The detonation by terrorists of a dirty bomb — a weapon that combines radioactive materials with conventional explosives — has had the federal government worried since the Sept. 11, 2001, massacre. Such a radiological dispersal device could wreak havoc beyond the victims killed or wounded in the initial blast.

There’s more: A dirty bomb blast could cause massive socioeconomic damage from a long-term economic lockout of the affected area, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released this week.

The GAO, often referred to as a congressional watchdog, was asked to review federal government efforts to protect the country against dirty bombs. The agency examined the policies of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office within the Department of Homeland Security, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

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The GAO’s analysts wanted to know how those agencies’ views of risk inform their security activities against a dirty bomb.

“Agencies whose missions include radiological security share generally similar assessments of radiological threats and vulnerabilities,” the GAO said in its report. “But these agencies differ in the extent to which they consider socioeconomic consequences (such as) denial of access to property, economic loss, and the cleanup costs in their assessment of risk.”

The NNSA and the CWMD factor in significant socioeconomic damage a dirty bomb can cause, while the NRC considers fatalities and negative health effects, the GAO said.

“These differing focuses with regard to the consequences of a dirty bomb have resulted in NNSA and CWMD designing programs to secure radioactive materials that NRC regulations leave vulnerable,” the GAO said.

It said the NNSA, CWMD, and Customs and Border Protection have implemented most of the GAO’s recommendations to reduce the risk of a dirty bomb attack. But the NRC has not enacted 11 out of 18 GAO suggestions made from 2012-24, officials said.

Along with failing to adequately incorporate the economic factor of a dirty bomb attack, the NRC hasn’t strengthened the security of “certain radioactive materials,” the GAO said.

The analysts want Congress to consider directing the NRC to incorporate potential economic consequences into its decision-making and regulatory process and require that licenses for radioactive materials be tracked with stronger verification measures.

“NRC neither agreed nor disagreed with GAO’s report. GAO maintains that actions are needed,” the analysts said.