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| Two Iraqis arrested with barrel of uranium |
| 2004-02-16 |
| Two Iraqis were arrested Thursday for carrying a barrel of material suspected to be uranium, a high-ranking police officer told AFP on Sunday. "Iraqi police stopped two Iraqis at a checkpoint north of Mosul. They were carrying a huge quantity of uranium to northern Iraq," said General Hikmat Mahmud Mohamed of the Nineveh province’s police department. One policeman was burned when he touched the barrel and was hospitalised, Mohamed said. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #13 Naural and depleted uranium have insignificent radioactivity. And they are not "hot". Just imagine an M1 in Iraqui summer if its ammo were generating heat. The former does not apply to U235. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-2-17 1:43:50 AM |
| #12 Natural, Depleted, or Weapons Grade Uranium is not thermally "hot." - Nuclear reactor fuel definitely will be hot, assuming there is a sufficient amount. I checked the AFP site and the story isnt there. So that it makes it highly suspect. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-2-16 10:45:38 PM |
| #11 I can just see these 2 mutts lugging a slug of URANIUM down the road, tossing it back and forth like a hot potato. I don't think so. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-2-16 10:24:29 PM |
| #10 You taste it. No. You taste it. No. You taste it... |
| Posted by: Hyper 2004-2-16 10:18:27 PM |
| #9 If the can was that hot, I wouldn't bother imprisoning the couriers, as they should already be dead. Remember the 25 dirty bombs that were shipped into Iraq from Iran on semis? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-16 9:40:22 PM |
| #8 Natural, Depleted, or Weapons Grade Uranium is not thermally "hot." The ore is even less so. This may have been reactor waste (in which case all the poor bastards are already dead) And Metallic Uranium is denser than lead. Was one of the guys named B. Banner? |
| Posted by: Dave 2004-2-16 9:12:35 PM |
| #7 This story sounds like complete BS: a barrel of Uranium isn't going to burn somebody who touches it, unless it's so been so highly refined that it contains so much U235 that it's near critical mass and ready to explode or melt down. AFAIK, a barrel of ordinary, unrefined Uranium is going to be only mildly radioactive. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-2-16 8:55:42 PM |
| #6 This sounds totally bogus. The PakiWakiTribune tosses it into an article as just another paragraph - and this is attributed to AFP... plus the physical attributes pointed out above... Nahh. I'll believe it when it's shouted from the rooftops by the CA. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-16 8:50:39 PM |
| #5 Is that a grenade in your pants or are you just happy to see me? |
| Posted by: john 2004-2-16 7:29:30 PM |
| #4 If the bit about the barrel being hot is true, then this is certainly radio-active material. I think we may have just hit the WMD jackpot. Lets hope the idiots who were driving this stuff around live long enough to say where they got it. I'll give them 3 days before they are dead of radiation sickness. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-2-16 7:10:49 PM |
| #3 AFP is a French wire service, yes? The French report on death, carnage, destruction, more death, and |
| Posted by: Garrison 2004-2-16 6:43:33 PM |
| #2 Uranium ore is very very heavy. The refined stuff is even heavier. I doubt two people could carry it and in fact it would break most carts. Something doesn't sound right about this. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-2-16 6:39:39 PM |
| #1 Hmm interesting.... |
| Posted by: Valentine 2004-2-16 6:32:20 PM |