Special Ops boarding ship to search for Nuclear Material off the NJ shore

Fox News Alert | 9/12/02 | Brytani

[Brytani]

Fox News just broke in with an alert. Special Op's are now searching a Liberian flagged ship 8 miles off the coast of NJ looking for nuclear material. More information to follow.

[Petronski]

Can somebody clarify who's inspecting this ship: NEST or SEALS ? I've seen posts that claim each.

FOX just reported that BOTH are involved.

[Joe Hadenuf]

They are saying radioactivity has been detected....Special ops on board, started with routine check, senior defense officials say threat regarding this incident is not rising....NES teams also on board and vessel has been moved further off shore.....

[mhking]

I'm talking about making your own vanilla coke.

Waffle House makes their own vanilla and cherry coke in each restaurant going this way...

[harpseal]

Getting a glow on up here in the Northeast

[mhking]

NES teams also on board and vessel has been moved further off shore.....

Did they say how much farther offshore?

[EternalHope]

I am thinking more of reactor waste, of which there is plenty, no one really wants it, and it's highly radioactive.

Good point. Harder to get, but would certainly make for a nasty dirty bomb. The radiation would be significant, but the worst effect would still be psychological.

[Dog]

Explosive-ordnance-disposal experts with the Joint Special Operations Command are on call to fly in and assist the scientists in taking apart anything they find,

[B-Chan]

If neutron radiation was detected, I share your concern. Ordinary radioactive materials (uranium, plutonium, etc.) in ordinary amounts are generally fairly neutron-cool; they emit alpha and gamma radiation to one degree or another, but their neutron emission rates are low -- that is, until you get enough of the stuff together in a small space. Then, neutron emissions from some of the atoms cause the nuclei of other nearby atoms to fission (split), releasing more neutrons, which causes still further fission -- the famous "chain reaction". Every time a nucleus splits, a small portion of its mass is converted to energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, and thus (when the radiation interacts with matter) to heat, according to Einstein' famous formula E=MC^2 (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). If this fission chain reaction occurs gradually, the energy will released at a controlled rate, and the reaction becomes "critical" (self-sustaining), producing heat; this is how nuclear power plants generate steam. However, if the fission chain reaction occurs quickly enough, and within nuclear materials that are smaller that a given volume (the "critical mass"), then an uncontrolled, runaway chain reaction occurs, releasing all the fission energy at once: E=MC^2. Boom. This is the principle behind an atomic bomb

Neutron radiation also has the effect of rendering surrounding materials radioactive over time. The stray neutrons from the radioactive material shoot out of their nuclei and slam into the nuclei of other atoms nearby, knocking out nuclear particles from them and changing their composition; certain of the resulting changed nuclei become unstable as a result, emitting electromagnetic radiation on their own. (These "changed" atoms are called radioisotopes.) By converting the atoms in nearby materials to radioisotopes over time, neutron-emitting material can cause non-radioactive materials to become radioactive. Thus, even if the ship in question has no nuclear or radioactive comb on board now, the presence of radiation might indicate that such a bomb was located on the ship at some time before. By analyzing the rate at which this induced radiation dissapates (its "rate of decay"), scientists might be able to tell how long ago it was irradiated and, thus, when the nuclear materials were onboard.

The presence of detectable neutron radiation onboard this ship would be a serious indication that a critical mass of radioactive material is or was on board. That would not bode well.

[seeker41]

Fox saying the ship was in port in NJ and made to go back out 8 miles. What if the cargo (presumably small) was offloaded already, either in port or while out at sea leaving behind traces of radioactivity?

[Joe Hadenuf]

The report didn't indicate......

[The Vast Right Wing]

I'm sure they have thought of that and tracked down any containers. My bet is they didn't offload anything.

[mhking]

The report didn't indicate......

I got a bad feeling about this...

Why do I keep thinking that we aren't getting everything on this yet?

[seeker41]

The Liberian-flagged M/V Palermo Senator was ordered back to sea by the Coast Guard Wednesday after traces of radioactivity were found in the hold during a routine inspection at the Port of Newark.

From Fox.com

[gridlock]

This is listed as the expected itenerary for a cruise service that operates on this line of frieghters.

[kayak]

Anybody else think it would be a good idea to tow this boat right up the east river and park it in front of the UN until they vote to take Saddam out?

I would prefer that we put the UN delegates on the ship and send it out to sea. The people of NYC and surrounding areas have had enough trauma to live with in the last year.

[Dog]

Were not getting everything......count on it.

[Hatteras]

Come to think of it, we are only talking about Newark and the prevailing winds will carry fallout back out to the ocean and beyond.... (just a thought)

[aristeides]

Nov. 12, 2001, when that plane went down over the Rockaways, was a date when President Bush was in NYC to address the UN.

[The Vast Right Wing]

Yes, a much better solution.

[Joe Hadenuf]

To keep panic down, otherwise half the east coast would be heading westbound.....