Ounce of uranium found in pawn shop

UPI ^ | March 9, 2007

[Billy Jacks blog]

A container of what appears to be an ounce of processed uranium turned up at a Florida pawn shop.

The owner of Gold Mine Pawn in Belleview told police the container was in a box that has been in storage for 20 years after being bought at an estate sale outside Florida, WKMG-TV in Orlando reported. The container was lead with a warning of radioactive contents.

[Billy Jacks blog]

Who in their right mind would hock an ounce of uranium?I have no idea what the street price would be, but I have a feeling it would be exponentially higher they the pawn shop gave him/her. How did this person get this uranium? Was it enriched? If so, how much enriched uranium does it take to manufacture a nuclear weapon? This is an extremely disturbing story with a many important and yet unanswered questions!

Billy Jack

billyjacksblog.com

[Darksheare]

Five pounds enriched uranium makes a decent nuke.
One ounce would only be useful for contaminating an area or poisoning someone.

[rellimpank]

---rolling eyes and yawning---

[Safetgiver]

Police plan to try to locate the seller of the container to determine where the uranium came from. ....It can be determined where yellow cake from by physical analysis. And,no, it apparently was not enriched as it was yellow cake. I doubt the seller, 20 years ago, saw any hazard to it and sold it as the " stuff that makes bombs." No real problem here, but a real eye opener.

[gondramB]

Its worth remembering that "processed" is not the same as enriched. You can buy processed high quality uranium or and ore processed into metal online. Its enriched uranium that starts to be more dangerous and highly enriched uranium that can be a real threat.

[silentknight]

lol this thread is funny...who cares

[RightWhale]

how much enriched uranium does it take to manufacture a nuclear weapon?

Several pounds. The main problem with uranium metal is that it burns and spatters.

[FairOpinion]

FYI PING

[musicman]

[gondramB]

>>how much enriched uranium does it take to manufacture a nuclear weapon?

---

Several pounds. The main problem with uranium metal is that it burns and spatters.<<

Depends on how enriched. Enrichment cannot take p[lace by any sort of chemical process - it takes nuclear cetrifuges.

Natural uranium is about .7% and cannot make a fission bomb.

Slightly enriched is up to 2% and not useful for fission bombs but can be used in heavy water reactors


Research reactors go up to 19.xx % because at 20% you can start to make a crude bomb. given very large amounts.

Actual bomb grade is 85% and that's when they start talking about a critical mass that is feasible.

If this sample is just processed and not enriched, its poison and could be harmful but you could have a ton of it and it would not blow up.

[Billy Jacks blog]

I hope you have a nice rest. Volatile nuclear materials floating haphazardly around among the common population may not be such a small matter. Clearly this small amount by itself does not amount to very much. But how much more is out there and who has it in their possession? I don't believe those are insignificant questions.

Billy Jack

billyjacksblog.com

[zook]

Shoot. When we were kids our folks used to give us sandwich bags full of uranium just to play with. And if you got a little bit in your mouth, well that was just too bad! It was good enough for us, and we LIKED it!

[theFIRMbss]

>this thread is funny...

Wait until I put
my red mercury on sale
on EBAY! Then laugh!

[Darksheare]

I preferred the Cobalt60 myself.

[rellimpank]

--see post #13--

[texanyankee]

As kids in the '60's, we had a chemistry kit at home. I know for a fact that it was stocked with a bunch of chemicals and one of the sealed containers was labeled uranium ore.

[ansel12]

As I clicked away from the page, I saw your tagline and had to come back. LOL

[zook]

I remember an actual news story from the 70s about a crazy physicist or lab technician who put cesium pellets in his son's pajamas. It ruined his genitals. Dad's were stricter back then, I guess.

[RightWhale]

Did it glow in the dark?

[Darksheare]

!!!
Thanks!
It popped into my head one morning at work nd I wrote it down for later use.