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If you read Tom Clancy, a scientist would scoop up a sample of radioactive material and send it through a quick analysis. It would revel the reactor that manufactured the material. Then a quick follow up would locate the material and cruise missiles would follow.

"...a scientist would scoop up a sample of radioactive material and send it through a quick analysis. It would revel the reactor that manufactured the material. Then a quick follow up would locate the material and cruise missiles would follow."

I assume Clancy is correct in his research, but I must say that I would like to hear it confirmed from a more authoritative source.

Should I assume you mean nuclear armed cruise missles?

Say the material from the physics package was found to have been reprocessed at Sellafield, located on the western coast of England, which does a lot of commercial reprocessing. Somewhere along the line enough material was stolen to make a nuke.

Do we bomb England for losing the Plutonium, or do we engage in a worldwide manhunt to try and find the perps, a la Bin Laden. If we do that, and it turns out to be a terrorist organization, not a nation-state, who do we bomb?

I have read Tom Clancy but in the real world U235 and plutonium can not be traced to specific reactors or processing plants. Besides what are we going to do if we trace it to a 1970's Soviet plant/reactor? Do we nuke Russia because some one stole a bomb or the radio-active material. What do we do if the sample has multiple sources? I wish some of the solutions were as simple as Clancy projects.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown