Posted on 07/08/2008 10:35:21 AM PDT by pissant
Yellowcake is 70-90% Triuranium octoxide by weight., so that would be 848779.4 to 1091287.8 lbs of U3O8.
U3O8 has a molecular weight of 842.08193, of which 714.08673 is Uranium ( 84.8%).
So we are talking about 719764.9312 to 925412.0544 lbs of Uranium atoms by weight.
U235 is naturally 0.7204% of Uranium isotopes. So that makes 5185.19 to 6666.67 lbs of U235.
There was 141.0957 lbs of Uranium 235 in the core of the Little Boy Atomic Bomb.
So we are talking about 36 to 47 fission style nuclear weapons with a yield of 13 to 16 kilotons.
Your math is probably better. I was not sure that yellowcake was U3O8. I also see that you have a significantly different quantity for the core weight. Mine was a crude estimate. But we both come out with the same answer: quite a few bombs.
Actually, the real news is the movement of the yellowcake, not it’s existence. I wouldn’t be surprised if we use it ourselves for nuclear energy...which I am not opposed to. We’ll let the Canucks hold it for a while so all the tree huggers won’t be upset that we might go ahead and build nuclear power plants, then at a later date we’ll bring it into the US.
It has always been important - not just right now. It's just news because it got moved.
One thing it should prove to the Paulites and the liberals is that we needed to go into Iraq and get rid of Saddam.
Of course, neither group will ever admit that.
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