Article

2019-07-07 The Grand Turk

Radioactive material worth $72m seized from car in Turkey

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by trailing wife 2019-07-07 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 Holy smoke!!!!! Californium 252 is a real neutron emitter. 1 microgram emits 2.3 MILLION neutrons per second! In my nuclear physics class at UC Berkeley we went to the radiation lab and viewed 3 micrograms of Californium dissolved in hydrochloric acid. Th chamber was 8 ft below the ground and saw the beaker and remote controls behind a window with 10 feet of water. The labware was changed once a month because of neutron destruction. A lawn was over the 8 ft of soil and the neutrons killed the own. Smuggling this large amount in a car is suicide

Posted by Alaska Paul 2019-07-07 13:04|| 2019-07-07 13:04|| Front Page Top

#2 PIMF. lawn

Posted by Alaska Paul 2019-07-07 13:06|| 2019-07-07 13:06|| Front Page Top

#3 Smuggling this large amount in a car is suicide

We'll know when their legs start to fester and skin slough off.

I feel sorry for the cops who found it, too.

Heard about this last week. Everyone who came in contact is dead, according to one of my acquaintances in the AEC.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2019-07-07 13:42|| 2019-07-07 13:42|| Front Page Top

#4 Hard to take this at face value.

It might have been that the Californium was part of a mixture of decay products and, say, chloride to make it into a salt.

Also, the official price of Californium 252 is about $27M per gram which, if the Californium were pure would be more like $400M.

Posted by lord garth 2019-07-07 14:13|| 2019-07-07 14:13|| Front Page Top

#5 Everyone who came in contact is dead, according to one of my acquaintances in the AEC.

Plastic bags are not enough ti contain the radiation, it appears.

Mullah Richard, any thoughts you can share about the potential buyer?

As a side note, I see that one of the moderators decided this ought to be on Page 1. My thanks for that. :-)

Posted by trailing wife 2019-07-07 14:38|| 2019-07-07 14:38|| Front Page Top

#6 Anything that requires wearing lead lined jockey shorts to handle is off the table for me. Who knows I might wind up having kids one day.

Posted by jpal 2019-07-07 16:18|| 2019-07-07 16:18|| Front Page Top

#7 Who knows I might wind up having kids one day.

You poor bastard.

Posted by Skidmark 2019-07-07 16:31|| 2019-07-07 16:31|| Front Page Top

#8 any thoughts you can share about the potential buyer?

Sorry, clandestine folks like that are not in my field of expertise.

I am familiar with the substance only from a physics lab standpoint (in my distant past, similar experience to AP's as to safety measures taken) and I do know that it is used in medical research and for pinpoint treatment of some forms of cancer.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2019-07-07 17:55|| 2019-07-07 17:55|| Front Page Top

#9 Who knows I might wind up having kids one day.

A wonderful idea, jpal. The world needs more Rantburg kids, aware of the great, big, mean world out there, and the most effective ways to deal with it.

Thank you for answering, Mullah Richard. I know that here many of the answers I would like to have are not for me to know — for a variety of reasons. But on the other hand, y’all have taught me so much that I didn’t even know could be known, putting me so far ahead on balance that I haveno complaints whatsoever. :-)

Posted by trailing wife 2019-07-07 23:33|| 2019-07-07 23:33|| Front Page Top

23:57 trailing wife
23:53 trailing wife
23:39 trailing wife
23:36 trailing wife
23:33 trailing wife
22:36 gorb
22:31 gorb
22:29 SteveS
22:27 gorb
22:20 gorb
22:17 gorb
21:34 Captain Wittlesbach9354
21:13 Chunky McCoy4391
21:00 Phaick Uneretle6310
20:50 Frank G
20:50 Chunky McCoy4391
20:30 Skidmark
20:29 Snakes Oppressor of the Danes9293
20:28 Skidmark
20:27 Skidmark
20:27 M. Murcek
20:07 anymouse
20:05 anymouse
20:04 anymouse
Merry-Go-Blog