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To: Pontiac
"That means that this fuel is pretty close to bomb grade fuel. Some creative engineer could probably make it go boom. It would be dirty but what does a terrorist care."

Nope. Not nearly enough enrichment for "boom-making". That was why I was wondering if it was a homogeneous reactor. With the lead coolant, the fuel would be intermixed with the lead (including radioactive lead isotopes from the fission process) and be virtually impossible to proliferate. Having separate fuel elements increases the likelihood of proliferation.

18 posted on 02/11/2012 9:26:31 AM PST by Wonder Warthog
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To: Wonder Warthog
Nope. Not nearly enough enrichment for "boom-making".

I think you are wrong about that. True the standard idea was that you needed 90% or more enrichment for bomb grade Uranium but I don’t believe that is true any more.

I believe that with modern tampers and a high out put neutron source initiator a talented nuclear engineer could produce a low yield bomb with enrichment at this level.

I personally would not want to take the chance that a terrorist group could not find such an engineer.

21 posted on 02/11/2012 9:47:58 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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