National security analysts in various countries believe that several terrorist groups have access to radioactive materials, through theft from legitimate sources or by bribery of guards or government officials. Radiological materials can be in the form of solids or powders, liquids, or gases.

They are used in nuclear research, in medical diagnostic tests as tracer materials through the blood and organs, in hospitals and clinics for treatment of various malignancies, for testing the integrity of metals subject to stress and corrosion and welds in pipelines, in residential and commercial building smoke detectors, and for other purposes.

Many of them are isotopes—radioactive products of nuclear reactors and can only be stored, transported and used under license issued by a government regulatory agency. Some are relatively weak, such as the americium 241 used in many brands of smoke detectors, and it has a half-life of about 450 years. Others, radionuclides such as Cobalt-60, have a very powerful output of neutrons and gamma radiation, and the solid “source” material, as it is called, is encased in shielding metal to protect workers from that powerful radiation.

Radiological dispersion devices can be as simple as an improvised explosive device with a payload of radiological material in the same container, or a more complex dust-dispersal device involving a timer for delay arming, a triggering cell phone, battery pack, fan or blower, in an inconspicuous container like a knapsack or small suitcase.

Securesearch manufactures a series of inert training aids that simulate functional RDDs, and in fact disperse a light activated powder that glows yellow-green in the dark for 9-12 hours on surfaces onto which it has been deposited. This powder simulates radioactive/radiological materials and gives a positive indication of dispersal and deposition when deposited on surfaces in sufficient quantities.

We can also supply other inert powders that will function with these dispersers, but that do not glow in the dark.

Some of the devices are essentially simple, static devices, such as a water bottle RDD with one functional component—an anti-handling tilt switch. However, it is more complex than that, because it also has a military TNT charge, an electric detonator, a time delay arming circuit board, lead collar shielding in several layers, americium 241 source material, batteries, a mechanical power switch and visible water in the clear bottle above and below all of these materials and components—all of which are hidden out of sight behind the bottle’s label.