Re: Nuclear Weapons Material

[thad@pdi.com (Thaddeus Beier)]

To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Nuclear Weapons Material

>> Roy M. Silvernail says:
>> Plutonium oxide has a reputation for causing eventual lung cancer when
>> inhaled in microgram quantities.  But if the plutonium metal is sintered
>> into a ceramic, it's not loose and breathable.  I can't say how
>> otherwise toxic it might be, but I'd expect it to be similar to other
>> heavy metals.  So the poker chips sound pretty safe.

They'd be safe unless the pot got really big.

I recall hearing a radio show in which some nuclear engineer was
saying that such-and-such and incident couldn't have really gone
critical, because when that happens, it starts to glow sort of bluish
color, and you feel heat as if you were standing in front of a really
big oven.  The way it sounded, I got the impression that unintended
criticalities did happen now and then.

Thad Beier  Pacific Data Images  408)745-6755  thad@pdi.com