re: #245 SixDegrees

See my post, above. For a dirty bomb to be effective, all it has to do is trigger a Geiger counter. It doesn’t have to possess a dangerous amount of radioactive material, just enough to induce panic. People has an hysterical fear of ANY kind of radiation, and if any radioactive substance were released over a densely inhabited area - like Manhattan, for example - it would shut business and traffic in the area down for weeks, possibly months or even years depending on how bad the hysteria got. You’d also see lots of stress-related deaths - heart attacks, strokes and so on - even though you wouldn’t see a single case of radiation sickness.

Having participated in simulations I can tell you that if radioactivity is detected, the amounts/risks are rapidly calculated and assessed. Depending on command/control it’s questionable as to how rapidly the word would filter out to the general public. I think the relative panic would relate more to the size/scope of the event than anything else.

I agree wholeheartedly that the public has an irrational fear of radioactivity and the relative risks. This article exemplifies the inaccuracies and misconceptions which abound.