What Is a 'Dirty Bomb'? Ukraine War Reignites Fears Over Radioactive Explosives

Inside Edition's Steven Fabian toured a Cold War-era fallout shelter in the basement of a public library in New Jersey.  However, don’t expect these kinds of fallout shelters to offer much protection in the case of a real nuclear attack, an expert says.

The war in Ukraine is reigniting fears of a radioactive dirty bomb. 

Recently, New York City released a chilling PSA on surviving radioactive fallout. A dirty bomb exploding in New York City could force the evacuation of millions of people. 

“A dirty bomb is more like a regular, conventional explosive, like dynamite or TNT or something that somebody has sort of wrapped with radioactive materials with the hope that those will vaporize and contaminate,” nuclear weapons expert Alex Wellerstein said. 

Inside Edition's Steven Fabian toured a Cold War-era fallout shelter in the basement of a public library in New Jersey. 

However, don’t expect these kinds of fallout shelters to offer much protection.

“Things that say ‘fallout shelter’ in New York City — those are old signs. They may not be good places at this point,” Wellerstein said. 

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