Assessing the Threat of Radiological Terrorism

Increased real and perceived threats of terrorism in recent years have provoked many security experts to predict that it is a question of when, not if, terrorists will use radioactive materials in an act of terrorism. Still, if radioactive dirty bombs are so easy to make, why haven’t terrorists detonated one? To try to answer this question and to understand what improved security efforts are needed, it is first necessary to learn about the nature of the radiological terrorism threat.