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Nuclear Terrorism Tutorial. Nuclear Threat Initiative

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The Future of U.S.- Russia Arms.... November 30, 2009

Countering WMD Proliferation in an Age.... December 8, 2009

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Jose Goldemberg, University de Sao Paolo

P.R. Kumar, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Handbook of Applied Biosecurity for Life Science Laboratories. Peter Clevestig

Statement of George Foresman Under Secretary for Preparedness before the.... George Foresman Under Secretary for Preparedness

Technical, Economic, and Political Feasibility of Spent Nuclear Fuel Management.... Clifford Singer, UIUC

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Radiation-Neutralization of Stored Biological Warfare Agents with Low-Yield Nuclear Warheads

Citation: UCRL-ID-140193

URL: http://www.llnl.gov/tid/lof/documents/pdf/238391.pdf

MCNP Monte Carlo radiation transport computations were performed exploring the capability of low-yield nuclear fusion and fission warheads to neutralize biological warfare agents with the radiation dose deposited in the agent by the prompt neutron output. The calculations were done for various typcial storage configurations on the ground in the open air or in a warehouse building.

This application of nuclear weapons is motivated by the observation that, for some military scenarios, the nuclear collateral effects area is much smaller thn the area covered with unacceptable concentrations of biological agent dispersed by the use of conventional high explosive warheads.

These calculations show that biological agents can be radiation-neutralized by low-yield nuclear warheds over areas that are sufficiently large to be useful for military strikes. This report provides the calculated doses within the stored agent for various ground ranges and heights-of-burst.