Posted on 01/09/2013 6:07:50 AM PST by Olog-hai
Concern is heightening over the possible existence of up to 50 tons of enriched uranium in Syria, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, a stockpile large enough for the production of five atomic bombs.
To date, governments have largely focused on the fate of Syria’s chemical weapons, and preventing their seizure by Islamic militants spearheading the ongoing uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule.
As the country descends deeper into a sectarian civil war, however, fears have grown over the possible existence, and security, of a stockpile of processed uranium inside Syria. … An IAEA inspection team that visited the Al-Kibar site in May 2008 found only traces of uranium, fueling speculation that a large stockpile of uranium had been moved. …
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
I’m sure the international community will take swift, decisive action./sarc
I’m trying to figure just how much volume of material we are talking about here... Enriched U is in metallic form, right? And not so far away from Pb in density? IIRC a ton of Pb is a cube about 15 to 18 or so inches on a side. So we’re looking for about fifty times that... Maybe the size of a cord of firewood? About 4x4x8. That sound about right?
Highly-enriched uranium is usually in metal form, often cast into billets. Density of uranium (whether 238 or 235 isotope) is about 19 g/cm³; by contrast, lead is about 11.3 g/cm³.
Would that amount react to a nuke or would it
just scatter it.
Did anyone ever test a scenario such as this?
A nuke set off in close proximity to tons of
enriched uranium?
Just curious.
Thanks... So it would seem that fifty tons of U is an even smaller package than I was thinking. Small in size... Even though you couldn’t carry it all in one pickup truck, it would still fit. Not that this means anything one way or the other. Just trying to visualize how much stuff we’re talking about.
Whut whut... Wait a second... It takes TEN tons of U to achieve critical mass... In a cannon-type tube weapon? Really?
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