A DIRTY bomb attack on the US would find the country ill-prepared to clean up the resulting radioactive mess, a government watchdog warned this week.
A release of polonium-210 in London in 2006 showed how difficult and expensive it can be to clean up radioactive material, says Gene Aloise of the US Government Accountability Office, which on Monday submitted a to a congressional committee. The aftermath of a dirty bomb would be much worse. The polonium incident taught the British government how to prepare for such an event, but the US has no detailed plan.
A bungled clean-up attempt could make things worse. Hosing down a contaminated building could push radioactive material into pores in materials such as concrete, making it harder to extract. 鈥淭ypically if you get them into that environment they鈥檒l adhere and they don鈥檛 want to come out,鈥� says of Pennsylvania State University.
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