[VMI70]

"...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?

[SLB]

Do we bomb England for losing the Plutonium,

Better not at this time, my daughter is leaving for 6 months at Oxford next Wednesday. {/sarcasm}

[Poohbah]

Remember that 1000-pound MUF at Savannah River?

Seems that it was caused by the stuff getting stuck in the plumbing.

That is how closely nations like the US and the UK track their fissionable material.

A far more likely scenario is that the stuff came from Russia or China, courtesy of piss-poor auditing.

There is a strong possibility that not even RUSSIA knows how much nuclear fuel they brewed from 1943-1991.