A device utilizing conventional explosive materials, such as TNT or dynamite, to disperse radioactive material over a wide area, thereby contaminating the area. This is in contrast to a nuclear weap [..]

A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive such as dynamite, filled with deadly radioactive particles which scatter when the bomb goes off. Known as a radiological weapon, a dirty bomb's initial co [..]

An informal term for a radiological dispersal device (RDD), a device pairing conventional explosives with radiological materials. Once detonated, the conventional explosives disperse the radioactive m [..]

A dirty bomb or RDD (Radiological Dispersal Device) is usually a conventional bomb or improvised explosive device which contains radioactive material. The bomb is used to spread radiation across as wide an area as possible. The bomb is not a nuclear weapon and usually has minimal destructive power, its main purpose being to create a large enough bl [..]

a device designed to spread radioactive material by conventional explosives when the bomb explodes. A dirty bomb kills or injures people through the initial blast of the conventional explosive and spr [..]

 "A “dirty bomb” is one type of a radiological dispersal device that combines conventional explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive material." (NRC)

Name given by the press to a possible terrorist weapon, a load of nuclear waste from a nuclear power station, combined with an ordinary explosive charge. Set off in some public site, such a bomb would [..]

The use of common explosives to spread radioactive materials over a targeted area. Also known as a radiation attack, a dirty bomb is not a nuclear blast, but rather an explosion with localized radioactive contamination.