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RICH: I don't remember that. I don't know if that was uranium that could be made into nuclear weapons. That's something that I don't know. What an idiot. Uranium is uranium. Number 92 on the atomic chart with an atomic weight of 238. Is Rich suggesting that the uranium used to make weapons consist of atoms that are NOT uranium?
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Come on...we all know now that Saddam had a few paint factories in Iraq. He also had mobile labs that rode from town to town displaying paint colors and wallpaper so that Iraqi decorators could have the very latest in hip design. The uranium was a necessary ingredient for mixing paint.
Gigantic eyeroll. LOL
There are multiple isotopes of uranium, and only some can be used for nuclear bombs (as opposed to just dirty bombs).
IIRC, uranium-235 (not 238) is required to make a nuclear bomb, as 238 is more stable. I believe U-235 is what is meant by "enriched" uranium.
He's probably using the lame partial excuse that this was not weapons-grade urnium. It's kind of like saying that a barrel of crude oil could not (eventually) be used to make Molotov cocktails.
Rich should have stuck to his mincing theater critiques and left politics to the real geniuses at the Slimes, like Krugman. /sarcasm
Uranium has an atomic number of 92, and comes in at least two isotopes, with atomic weights of 235 and 238. Natural uranium consist of mostly 238, with very little 235.
Depleted uranium has had some of the 235 removed. Depleted uranium is used in armor piercing rounds. Neither depleted nor natural uranium are very radioactive, nor would they make very good "dirty bombs", contrary to the asertion by the interviewer.
Natural uranium makes a very nice orangish-yellow pigment in pottery glazes, so you might have some in your house in the form of older ceramics.
