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Nuclear terrorism

2003; University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice; Volume: 1; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.32725/jab.2003.009

1214-0287

Pavel Kuna, O. Neruda, Leoš Navrátil, Jan Matzner, Renata Žišková,

Nuclear and radioactivity studies

Neutron weapons are designed for the destruction of living organisms; they are not designed for the destruction of building and technical facilities. The miniature nuclear fission weapons (about 1 kt) have similar characteristics and they are most suitable for terrorist attacks. Irradiation of mammals by fission neutrons results in a more severe deterministic (acute) as well as stochastic (late) radiation damage in comparison with gamma rays. Traditional physical shielding materials (steel, lead) cannot provide protection, and biological protection mechanisms (tissue hypoxia, radioprotective chemical drugs) are also not effecive. Water and plastic materials (polyethylene) are suitable for shielding.