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India-Pakistan
A.Q. Khan diagnosed with prostate cancer
2006-08-22
Islamabad, Aug. 22 (PTI): Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, an official spokesman said here today.
Gee, and here I thought he'd die of a heart attack. Or a plane crash. Or a flight of stairs
The routine medical examination of Khan, currently under house detention here, was conducted early this month and revealed slightly raised level of serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), the spokesman said in a statement. In order to ensure an accurate diagnosis, a detailed examination was immediately conducted, including ultrasound- guided biopsy, at the KRL Hospital, he said. The results of the tests, analysed by at least two leading histopathologists, have unfortunately indicated Adino Carcinoma (cancer) of prostate, he said, adding further investigations are being carried out by a board of doctors.
Very carefully selected doctors
Since the state of health of Khan is of public interest, the Government of Pakistan would like to hold out an assurance that the best specialist medical care is being provided to the scientist in consultation with his family and personal doctors, the statement said.
The plans for the state funeral are being finalized
The public will be kept informed from time to time whenever necessary, it said.
They'll let us know when he's "stable".
Khan had admitted transferring sensitive nuclear technology to countries like Iran and North Korea and was subsequently pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf.
"He's almost dead, Jim"
Posted by:Steve

#25  That partially shielded late 40s early 50's era partially shielded nuke plane is likely still glowing in its Idaho hanger ... to hot to approach.

Either that or the stories the SAC guys used to tell were great dis-info.
Posted by: 3dc   2006-08-22 22:33  

#24  :-) I think you just gave 6 wood. He loves trains....nuke powered would do it for him
Posted by: Frank G   2006-08-22 22:27  

#23  no trains, 6er?

Frank, you'd love a rare copy I found of a book called "Applied Atomic Power." Its various chapters covered such wonders as nuclear powered airplanes (the Air Force tried this only to abandon the project due to excessive weight issues). One section covered nuclear powered locomotives ...

One word; Amtrak.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-08-22 22:18  

#22  Anyone know anything about this article or where it might be found?

According to my older brother, this was covered in an issue of Analog science Fiction magazine way back in the early 1970s.

The article concluded that actually obtaining the fissile material was the gating factor. They examined the most likely source, theft from a nuclear reactor, and determined that disassembling and recombining the fuel rods was far too intensive of an operation. Ditto with hijacking a truckload of unrefined uranium and purifying it.

One interesting observation of note was that it was far easier to simply take over a nuclear power generating facility (something our special forces do with exceeding regularity) and then forcibly cause a meltdown. This alternative was dismissed due to how the majority of reactors are situated far from metropolitan centers for safety's sake.

They concluded that such a scenario was non-optimal for a terror attack because there would be minimal loss of life, a factor that is always of paramount concern for terrorists.

Finally, this is why it is of such importance to dismantle Iran's, North Korea's (and Pakistan's, for that matter), nuclear technology. Neither has demonstrated the least intention of good stewardship, a key factor in managing nuclear material. The few nations who currently possess nuclear weapons have, so far, demonstrated a fair degree of responsibility in their management. Rogue regimes need not apply.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-08-22 22:14  

#21  Place two hemi-spheres in a heavy walled steel pipe with one closed end, polish the hemi-sphere's flat faces to a mirror gloss and make them absolutely flat (This is where the "Homemade part fails, not possible without high precision machine tools)

Place one hemisphere at the closed end, with the polished surface facing the other end, Align the mirror surface absolutely flat with the bore (Again where the "Homemade" part fails)
place the other hemisphere at the other end, again align it absolutely parallel with the bore (Homemade flops again)

Put a good bit of high explosive behind the open end, figure out some way to have the two hemispheres slide without ANY deflection or warpage/breakage, (again the Homies, flop)
Devise some form of detonator, close the end, pump out ALL the air (Again, el floppo) and set it off.

Odds of a BOOM about one in a Billion, odds of a rupture and a fizzle, about one in a Million, odds it will just burst and shit up the area with radioactive junk, almost certain.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2006-08-22 19:59  

#20  no trains, 6er?
Posted by: Frank G   2006-08-22 19:43  

#19  I remember that article. Summary:

Buy a two story house with a basement. Put in a two story, high strength tube. Put a subcritical mass of bomb grade uranium at the bottom. Put another subcritical mass at the top and put a propellant charge on top of that. Weld the tube shut and evacuate it. I'm assuming that if you could get a hold of bomb-grade uranium, you could get a neutron source, too.

The first gun-type uranium bomb was so simple that we didn't bother to test it before we dropped it on Japan. The Pakis made it work on their first try, so that says a lot.
Posted by: 11A5S   2006-08-22 19:42  

#18  Two aircraft with just the right amount of fissile material might work. Maybe even 2 ships, difficult to tell. A cheap method might be dropping 1/2 the fissile material from a tall building onto a hotdawg cart containing the rest of the necessary.
Posted by: 6   2006-08-22 19:27  

#17  I was reading somewhere not too long ago that a simple low-yield nuclear/atomic bomb is not that hard to make. The trick is to force two different masses of the right radioactive materials together with high enough force to make the combined mass go critical.

The article seemed to indicate that a vertical arrangement where one mass is at ground level and the other is a floor or two above, dropped or driven by an explosive charge, might actually do the trick.

I'm not sure what the setup was using as baseline material, but I have to assume it was at least enriched uranium (weapons grade).

Anyone know anything about this article or where it might be found?

Posted by: FOTSGreg   2006-08-22 19:07  

#16  Always nice to have a second opinion, tu3031.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-08-22 16:50  

#15  I see Dr. Zenster concurs...
Posted by: tu3031   2006-08-22 15:45  

#14  I think those last posts are what that article was referring to, about the dangers of self-trained terrorists learning from the web. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-08-22 15:42  

#13  Shove one of his nukes up his ass. Maybe that'll cure it.
Posted by: tu3031   2006-08-22 15:35  

#12  Old Patriot, you left out the requirement for safe fusing. Having a powerful weapon without absolute control over its time and place of use is more commonly refered to as a "work accident".

I firmly believe this is likely how we will find out about terrorists finally assembling their own nuclear weapon. Somewhere there will be the mother of all work accidents.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-08-22 14:42  

#11  All you need to make a nuke...

It takes a BIT more than that, SS. If someone were to build a "nuke" as you describe, what they would get would be a very hot neutron-emitter. It also depends on what nuclear "fuel" you're using. A plutonium weapon is much easier to build than a uranium weapon. Still, designing a nuke explosive isn't rocket science. Getting it to work so you get a BIG boom IS.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2006-08-22 14:35  

#10  Frank G - I think I see the problem... Next door to Mistress Nastywhip's House of Pain is Dr Well B Good's Quick Care Clinic. You were given the wrong address or transposed the last 2 digits. :)
Posted by: Shung Phinetle2153   2006-08-22 14:22  

#9  If Khan wants radiation treatment, jam an armed nuclear warhead up his @ss. "You may feel some slight pain ..."
Posted by: Zenster   2006-08-22 14:12  

#8  annual? I thought it was weekly....
Posted by: Frank G   2006-08-22 13:31  

#7  Sounds like it was caught pretty early, unfortunately. Gentlemen, have you had YOUR annual exam? Take this as a hint.
Posted by: Glenmore   2006-08-22 13:27  

#6  Unfortunately, it's highly treatable with a 90% + remission rate.

That's assuming the Pakistani government doctors are tasked with keeping you alive.
Posted by: Steve   2006-08-22 12:15  

#5  Can't seem to manage an ounce of sympathy.
Not really tryin though.
Posted by: Anginenter Angavimble1051   2006-08-22 12:11  

#4  All you need to make a nuke is: fissionable core material; plastic explosive, covering the core; ignition coil array (similar to that on your car engine); battery-detonator manifold; dhimmi morons who let Muslims treat our universities and nuclear facilities, as terror candy-stores.
Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550   2006-08-22 11:46  

#3  Unfortunately, it's highly treatable with a 90% + remission rate.
Posted by: 11A5S   2006-08-22 11:43  

#2  So that's how he was smuggling uranium, or was that urethreum.
Posted by: ed   2006-08-22 11:24  

#1  His affinity for radioactivity made manifest poetically. Radio isotope treatment indicated for his balls area.
Posted by: Duh!   2006-08-22 10:57  

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