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To: freepersup
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.
73 posted on 09/29/2002 10:17:15 AM PDT by NukeMan
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To: NukeMan
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


75 posted on 09/29/2002 10:45:08 AM PDT by freepersup
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To: NukeMan
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 ?
76 posted on 09/29/2002 10:54:48 AM PDT by freepersup
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