Saddam's gold discovered in truck

upi ^

[mtbopfuyn]

Excuse my skepticism. I'm no truck expert but I don't think that's possible.

That was my first thought too. But bottom line is the guy turned down a fortune and reported it to the US military.

[ChewedGum]

Wow - this totally slipped under my radar and it seems to have slipped under the rest of the world's as well.

Gum

[seowulf]

Actually, you would have to break open any brass casing. Pu emits only Beta and Alpha which would be easily shielded by a thin layer of almost anything.

[supercat]

Actually, you would have to break open any brass casing. Pu emits only Beta and Alpha which would be easily shielded by a thin layer of almost anything.

Does Pu also give off heat?

I would think camouflaging Pu in "gold" bars might be an effective means of hiding it. If anyone tries to steal it and melt it down, they'll end up dead before they spill the beans.

[seowulf]

Yes. It would give off the heat of decay although that may not be enough to be detectable until a you stack enough of it in the proper configuration. Then you have to start worrying about critical mass and seeing that famous blue flash. That could be the purpose of a brass casing-to prevent that kind of configuration when stacking the bricks.