Uranium seized in Turkey (names the suspects); US in consultations

cnn ^ | 9/28/02

[knak]

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkish officials said Saturday they have seized 34.6 pounds of uranium and arrested two Turkish men in Urfa, a town in southeastern Turkey. U.S. officials are in touch with authorities to get information about the seizure.

[NukeMan]

Can't be done chemically. It takes a very special process (gaseous diffusion, centifuge, or laser isotope enrichment) and the resources of a medium-size government to do it. In the US we have huge (albeit not well known) facilities at Oak Ridge, TN and other sites to do just this.

[SSN558]

It is a lot. In the gaseous difussion process the raw material is .711% U235. The "tails" or waste stream still contains .7% of U235. This is how the weapons production facilities ended up with millions of gallons of waste.

[StolarStorm]

You stink of a disruptor.

[StolarStorm]

clodhopper signed up 2002-09-28.

[MJY1288]

I would have to agree with you, After all... Saddam has no nuclear power plants or any other need for uranium other than for weapons, So if the destination for these smugglers was Iraq... case closed ... Time to remove him and disarm Iraq.

BTW Thanks for the info on uranium, I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of what it takes to put a nuke together

[freepersup]

>>>material that would eventually wind up in a nuclear power plant<<<

I agree- I too do not find taxis to be suitable delivery vehicles for uranium earmarked for nuclear power plant fuel production facilities.

That wasn't my point.

The point I was trying to make is....this material could have been taken from a facilty that was going to produce fuel pellets FOR a nuclear power plant.

Another post mentions the byproduct of highly enriched uranium (weapons grade) is waste material that still has an increased enrichment of 7%. It may be discovered that this waste material is actually what the smugglers / terrorists were trying to take out of Turkey and on into either Syria or Iraq.

[freepersup]

My question was regarding volume and conversion. If an enrichment process strarts out with, as an example- 1 ton of raw material (uranium) what amount is left over as waste of the 2,000 lbs. ? Conversely how many pounds of weapons grade material would be produced from a ton of raw uranium. I realize that the weight is not in proportion to the weight of the original amount, when considering the physical size of the material.

[freepersup]

Exactly ! Exhibit A- one still smoking gun.

[finnman69]

I think is is more frightening that there was NO MENTION OF THIS SEIZURE AT ALL IN THE NY TIMES today! But they did manage to get on the front page that nancy Reagan is trying to get Bush to change his mind on stem cell research.

I can't believe they would not print this? Are they really that biased. This is an im pressive new level. Surely it at least should have gotten a mention in world news. NADDA ZIPPO NOTHING!

[BJungNan]

The point I was trying to make is....this material could have been taken from a facilty that was going to produce fuel pellets FOR a nuclear power plant.

Sorry I misunderstood your post.

Developing now - the amount found is far less than what was first reported according to Drudge.

BR, BJN

[freepersup]

I reread my post and it can be taken out of context. No apology needed. Appreciated just the same. I was going to post- one has to be on top of one's game when posting here as users are quite literate and are fond of, (in a sporting way) pointing out double entendres and other misappropriations of the Kings'English.

I saw the update too. Posts 56 and 66 in this thread make good points about the intent and motive, irrespective of the amount or level of enrichment. A clear and present danger.

[NukeMan]

Ah! Misunderstood your question.

For each ton of natural Uranium, .711% (.00711 fractionally) is U-235. This is 14.22 lbs of U-235 at 100% enrichment (it almost always stops at 98% enrichment). This is not counting the flourine gas, chemicals, etc. used in the enrichment process. I'd say offhand that for each 2000 lbs of uranium, another 2000 lbs of various chemicals are used as well.

[freepersup]

The bias is beyond description. What is compelling is where this material was intercepted. They didn't find this material on a ship in a port in Norway. It was discovered in Iraq's backyard. Found in the hands of Turkish locals hidden in a vehicle bound for Syria (possibly) or...Iraq via Syria (more likely). A clear and present danger. One still smoking gun.

[freepersup]

Thanks for the clarification. I am trying to assess the threat level when considering this confiscation.

Enriched uranium versus waste/non-enriched uranium. The implications are basically the same in the long run, but the immediacy in acting is clearly called for if weapons grade uranium is heading for Iraq. I am for taking action either way. I would accelerate the action based on the discovery of weapons grade materials being confiscated 155 miles from Iraq.

One shipment of weapons grade uranium of sufficient weight to outfit a nuke is a clear and present danger.

One shipment of waste/non-enriched uranium of like weight (ex: 17kg) is not sufficient to oufit a nuke, nor is it in the proper form yet, therefore the danger in comparison is less than the above example. However, it is also a clear and present danger, as it could be dispersed in a dirty bomb.

The analogy only goes to the heart of my offensive strategies.

Your answer as to how much material is needed to produce an amount sufficient for a nuke tells me that it would take a lot (physically) of non enriched material. Thanks

[freepersup]

What kind of dose does weapons grade uranium emit ? I know that spent nuclear fuel emits Rems in the millions. Lethal dose is 650 Rems.

Spent fuel for obvious reasons would not be considered. I suspect that unused fuel pellets are a beast of a different sort and wouldn't be easily reconsituted into yellow cake / material for weapons grade production, or would it ?

What would the raw material emit ? the waste material ? and finally the highly enriched weapons grade material ?

[NukeMan]

Unirradiated Natural Uranium is a pussycat, dose-wise. It is an alpha emitter (alphas are big and charged, and can be stopped by a few inches of air, or a sheet of foil, or the outer layer of skin). To be sure, you don't want to inhale uranium dust as it can remain in your lungs and deliver a potent dose after years of constant, low-level irradiation of lung tissue.

As for U-235 (100%, weapons grade) the same thing applies. It is primarily an alpha emitter, with a shorter half-life than U-238. It does have a small ability to spontaneously fission. My calcs show about 2 neutrons per second per kilogram of U-235, which is nothing (they would most likely be captured by other U-235 atoms rather than leak out of the system, depending on the configuration). Note that plutonium-239 based weapons have a much larger spontaneous fission rate, due mostly to the unavoidable presence of Pu-240 which has a short half-life (6500 yrs) and a more substantial spontaneous fission fraction (5.7E-08 per decay).

In short, uranium isn't really a worry if you don't somehow inhale or ingest the stuff. I have held mildly enriched reactor fuel pellets in my bare hand, and was none the worse for the experience....

[Poohbah]

Hold muh Koran and WATCH THIS!

[mhking]

My question is why was it under the car seat?

Best place to hide it until sticking it in the flux capacitor...