[Southack]

"With 110 pounds of HEU, it'd be trivial."

Only in the movies. Working with such brittle, dangerous metals as Uranium is anything but trivial, as are creating the proper nuclear "trigger" and core shape, all of which are affected greatly by the decay of the different elements and their introduction (through decay) of impurities into the whole process.

Likewise, the electronics and conventional explosives used to start the detonation are all impacted negatively by the emitted radiation of the fissionable material, among other such problems.

Consider that NAZI Germany couldn't figure out how to overcome these hurdles during WW2, though not for lack of trying. Neither could Soviet Russia or the UK at that time, either. Then consider that most of the Middle East considers WW2-era V-2 (ooops, SCUD) missiles to be state of the art.

So there is considerably more to building an actual nuclear bomb than meets the eye, though a dirty bomb *is* a trivial task.

[AdamSelene235]

Likewise, the electronics and conventional explosives used to start the detonation are all impacted negatively by the emitted radiation of the fissionable material, among other such problems.

Electronics? A neutron trigger would be nice to enhance yield but it isn't necessary. You could make a flintlock U-235 gun sans electronics if you liked.

Consider that NAZI Germany couldn't figure out how to overcome these hurdles during WW2, though not for lack of trying. Neither could Soviet Russia or the UK at that time, either.

Consider that the Little Boy design was Never Even Tested. They knew it would go from first principles. The stumbling blocks for the Nazis and Soviets were the refinement of uranium and the complexity of detonating plutonium (which is much easier to produce). Once you have refined shaped uranium, you are well on your way to a usable device.

The Pakistanis acquired nukes with Saudi money. Pakistan doesn't exactly have its sh*t together.

[Prime Choice]

With 110 pounds of HEU, it'd be trivial

Only in the movies. Working with such brittle, dangerous metals as Uranium is anything but trivial

Not to belabor my point, but al Qaeda operatives are not exactly concerned about personal safety. And yes, a 110 pound HEU bomb is pretty trivial since that's all that's required for supercritical mass. The high tech solutions requiring neutron exciters come in when you're dealing with Uranium-235 quantities in less than natural critical mass.

Likewise, the electronics and conventional explosives used to start the detonation are all impacted negatively by the emitted radiation of the fissionable material, among other such problems.

These are all part and parcel of safety considerations with which al Qaeda operatives do not even bother concerning themselves. Moreover, lead is not hard to come by and has been previously used for radioactive shielding in such weaponry.

Consider that NAZI Germany couldn't figure out how to overcome these hurdles during WW2, though not for lack of trying.

Nazi Germany failed in its pursuit of the atomic bomb because their scientists started out by trying to prove a Jew (Einstein) was wrong. The Nazi ideology doomed their work from the start.

Neither could Soviet Russia or the UK at that time, either.

Soviet Russia was less than 5 years away from their own A-bomb when the Rosenbergs forked over our secrets to them. The main thing holding them back was that they lacked the core research infrastructure we had cultivated over the entirety of the Manhattan Project.

[Travis McGee]

Given 110 pounds of HEU, I'd bet on western-trained engineers working for AQ to be able to at least duplicate a Hiroshima-type gun barrel device. It ain't rocket science. So what if they "only" get a 1% yield? That would still be about 10KT, or enough to flatten Manhattan.