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| Libya ’produced nuclear material’ |
| 2004-02-20 |
| The UN’s nuclear watchdog has said Libya managed to produce a small amount of plutonium using technology acquired on the black market. The International Atomic Energy Agency report did not specify the amount, but said it was not enough to make a nuclear bomb, diplomats said. ... The report said Libya secretly imported enriched uranium which it converted into plutonium, and engaged in other activities aimed at producing a nuclear weapon. I’m pretty sure that you can’t make plutonium without a reactor, so this shows that the Libyans had reached at least that stage of development. Plutonium let’s you make smaller, more compact warheads since the critical mass is lower. It’s harder to make a warhead since you implode it, whereas with a uranium bomb, you just gotta slam one chunk into another really hard. In WW2, we never tested the uranium design because the mechanics of it were considered a no brainer. Suggestion to Fred: Add a "WMD" or "proliferation" category for stories. |
| Posted by:11A5S |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-2-20 3:10:49 PM |