The Hill News

This past week New York conducted a major emergency preparedness exercise to practice its emergency ability to detect and response to a radiological dispersion device (or “dirty bomb”). We cannot know the likelihood that Al Qaeda or related groups might acquire such a weapon, but the evidence that they possess both the desire and the capacity is compelling enough that authorities have chosen to invest scarce resources to prepare. 

We can only speculate about the consequences of a radiological attack, but the ongoing Japanese reactor crisis in Fukushima offers some insights into how an incident might unfold. After all, a “dirty bomb” is designed to release damaging radioactive materialsâ€"precisely what has happenedis feared at Fukushima. 

The first lesson we might draw is that when radiation is involved, uncertainty reigns. Expert assessments of the risks from the reactors and spent fuel ponds at Fukushima vary widely, but the fact is that it i! s extraordinarily difficult to pinpoint the short-term and long-term consequences. Twenty five years after Chernobyl, the effects of that disaster remain hotly contested.

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