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Executive Overview: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence
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| 15 February 2007 |
Executive Overview: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence
By John Eldridge, Editor of Jane’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence
In December 2006 London witnessed its first radiological dispersal event (RDE) following the poisoning of a Russian dissident, Alexander Litvinenko, with the rare isotope, Polonium-210. Litvinenko died at University College Hospital, London on 23 November of multiple organ failure having been irradiated by a massive dose.
At the time of writing, a further 13 hospital workers who cared for the Russian tested positive for Po-210; at least a dozen - and counting - premises had been scoured for traces of the alpha emitter that killed him, including such disparate locations as Arsenal football stadium in north London and the British Embassy in Moscow; also several aircraft were grounded, with airlines having to trace a potential 30,000 passengers who could have been exposed, albeit to tiny amounts.
The public health alert that followed the identification of Litvinenko's contamination trail will provide invaluable lessons for the method and extent of decontamination required for premises and public areas; the medical analysis of alpha-radiation effects and the long-term monitoring of individuals exposed to low levels of radiation; and also how public reaction to a radiation incident is managed.
Training issues will be addressed with regard to first response to a future non-explosive RDE. The incident has also demonstrated how easily radioactive contamination can spread. It has also highlighted just how hard it is to predict a CBRN-related incident. The choice of this relatively obscure alpha-emitter will bring up questions as to how a radioisotope once used as an initiator (mixed with beryllium) in early nuclear weapons and in rare industrial applications was brought into the UK and how and where it was manufactured.
Russia is the only country that makes it in any significant quantity, in a small number of reactors - only 100 grammes per year, and at considerable cost. Most is exported to the US. Because it is so rare in nature, Po-210 is normally produced artificially in a nuclear reactor by bombarding the stable isotope bismuth-209 with neutrons. This produces the radioactive isotope bismuth-210, which has a half-life of 5 days, and which decays radioactively to Po-210.
In this form, polonium can only cause harm once inside the body through ingestion or inhalation, and it is only inhalable if the particles are smaller than 3 microns. In Litvinenko's case it is believed that it was administered in a drink. Once within his body, all tissues would be irradiated, giving more of a total whole-body dose than almost any other alpha emitter.
But uppermost in the challenges that unfolded in the wake of Litvinenko's tragic death and the subsequent police investigation is the problem of detection: because polonium emits only alpha particles, it can be safely carried in glass vials and will not set off radiation detectors at airports. Once ingested, it is hard to detect, because most of the radiation remains in the body. A massive effort to develop devices that can better detect alpha emitters is under way.
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© 2007 Jane's Information Group
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