References
47
While there are certainly other possible scenarios for the misuse of radioactive
materials by terrorist groups, anything more than the most cursory discussion brings
one into areas that have been classified by many governments. Accordingly, they will
not be further discussed here.
The Alexander Litvenenko assassination
On November 1, 2006 a former Russian spy named Alexander Litvinenko met
two other Russians for tea at a restaurant in London. Later that evening Litvinenko started feeling ill and he was admitted to the hospital three days later.
Three weeks later, on November 23, Litvinenko died; the following day, laboratory tests showed that Litvenenko had been exposed to Po-210, a radionuclide found in a handful of consumer and industrial products such as static
eliminators.
Once the reason for Litvinenko’s death was known a number of governmental agencies sprang into action. Law enforcement, of course, investigated
the criminal aspects of the poisoning, concluding that Litvinenko had been
poisoned when trace amounts of polonium were introduced to his tea at the
restaurant, and ultimately determining that two Russians were the ones who
brought the polonium into the UK and added it to the tea.
Public health officials were busy as well; in many ways they were even busier
than the police. One public health task was to find out where the contamination had spread, which required trying to trace Litvinenko’s footsteps around
London, as well as those of his poisoners, both before and after the poisoning.
Since Litvinenko’s wife was likely contaminated, they also had to see where
she had gone in the city. When all was said and done, over a dozen locations
in London were found to be contaminated, as were three airliners, Emirates
Stadium (in London), the British Embassy in Moscow, and a number of people
that included staff at the hospital where Litvinenko was treated and restaurant workers who had served him and the Russians who poisoned him. A
further 33,000 passengers had flown to over 50 different nations, requiring
follow-up with public health officials in their home countries to check them for
contamination. Laboratory and public health staff were also engaged in determining radiation exposure to all who were exposed and, had any of them had
a significant intake of polonium, public health officials would have overseen
the decorporation process.
Ultimately, the Litvinenko case involved law enforcement, intelligence,
diplomatic, and public health officials in dozens of nations—in addition to the
healthcare, food service, and airline workers and tens of thousands of members
of the public. And all of this was from an amount of polonium that weighed
about as much as a single grain of salt.
47
While there are certainly other possible scenarios for the misuse of radioactive
materials by terrorist groups, anything more than the most cursory discussion brings
one into areas that have been classified by many governments. Accordingly, they will
not be further discussed here.
The Alexander Litvenenko assassination
On November 1, 2006 a former Russian spy named Alexander Litvinenko met
two other Russians for tea at a restaurant in London. Later that evening Litvinenko started feeling ill and he was admitted to the hospital three days later.
Three weeks later, on November 23, Litvinenko died; the following day, laboratory tests showed that Litvenenko had been exposed to Po-210, a radionuclide found in a handful of consumer and industrial products such as static
eliminators.
Once the reason for Litvinenko’s death was known a number of governmental agencies sprang into action. Law enforcement, of course, investigated
the criminal aspects of the poisoning, concluding that Litvinenko had been
poisoned when trace amounts of polonium were introduced to his tea at the
restaurant, and ultimately determining that two Russians were the ones who
brought the polonium into the UK and added it to the tea.
Public health officials were busy as well; in many ways they were even busier
than the police. One public health task was to find out where the contamination had spread, which required trying to trace Litvinenko’s footsteps around
London, as well as those of his poisoners, both before and after the poisoning.
Since Litvinenko’s wife was likely contaminated, they also had to see where
she had gone in the city. When all was said and done, over a dozen locations
in London were found to be contaminated, as were three airliners, Emirates
Stadium (in London), the British Embassy in Moscow, and a number of people
that included staff at the hospital where Litvinenko was treated and restaurant workers who had served him and the Russians who poisoned him. A
further 33,000 passengers had flown to over 50 different nations, requiring
follow-up with public health officials in their home countries to check them for
contamination. Laboratory and public health staff were also engaged in determining radiation exposure to all who were exposed and, had any of them had
a significant intake of polonium, public health officials would have overseen
the decorporation process.
Ultimately, the Litvinenko case involved law enforcement, intelligence,
diplomatic, and public health officials in dozens of nations—in addition to the
healthcare, food service, and airline workers and tens of thousands of members
of the public. And all of this was from an amount of polonium that weighed
about as much as a single grain of salt.