Radiological warfare

United States Navy Seabees donning NBC suits during a CBRN defense drill in 2008

Radiological warfare is any form of warfare involving deliberate radiation poisoning or contamination of an area with radiological sources.

Radiological weapons are normally classified as weapons of mass destruction (WMDs),[1] although radiological weapons can also be specific in whom they target, such as the radiation poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko by the Russian FSB, using radioactive polonium-210.[2]

Numerous countries have expressed an interest in radiological weapons programs, several have actively pursued them, and three have performed radiological weapons tests.[3]

  1. ^ Safire, William (1998-04-19). "On Language; Weapons of Mass Destruction". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  2. ^ Addley, Esther; Harding, Luke (2016-01-21). "Key findings: who killed Alexander Litvinenko, how and why". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  3. ^ Meyer, Samuel; Bidgood, Sarah; Potter, William C. (2020-10-01). "Death Dust: The Little-Known Story of U.S. and Soviet Pursuit of Radiological Weapons". International Security. 45 (2): 51–94. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00391. ISSN 0162-2889.