History Main / DirtyBomb

The radioactive material can be anything which emits radioactive radiation, and it can be obtained from any source, such as hospitals, clinics, research facilities, nuclear power plants or - at worst - a scrap dealer. The bomb itself can be just any kind of a conventional explosive or ammunition. Construction of a dirty bomb is trivial and does not require any special knowledge on either explosives nor nuclear physics.

Subtrope of TrickBomb. Not to be confused with either a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stink_bomb stink bomb]], which is chemical in nature but has no radioactive component, nor with a nuclear bomb, which uses a chain reaction of nuclear fission to produce the explosive power and whose examples can be found in NukeEm, nor with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_bomb salted bombs]], which are atomic devices designed to spread more radiological material than usual for the purposes of area denial rather than for destruction, nor the NeutronBomb, which increases ''immediate'' radiation release, and especially not with the AtomicFBomb.

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. After raiding an AbandonedWarehouse and finding anti-radiation gear, the government ponders whether terrorist Giacomo Dante is planning to use a dirty bomb, though they also consider if it's just a plant meant to cause panic. Turns out he has an actual suitcase nuke.

* In the movie ''Film/OperationRedSea'', Chinese commandos from the People's Liberation Army Navy's Sea Dragon [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous Jiaolong Assault Team]] stumble into a plan made by a [[MiddleEasternTerrorists Yewairean terrorist group known as Zaka]] to convert yellowcake materials into a dirty bomb.

* Creator/MichaelConnelly novel ''Literature/TheOverlook'' has Literature/HarryBosch investigate the murder of a man who handles radioactive material meant for medical use. When Harry and his partner find out that the man just withdrew a bunch of radioactive material at the behest of terrorists who kidnapped his wife, the FBI takes charge and it becomes a counterterrorism investigation of a "dirty bomb" plot.
* ''The Killer Ascendant'', by Creator/BarryEisler. RogueAgent Jim Hilger plans to set off a dirty bomb in the Rotterdam port refineries. He's a WellIntentionedExtremist who wants to wean the United States off its dependence on oil by raising the cost of shipping it. Hilger uses Caesium-137 detonated by 100 pounds of TNT, because it's more easily treated than Strontium-90, but is difficult to remove from metal.
* In the 1952 ScienceFiction novel ''Limbo'' by Bernard Wolfe, WorldWarIII involves not only H-bombs but weapons that spew out radiological dust for days, contaminating entire metropolitan areas.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Blindspot}}'': "Split the Law" features not only a radiological bomb, but a bomb-maker as well. (His accomplices are shown to be dying of radiation poisoning, and the FBI agents tasked with tracking down the bomb are given radiation monitors and told about the risks of extended exposure to radiation.)
* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'': The season 3 episode "Countdown" has the NYPD desperately trying to find one before it goes off. When Beckett & Castle find it, the obvious big red timer is counting down with less than a minute to go, and it's going to take five minutes for the bomb squad to make it through traffic. At 0:01, Castle yanks out all the wires, pointing out that one of them had to be the right one.

* "Enemy Below", the 7th Season finale of ''Series/{{JAG}}'' involved a plot where terrorists in a diesel sub plan to fire a "dirty cruise missile" at the ''U.S.S. Seahawk'' carrier battle group. The missile is launched, which leads to Harm and another pilot attempting to shoot the missile down in mid-air. When that fails Harm gets the missile to lock on to him and chase his Tomcat until it runs out of gas and crashes harmlessly into the sea.
* ''Series/MadamSecretary'': In "Left of the Boom", Hizb al-Shahid (a [[FictionalCounterpart Daesh clone]]) steals spent uranium from Moldova and uses it in a suicide-bombing of an Muslim girls' education conference in Virginia. Henry [=McCord=] suffers radiation poisoning but survives. The rest of the season deals with the [[{{Pun}} fallout]] from the attack, with Henry working on a task force to counter HS.

* ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'' has an episode called "Dirty Bomb", where the FBI has to find a hijacked truck-load of radioactive cesium before it can be turned into one.
* ''Series/Rush2008'' (Last Season) has the TR team deployed to Melbourne to evacuate the city and find a dirty bomb made out of smuggled nuclear material from Russia. WordOfGod mentions that two are deployed are are disarmed. They were made by [[FarEastAsianTerrorists the Church of the Shining Cloud]].
* The 7th season of ''Series/StrikeBack'' (aka Revolution) has a nuclear missile missing from a Russian Tu-160 thanks to a rogue airman, which is sent from Malaysia to India, where the payload is disassembled to portable nukes for a dirty bomb attack against India's Muslim populace.
* ''Series/SWAT2017'' has the episode "The B-Team" where the LAPD and FBI are working together to hunt down a radical faction of the Okinawan independence movement since they wanted to use a dirty bomb against USFJ bases for [[TruthInTelevision the crimes committed by USFJ military and civilian personnel against the local populace]] with assistance from a corrupt research assistant from a research center who was OnlyInItForTheMoney.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'': The GLA uses anthrax instead of radiation, but the effect is the same: a cloud of near-instadeath to infantry, while vehicles last only slightly longer. Their Bomb Trucks can be upgraded to do more damage, leave a cloud of anthrax, or both.
* ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman:'' An android steals a truck loaded with radioactive cobalt, wires it up to explode, then gives the remote detonator to Markus, leader of the android rights movement. Significantly, this bomb could make all of Detroit uninhabitable for humans, but the radiation would pose no threat to the androids. It's up to the player whether Markus sets off the bomb or not--[[spoiler:if you do, it results in a BolivianArmyEnding where the US President declares this the start of an all-out war against the androids]].
* The ExcusePlot of ''VideoGame/DirtyBomb'' explains not only why massive areas of London are deserted but also provides a battlefield hazard to avoid.
* ''VideoGame/FirstStrikeFinalHour'' includes a Dirty Bomb as one the unlockable superweapons, which renders any zone it hits unusable for the rest of the game.
* The first ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' game has an SADM (Special Atomic Delivery Munitions) hidden in Washington D.C. by Georgian president Kombayn Nikoladze as a final insurance policy in case he's taken out while in power. Thankfully, Third Echelon was able to provide the information to D.C. Police, neutralizing it.

* In ''VideoGame/Wasteland2'' the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud combine this with ActionBomb as a way to deter attackers. Anyone who attacks them or their wards gets a dirty bomb going of in their face, courtesy of an angry kamikaze preist.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': The season 3 episode "Countdown" has the NYPD desperately trying to find one before it goes off. When Beckett & Castle find it, the obvious big red timer is counting down with less than a minute to go, and it's going to take five minutes for the bomb squad to make it through traffic. At 0:01, Castle yanks out all the wires, pointing out that one of them had to be the right one.

In RealLife radiological bombs are AwesomeButImpractical. As weapons of mass disruption, their main purpose is to scare people, as the actual process of spreading radioactive material through an area is just highly inefficient and hard to evenly spread out in any manner where the material would affect large populations in any serious manner. In fiction, however, these bombs are very powerful and intimidating, often to the point of being an effective DepopulationBomb.

Also known as "Radiological Bombs", Dirty Bombs are ''non-nuclear'' devices with radiological material added to them. These bombs show up in many pieces of media involving UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror and are based on a pretty simple concept: detonating explosives in order to spread radioactive materials over a large area.

* ''Series/{{Rush}}'' (Last Season) has the TR team deployed to Melbourne to evacuate the city and find a dirty bomb made out of smuggled nuclear material from Russia. WordOfGod mentions that two are deployed are are disarmed. They were made by [[FarEastAsianTerrorists the Church of the Shining Cloud]].