With modern weapons-grade uranium, the background neutron rate is so low that terrorists, if they had such material, would have a good chance of setting off a high-yield explosion simply by dropping one half of the material onto the other half. Most people seem unaware that if separated U-235 is at hand, it's a trivial job to set off a nuclear explosion, whereas if only plutonium is available, making it explode is the most difficult technical job I know.[3]We didn't know he'd worked on the Manhattan Project. Destroyer of worlds indeed.
— Luis Alvarez, one of the Alvarezes behind the asteroid/comet/meteor extinction theory.
*Potential U-235 suppliers: You can decide the metropolitan area we'll destroy bare-handed. We know it's unlikely we'll get any, but it'd absolutely be worth it. Seriously.
8 comments:
Of course, it took 5% of the GDP of the USA to produce enough enriched weapons-grade uranium to build two atom bombs. So, alas, us poor people will simply have to stick with deranged rants on these here Internets...
Ranting Deranged Editor:
And the idle threats, they're chopped liver?
And the idle threats, they're chopped liver?
More like frosting on the cake.
And the idle threats, they're chopped liver?
More like frosting on the cake.
Mmm, liver frosting...
Nausea Editor:
Hah! We thought icing on a liver cake soon as we saw that. Maybe even a liver layer cake.
Retch!
If you could make the two chunks of U-235 into cymbals it'd be the most awesome 1812 Overture ever.
And I thought I was Weird.
Get Off Our Brain Editor:
It's as if SMG were reading our mind!
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