[Dan Evans]

And thankfully is deadly dangerous to handle. A half-hour of exposure will give you enough rads to kill you,

That isn't true. It is actually less radioactive than plutonium. And plutonium can be worked with without special shielding:

"Since the radiation hazard from HEU is 1000 times less than that from Pu, exposures to the public at the site boundary are substantially reduced..."

During the Manhattan project the core of the "Gadget" (plutonium) was transported to the Trinity Site in the back seat of a car by a physicist who held it in his lap.

[dirtboy]

That isn't true. It is actually less radioactive than plutonium

I think the author is instead postulating that it is extremely dangerous because it's much easier to make an a-bomb with it than plutonium.