrorist attack - have gone missing in Canada over the last five years,

They make it clear right off the bat,
"could be used in terrorist attack"

I would like to point out events that took place on June 26th:

International radio operators picked up large numbers of coded Air Force communications being sent around the world on June 26 that indicated some type of military activity was about to take place.
...
The messages appeared to be emergency action messages, coded communications sent by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to U.S. Air Force strategic nuclear forces.

The messages sent June 26 included 174 characters, much longer than normal 30-character messages, and amateur radio monitors say they have not seen the size of this message since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

-US ran nuclear weapons exercises the week before Bush-Putin summit
-Confirmed by the Washington Post

Coupled with this happening the same day:
-Chicago Emergency Alert System Activated Today (6/26/07) By Presidential Code

In addition:
Al Qaeda's No. 2 says end of West imminent

One year ago, on June 19th 2006:
4,000 government workers head to bunkers

Part of me says they could never make
a homemade nuclear device powerful
enough to cause a "spectacular" but the
other part of me remembers all that talk
about missing suitcase nukes and what not..

Let's hope this amounts to nothing.

[edit on 7/6/2007 by aecreate]

You figure after the first one or two go missing you take action. I think G. W. said it best; "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice..... uhh, um you can fool me again!" Apparently that is not the case.

Here's a new article that appears to be related:

Agencies race to prepare for attack by dirty bomb

The dry run for a dirty-bomb attack on Prince Edward Island pushed emergency personnel and their equipment to the limit in late March last year.

"The exercise highlighted a number of problems that will need to be addressed in the future," says an article about the mock scenario published recently in a technical journal.

Officials say that's exactly why they conducted Exercise Maritime Response and several other anti-terrorism drills across Canada -- to make sure those glitches don't happen should the real thing ever occur.

I don't know about ya'll, but I'm willing to
bet that the next terror "spectacular" is going
to be a dirty bomb device.

What exactly is the blast radius and fallout level from a suitcase nuke opposed to a dirty bomb?

That's a good question that I've often wondered.
I'll leave that for the ATS Subject Matter Experts.

Originally posted by ChrisF231
What exactly is the blast radius and fallout level from a suitcase nuke opposed to a dirty bomb?

Depends on how much fissile material is used - but a suitcase bomb can usually be measured in city blocks, after all they were intended for demolition work. Then youv'e got the fall out to deal with, that has a lot to do with the weather on the day (wind strength rain etc)

Also making and maintaining a nuke is difficult, it's not just a case of obtaining one and storing it till the right day comes along.

IMO if the bad dudes have laid their hands on random amounts of fairly low level material - from x- ray machines for example, it would be a waste of time to get it refined to weapons grade - much much easier to simply strap it to a large amount of conventional high explosives (we all know they wont have too much dificulty there) put it in a car / van, wait for a nice sunny day with a good breeze in the right direction and go mess up everyones day.

Originally posted by aecreate
I remember news reports back in the late 90's
about radioactive devices stolen from construction
sites around South Florida.

I would joke with my Dad that someone
must be building a bomb.

Thanks for that info, man. I wasn't aware how old this issue actually was.

I guess this may be an old scenario and it might be getting more attention now (although not as much as it should) but to think that the materials for a dirty bomb (which is probably what the mats would be used for) are as easy to find as walking through a farmers backyard is a bit chilling.



[edit: fixed quote tag]

[edit on 9-7-2007 by 12m8keall2c]

Originally posted by Now_Then

Originally posted by ChrisF231
What exactly is the blast radius and fallout level from a suitcase nuke opposed to a dirty bomb?

Then youv'e got the fall out to deal with, that has a lot to do with the weather on the day (wind strength rain etc)

That is the main purpose behind the dirty bomb. The destruction itself is nothing compared to the radioactive dust that will spread via the winds. The idea is not to "nuke" a city but to irradiate it. The panic alone would also emotionally cripple anyone even near the area. Essentially shutting the whole city down.

A dirty bomb is an explosive designed to spread dangerous radioactive material over a wide area.

High explosives inflict damage with rapidly expanding, very hot gas. The basic idea of a dirty bomb is to use the gas expansion as a means of propelling radioactive material over a wide area rather than as a destructive force in its own right. When the explosive goes off, the radioactive material spreads in a sort of dust cloud, carried by the wind, that reaches a wider area than the explosion itself.

Dirty

I know mate - that is why I went on to say

Originally posted by Now_Then
IMO if the bad dudes have laid their hands on random amounts of fairly low level material - from x- ray machines for example, it would be a waste of time to get it refined to weapons grade - much much easier to simply strap it to a large amount of conventional high explosives (we all know they wont have too much dificulty there) put it in a car / van, wait for a nice sunny day with a good breeze in the right direction and go mess up everyones day.

Officials tell TIME it's extremely unlikely that enough americium could be harvested from smoke detectors to create a device potent enough to inflict radiation sickness, let alone kill people. But others argue that spewing even a small amount of radioactive material into a crowded stadium or subway station could trigger sensitive radiation sensors, incite panic and cause long-lasting contamination.

link

Found the above paragraph quite interesting, might we seen an increase of false alarms leading up to an attack? - sorta like calling wolf enough times the villages ignor you.

What sort of devices are going missing any way, I know that medical scanners and x-ray machines are top targets, I suppose civil engineers have even more powerfull x-ray machines.

Smoke detectors seems a bit of a none started unless your just wanting to play mind games.

Originally posted by Now_Then
I know mate - that is why I went on to say

Originally posted by Now_Then
...put it in a car / van, wait for a nice sunny day with a good breeze in the right direction and go mess up everyones day.

Yes I saw.

I just wanted to explain the concept you briefly mentioned with a little more detail and include a link with a longer more full explanation on the device.

There is often a misconception about the function of a dirty bomb that I've come across online a few times so I wanted to drive the point home, not steal your thunder my friend.