Man Found With 1 KG of Uranium in India

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Diogenes
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Man Found With 1 KG of Uranium in India

Post by Diogenes »


Skipjack
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Post by Skipjack »

Marked "Made in USA"
Outch!!
Maybe letting the Saudis take care of US harbor security was not such a good idea after all?

KitemanSA
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Re: Man Found With 1 KG of Uranium in India

Post by KitemanSA »

Diogenes wrote:Marked "Made in USA"
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101004_5051.php
BOX marked "URM - Made in the USA". So what is the issue with having a box for a Universal Relay Module that was made in the USA?

And since when is "uranium" worth $7M/kg? Going price is ~$135/kg for Uranium. Unless of course they are saying it is U235. Don't know what the street price of U235 is, but I wouldn't really want to be TOO near a kg of it! ;)

chrismb
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Re: Man Found With 1 KG of Uranium in India

Post by chrismb »

KitemanSA wrote: since when is "uranium" worth $7M/kg?
Just my question, exactly!

It's like when you read that the local fuzz have picked up some poor mug with a gram of crack "worth a million pounds on the streets!!". Not that I have ever had cause to know such street values, but I bet plenty of dealers think 'blimey! I wish I could see it for that!!'

The typical press fervor over anything 'nuclear'.... Sigh!

Enginerd
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Re: Man Found With 1 KG of Uranium in India

Post by Enginerd »

KitemanSA wrote:And since when is "uranium" worth $7M/kg? Going price is ~$135/kg for Uranium.
Maybe it was pure uranium-239.... Freshly manufactured (of course) and carried by the living dead. Of course, by now it wouldn't be uranium any more.

Giorgio
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Post by Giorgio »

So.... if they didn't open the box for fear of radiations, how do they know is 1 Kg of Uranium? How do they know is Uranium at all?
It will end up that the "box" is weighting 1 Kg, and the Uranium will be some radioactive medical isotope.

I just love the way journalists are able to make a national case out of any issue and to invent imaginary values.
The perfect journalist set: Paper, Pencil and Dices to generate random numbers :roll:

krenshala
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Location: Austin, TX, NorAm, Sol III

Post by krenshala »

Giorgio wrote:So.... if they didn't open the box for fear of radiations, how do they know is 1 Kg of Uranium? How do they know is Uranium at all?
It will end up that the "box" is weighting 1 Kg, and the Uranium will be some radioactive medical isotope.

I just love the way journalists are able to make a national case out of any issue and to invent imaginary values.
The perfect journalist set: Paper, Pencil and Dices to generate random numbers :roll:
... Dice optional.

ladajo
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Post by ladajo »

I agree, dice optional, required would imply a structured process of some sort.

AcesHigh
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Post by AcesHigh »

Giorgio wrote:So.... if they didn't open the box for fear of radiations, how do they know is 1 Kg of Uranium? How do they know is Uranium at all?
Schrödinger's cat

ladajo
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Post by ladajo »

Pavlov's media bell.

chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

Maxwell's demon; pumping hot stuff directly out of a low-information thermalised malaise?

KitemanSA
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Post by KitemanSA »

chrismb wrote:Maxwell's demon; pumping hot stuff directly out of a low-information thermalised malaise?
Wha???

Tom Ligon
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Post by Tom Ligon »

Even if it is a kg of uranium, is it natural, depleted U238, or U235?

There were a fair number of depleted uranium "fuel pellets" circulated back in the day. They were often treated as souveneirs of being in the reactor biz. They're not totally harmless, but if kept wrapped in plastic and stuck in a desk drawer they're no more harmful than some rocks.

A 30 mm depleted uranium "bullet" from an A-10 is 280 grams (0.617 pounds). Four of these scrounged from the ground around some destroyed Iraqi tank would about do it.

Evidently the guy was up to no good, but there is more than one kind of no good. I approve of some. One of my buddies in high school was caught with a bag of dry leaves, and admitted he was planning to sell it. But the leaves were oregano, which last I checked is not illegal. I approve of crooks selling depleted uranium to people who think they are getting 95% enriched U235.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

Tom Ligon wrote:Even if it is a kg of uranium, is it natural, depleted U238, or U235?

There were a fair number of depleted uranium "fuel pellets" circulated back in the day. They were often treated as souveneirs of being in the reactor biz. They're not totally harmless, but if kept wrapped in plastic and stuck in a desk drawer they're no more harmful than some rocks.

A 30 mm depleted uranium "bullet" from an A-10 is 280 grams (0.617 pounds). Four of these scrounged from the ground around some destroyed Iraqi tank would about do it.

Evidently the guy was up to no good, but there is more than one kind of no good. I approve of some. One of my buddies in high school was caught with a bag of dry leaves, and admitted he was planning to sell it. But the leaves were oregano, which last I checked is not illegal. I approve of crooks selling depleted uranium to people who think they are getting 95% enriched U235.
In the US it is against the law to sell dry leaves of one kind while representing them as dry leave of another kind. It confuses the enforcers and corrupts the market.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

Diogenes
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Post by Diogenes »

Decided to stick this story under this thread rather than creating a new one.




Nuclear bomb material found for sale on Georgia black market


http://weaselzippers.us/2010/11/07/just ... ck-market/

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