ACRAMENTO — There are plenty of ingredients easily accessible in
California to assemble a “dirty bomb,” or explosives laced with
radioactive material, according to a newspaper’s investigation.
The Sacramento Bee reported Sunday that radioactive materials
are scattered across the state at thousands of sites, and
hundreds of them hold enough for a “dirty bomb,” according to
state and federal records. Machines that operate using large
amounts of radioactivity have become commonplace in medicine,
research and construction. Radioactive material can be found in
the lunchbox-sized construction tool used to peer inside
pipelines and walls; in the giant irradiators used to purify
foods and sterilize medical supplies; in the medical equipment
used to cut brain tumors and treat blood. In some places, such
equipment is left unattended for hours or days behind locked
doors, the Bee reported. With the exception of nuclear plants
and weapons sites, the nation’s system of radiological
safeguards is aimed at preventing accide