![]() ![]() It’s also why experts fear some nefarious person or organization might use it in a dirty bomb. This highly penetrating radiation, in fact, is why cesium 137 is used in devices like medical sterilizers and blood sterilizers (it kills bacteria, viruses, etc.). Even a few grams of cesium 137 in the unshielded powdered form (cesium chloride) would be lethal for those in close proximity. The amount of powder material in the tubes shown would be a massive amount of radioactive material. The Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan screenwriters were way off the mark in terms of how much cesium is needed for a dirty bomb. In order to protect against cesium 137, dense materials like lead are required. Likewise, the glass tubes and the thin metal box from which the fictional terrorists unpacked the cesium would provide minimal shielding against radiation. An analogy would be someone wearing a SCUBA suit for protection against the x-ray at a dentist’s office the x-rays would still penetrate. The respirators and suits the terrorists wore would have protected them from contamination, but would have had absolutely no protective value against deadly radiation. It emits high energy electrons and penetrating gamma rays. That could lead to undue panic and injury.Īt the heart of the inaccuracies is the portrayal of radiation and the hazards it poses. If a terrorist group really did use a cesium dirty bomb, the public might take the wrong lessons from Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. In this case, unfortunately, the technical inaccuracies are potentially dangerous. Because many members of the general public are not familiar with the details of radiation, radionuclides like cesium 137, or issues like radiation sickness, they can base their understanding on shows like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. While artistic license is certainly a screenwriter’s prerogative, the inaccuracies in the radiation/dirty bomb/dispersal device scenario do more than merely entertain. The worker touches the cesium powder and then, seriously ill, reports to a hospital emergency room, shaky, pale, and vomiting from what is later diagnosed as acute radiation sickness. When they leave the leaking tube on the floor, it is later discovered by a dockyard worker who enters the container to investigate why its lock is broken. They are frightened because the tip of one of the tubes (which resemble large versions of old-style medical ampules) has broken off and some of the powder is spilled when they handle it. Donning respirators and anti-contamination clothing, the two terrorists proceed to remove the glass tubes of cesium powder from a light framed metal box. Two terrorists retrieve the cesium from the seagoing cargo container when it arrives in Baltimore. The terrorists plan to shoot the rocket into a hospital ventilation fan, which will presumably distribute it to the room in which the president is being treated for possible exposure to Ebola (as if one deadly threat weren’t enough!) The rocket system is to be triggered by a cell phone. The terrorist team ships the radioactive cesium into the United States in a cargo container and then assembles the rocket-propelled dirty bomb using glass tubes containing a blue, crystalline material: cesium powder. The first season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan follows the story of terrorists threatening the president with a dirty bomb (technically, a cesium 137-based dispersal device-I am a scientist!). (Well, maybe they make a snarky comment to their spouse here and there.) But the errors in the Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan episodes risk sufficiently serious consequences that they need to be addressed. Scientists often spot technical errors in films and television shows but let them pass. ![]() While interesting and enjoyable, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan contains some serious technical errors-and these ones really matter. (Alert! Spoilers ahead.)Īmazon Prime’s debut of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan provided an entertaining, bingeable initial season about a CIA officer on a mission to stop terrorists from killing the president by setting off a so-called radioactive “dirty bomb” in a Washington, DC, hospital. I love some good bingeable entertainment as much as the next person-but this one really bothered me because it will fundamentally affect the way the public understands a really dangerous issue. “No Jack, that is not how a dirty bomb works, they’d all be dead!” My wife looked over at me in parts alarm and exasperation as I complained, as I so often do, about scientific inaccuracies on TV. ![]()
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