Polonium: The Terrorists' Perfect WMD? (updated 12/8)
By Andrew Cochran
The disclosure that "seven workers at the Millennium Hotel, where former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko met a contact on the day he fell ill, have tested positive for 'low levels' of polonium" further expands the serious consequences of the investigation into Litvinenko's murder. (UPDATE 12/8: A former KGB who met with Litvinenko in London has fallen ill (his lawyer denies he is in a coma) from contact with "a radioactive substance.") A CTB reader who graduated from MIT wrote me recently with the following information on polonium:
Polonium 210 can be manufactured in any small research reactor such as those found in universities around the world. The single poisoning seems to me to be a wakeup call that polonium 210 is probably the best WMD in the world. Wikipedia gives the lethal dose as 0.1 micrograms, think of a Vitamin C tablet divided into 10 million pieces. When dissolved in mild acid, such as is in the gut, a lethal dose will produce about 10 trillion atoms which tend to permeate the body and leak out of the pores. If divided and encapsulated (think time release capsule) a small amount of polonium 210 could be weaponized to float on the breeze like anthrax, it would be undetectable, indestructible and any residue would lose potency after just a few years.
I found this article about polonium, in which the polonium poisoning is described as "an unprecedented event." According to this article, polonium is available for purchase through the internet. I want to invite knowledgeable readers to submit their reactions to this matter at my e-mail address. I'll publish the best responses.
Is this the face of a future terrorist attack?
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/mt/pings.cgi/3436
