# So, ISIS may have/get Iridium 192 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376 "2016-02-17T20:25:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/21 "2016-02-18T07:06:14Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I was thinking more along the lines of “amount.” The missing iridium won’t look like the photo. It will likely be pelletized. It will also be largely inert by this point. If you are going to build a dirty bomb, you have to keep in mind the “Best by…” date on your radioactives. Even if it’s been 2 half-lives since the theft, that just means it’s 1/4 as powerful as when it was stolen. That can still be a _lot_ of activity. Industrial and medical isotope capsules are incredibly powerful to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/22 "2016-02-18T08:27:41Z")
The _Times of Israel_ has a tiny bit more detail, but [the photo](http://www.timesofisrael.com/highly-dangerous-radioactive-material-in-iraq-stolen-report/) is most germane. The caption reads: This undated photo provided by the Georgia Interior Ministry shows part of a seizure of radioactive substances including iridium-192 and europium-152. Police in Kutaisi, Georgia arrested two people involved in the smuggling in February 2011 (photo credit: AP/Georgia Interior Ministry) It certainly looks like a shielded suitcase sized thing, holding five cylinder-type things (for 2mg each, if it’s the same?). ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/23 "2016-02-18T09:41:54Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Just from the gamma. Whoever’s close to that source is rapidly going to have a bad time. Your username is à propos! “Gray” being a unit of radiation exposure, and “Ghost”… well, you know… …too many Grays and yer forever gonna be wearing a sheet with holes for eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/24 "2016-02-18T11:54:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Not only do ports scan for radiation, they also scan for radiation shielding. This is primarily done by measuring naturally-occurring cosmic rays. Of course, shielding material can be innocuous (enough thickness of anything at all will make a good shield), but if you’ve got more shielding than your shipping manifest would imply, then you’ve got some explaining to do. That pig looks pretty small though. I don’t know how well they’ll notice a lead lunchbox. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/25 "2016-02-19T17:01:21Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Practically speaking…the danger of a dirty bomb is it to be radioactive enough that when it is blown up the feds run around in paper suits and booties with gieger counters and the general population freaks the hell out…but the actual cancer deaths are undectable. > > Not to say that ISIS/whoever CAN"T get some seriously dangerous shit…but IMO this ain’t it. Is it okay to stop running around with my hair on fire now? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/26 "2016-02-19T17:19:44Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Practically speaking…the danger of a dirty bomb is it to be radioactive enough that when it is blown up the feds run around in paper suits and booties with gieger counters and the general population freaks the hell out…but the actual cancer deaths are undectable. > > Not to say that ISIS/whoever CAN"T get some seriously dangerous shit…but IMO this ain’t it. Yeah a dirty bomb is a weapon of terror more than a weapon of mass destruction. The “catastrophes” highligthed by grey ghos each resulted in a handful of deaths and a couple of hundred “exposed” most of whom will probably have no effects. Overall less damaging than the boston bombing, which was done with pressure cookers and nails. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/27 "2016-02-19T22:02:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **scr4** : > > Even if it’s been 2 half-lives since the theft, that just means it’s 1/4 as powerful as when it was stolen. That can still be a lot of activity. Industrial and medical isotope capsules are incredibly powerful to begin with. On the other hand, one would expect that if the thieves (or their customers) intended ill use for this stuff, they’d do it before it decayed so far. The fact that it hasn’t been used in a dirty bomb yet might be an indication that either the thieves don’t have ill will, or they’ve been having a hard time finding a buyer. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/28 "2016-02-19T23:41:39Z")
…or they’re so sick/vomiting/hair falling out they haven’t been able to set up a buy/sell situation… If the people who grabbed it didn’t really know what it was they could really hurt themselves unintentionally, like junkers who have unwittingly come across medical isotopes improperly dumped. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/29 "2016-02-20T01:55:15Z")
You’ll be wanting to spread your dirty bomb dust over at least a few square blocks. That’s going to cause quite a serious dilution of even 10 g pure Ir[sup]192[/sup]. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/30 "2016-02-20T02:35:48Z")
I think that’s a special case of “having a hard time finding a buyer”. I didn’t say why they were having a hard time, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/31 "2016-02-20T15:42:35Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > …or they’re so sick/vomiting/hair falling out they haven’t been able to set up a buy/sell situation… > > If the people who grabbed it didn’t really know what it was they could really hurt themselves unintentionally, like junkers who have unwittingly come across medical isotopes improperly dumped. But this side convo doesn’t necessarily jibe with the (unresolved) question of the (long-term?) shielding of the “suitcase-like” device. Yes, they might have broken open/unscrewed the cylinders and sprinkled it in their cereal. But not necessarily. Also, is “pig” in **Ruken** (sorry for third-person) an inside-term for "carrying case made out of lead? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/32 "2016-02-21T15:40:50Z")
Apparently mis-understanding the term “dirty bomb”, they threw it in a [dumpster](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-radioactive-idUSKCN0VU0JY?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376/33 "2016-02-21T16:03:32Z")
Wow–what a nice ending for one of these threads/IRL events. Although I always suspect the extent of truth or concealed information with published accounts of mischief with equipment of such concern to public security. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-isis-may-have-get-iridium-192/746376.md?page=1)