17 lbs of radioactive uranium has gone missing in China

[donsu]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?cid=13069&cat=dis&lang=eng


Eight kg (17 lb) of radioactive uranium has gone missing in China, delaying the verdict in a trial of four men charged with attempting to sell it on the black market, state media said on Friday. A court in Guangzhou, capital of China's southern province of Guangdong, heard the four tried to sell the material, which can be used in making nuclear weapons, between 2005 and January 2007. The men were arrested in January after a potential buyer in Hong Kong reported them to the authorities, the paper said. However, despite having the four men in custody, police were unable to locate the uranium. "The men claimed it had been lost because it had been moved around so much between potential buyers," the paper said. A verdict had yet to be reached "as the court said the trial would continue until authorities tracked down" the uranium. Under Chinese law, the illegal trade in uranium carries a sentence of between three and 10 years in prison. In exceptional cases, it can carry the death sentence. "The radioactive substance uranium does not explode when it is in its raw state, but it is very harmful to people's health," Jiang Chaoqiang, director of the Guangzhou No 12 People's Hospital, told China Daily. "Therefore it needed to be found as soon as possible.")
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as soon as possible

[Taverner]

1. OMG TERRA TERRA! We gotta bomb Quebec now!

:sarcasm:

[Sanctified]

2. Better go check my childrens toys. n/t

[EFerrari]

3. And the dog's food. n/t

[lonestarnot]

34. checking pajamas.

[KansDem]

4. Excuse my ignorance, but just how much is "17 lbs" of radioactive uranium?

How many, if any, bombs could this stuff make?

[ThomWV]

9. None

17 pounds is not much. You could make what people call a 'dirty bomb' but that is really sort of a joke too. Oh, and all uranium is radioactive, if its not we call the stuff lead.

[krispos42]

15. I think at least one

The OP's excerpt doesn't say if it's fissionable U₂₃₅ or non-fissionable U₂₃₈, but assuming it's U₂₃₅, I think you could make one implosion-type A-bomb with it.

Implosion-type bombs are hard to make in somebody's basement, but it can be done.

[BadgerLaw2010]

17. Not with 17 pounds of non-HEU you won't.

You need 50 KG of 85% HEU to make a bomb. Getting HEU from normal uranium is way beyond a basement bomb project. Ask Iran about that one.

[krispos42]

23. That's why I used the disclaimer

If it's not mostly U₂₃₅, it's not going to explode.

If it is mostly U₂₃₅, in other words, highly enriched uranium, you might be able to make an implosion-type bomb.

You need 50kg of uranium to make a gun-type uranium bomb. You need considerably less to make an implosion-type nuke.

The most difficult part of making a nuclear bomb is getting the fissionable material. You can't get weapons-grade plutonium without first making a nuclear reactor (which runs on non-highly-enriched uranium) and explosing U₂₃₈ to the neutron stream. And you can't get weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium without centrifuging an ungodly amount of uranium ore for an ungodly amount of time. Neither of those are doable by any terrorist organization.

Assuming it's weapons-grade uranium, China has already done the hardest stuff. Making the necessary detonation system is also hard, but doable. Ask the North Koreans.

[Selatius]

19. Uranium is useless if it's not weapons grade uranium.

If it's simply unrefined uranium that you pull out of the ground, forget it. The best you could do is make a dirty bomb.

[Poll_Blind]

5. On a related note, new line of Glow-in-the-dark teething rings announced! n/t

PB

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

7. LOL. nt.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

6. Probably in the trunk of some unknowing working stiff's '79 Ford Pinto. nt.

[CreekDog]

26. So that would be the ignition source, the '79 Pinto?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

33. I'd say if somebody ass ends that car at more...

...that 10 mph, we've gotta dirty bomb incident.

It's a little known fact that in the Iraqi desert battlefields during operation Desert Storm in the '91 Gulf War, hundreds of RF controlled '79 Ford Pintos were driven backwards at high speed into enemy armored vehicles -- they were called HLTBs (Henry's Little Tank Busters).

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. How the hell can you lose 17lbs of radioactive uranium???

How the hell can you poison dog food? How the hell can you poison toothpaste? How the hell can you poison baby's toys? How the hell can you poison children's clothing with formaldehyde? China needs to get their shit together...or maybe they have?:scared:

Where was KKKRove when this uranium came up missing? ;)

Dirty bombs anyone?

[ThomWV]

10. Pretty easily actually

If you really want to get a disturbing picture of lost radioactive materials you should look into how much material (not only uranium - which in many ways is one of the least important materials) we can not account for (lost) at Hanford, Oak Ridge, and Idaho.

[in_cog_ni_to]

12. Oh great.

Now I feel so much better.:( One would think that would be a high priority as far as security goes. sheesh.

[Hand]

14. Not to mention Rocky Flats.

Last I heard, there was enough residual plutonium in the ductwork for several dirty bombs... :scared:

[krispos42]

20. Oh, it's not that hard. It's probably the size of a softball.

maybe smaller. Uranium is DENSE!!!

The density of uranium is 19.1 g/cm³. 17 pounds is 7,272 grams, so the uranium occupies about 381 cm³. The volume of a sphere is (4πr³)÷3

381 = 4.189*r³

r³ = 90.95

r = 4.497 cm

4.5cm = 1.77 inches

Hmmm... a ping-pong ball is only 3.8 cm across, and a golf ball is 4.3. Wow, it's even smaller than I thought!

[Deja Q]

11. I'm glad they got caught.

I wonder how easily it was to obtain. It's not supposed to be left out in the open like candy in a grocery store on the days parents are most likely going to bring in their children...

[kestrel91316]

13. Time to start checking imported Chinese goods for radioactivity.

I suspect it "disappeared" into some manufacturing facility as an economical alternative to proper disposal.

[ecstatic]

16. Scary but funny

I can't imagine the outrage a scandal like that would get.

[porphyrian]

18. Don't worry, it's all in toys and toddler clothing. - n/t

[zabet]

21. We will be eating it within 30 days..

in some contaminated food they send us. If I wake up glowing
in the dark, I will let every one here know.

[hatrack]

22. As opposed to "non-radioactive uranium"? God, I hate shitty headlines

It's uranium - of COURSE it's radioactive.

:eyes:

[CreekDog]

24. When handling that bag of kibble, use an oven mitt

;)

[SidDithers]

25. Enrichment level?...

If it's unenriched uranium, then 17lbs ain't gonna do squat.

Sid

[sarcasmo]

27. Does Walmart have the radioactive uranium ?

[Deja Q]

31. Yeah, it's in those "Special Edition" cartons of the X-Box.

How else can they look extra green and glowing? :evilgrin:

[Javaman]

28. Anyone know the density of Uranium? And how large a piece of it

would equal to 17 pounds?

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

29. Someone did the math up thread. Said it would be about a golf ball.

[Javaman]

30. Thought as much. thanks :) nt

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

32. Ah, my bad, its RADIUS was the diameter or a golfball.

So two golfballs :) A little under a baseball I'd wager.