X-Message-Number: 17772 Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 12:45:42 -0400 From: Jeffrey Soreff <> Subject: Re: OBL+15 kg of U235== Move Alcor? [Driven FromThePack] >Here is a scenario: smuggle the 15 kilos U235 into the >USA. Buy ingredients for a Tim McVeigh type >fertilizer bomb. Prepare fertilizer bomb, and grind >the U235 into dust (easy to do with "suicide >grinder".). >Then place U235 and bomb into large van and have 22 >bombers (not necessarily suiciders!) rent a house >outside 15 large metro areas (you figure .75 Kilos or >so of U235 dust is sufficient to contaminate the core >of the 15 largest American metro areas). Then just >wait for a windy day, with the wind blowing into the >city. In short: don't worry about this scenario. U235 is only about 6 times more radioactive than U238, depleted uranium. A kilogram of U235 isn't remotely enough to seriously contaminate a city. 0.75 kilos of U235 has a decay rate of about 2 microcuries, about equivalent to 2 smoke alarms. Now if a critical mass were made into a fission bomb, _that_ is worth being concerned about. Best wishes, -Jeff Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17772