Thalaron radiation

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

Thalaron radiation is a type of electromagnetic radiation in the tertiary EM band, once considered merely theoretical by Federation scientists.

The cascading biogenic pulse used thalaron radiation to kill all biological life within its range. It destroys organic material at the subatomic level.

Thalaron radiation exerts a negative effect on organic matter, much like its lower-frequency cousin, gamma radiation. However, whereas gamma radiation merely causes the mutation of an organism's genome, thalaron radiation causes instant and complete necrosis in every cell it irradiates. Following exposure, the organism degenerates into an ash-like material, completely devoid of life.

Due to its massive destructive potential, thalaron radiation is considered to be a biogenic weapon.

For the purposes of his plot to overthrow the Romulan Senate and install himself as praetor, Shinzon and his Reman allies developed a small thalaron radiation projector, which Shinzon's accomplice, Senator Tal'aura, utilized to simultaneously assassinate the entire Senate during one of its sessions. In addition to this smaller implementation, a much larger thalaron projector was installed in the Reman warbird Scimitar. This weapon was theoretically capable of creating a thalaron radiation field large enough to encompass an entire M-class planet. Shinzon planned to use the device on Earth to test this point.

Shinzon's thalaron generator was destroyed along with the Scimitar itself when Lieutenant Commander Data fired a phaser into the generator as it was charging in preparation for a strike on the USS Enterprise-E. The explosion in the radiation generator caused a monstrous chain reaction which culminated in the destruction of the warbird. (Star Trek Nemesis)