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2006-07-23 Europe
Bulgarians Seize British Lorry Carrying Highly Radioactive Materials To Iran
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Posted by Anonymoose 2006-07-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 What would Hans Blix do?
Posted by Captain America 2006-07-23 00:12||   2006-07-23 00:12|| Front Page Top

#2 You know that it's sad when the freakin' Bulgarians do a better job of securing these things than we or the British do.
Posted by Ernest Brown 2006-07-23 00:19|| saturninretrograde.blogspot.com]">[saturninretrograde.blogspot.com]  2006-07-23 00:19|| Front Page Top

#3 DTI spokeman: "I don't know what this fuss is about... it would be, very likely, used only on jooos."
Posted by twobyfour 2006-07-23 00:35||   2006-07-23 00:35|| Front Page Top

#4 heh, heh. Wonder if they collect the cash then alert the Bulgarians to "find" it. Let's hope so. Such a deal.
Posted by 2b 2006-07-23 00:49||   2006-07-23 00:49|| Front Page Top

#5 sleep tite dont let the radioactive bed bugs bite.
Posted by sweet slumber 2006-07-23 00:54||   2006-07-23 00:54|| Front Page Top

#6 Well, the Iranians will probably need to manufacture a hell of a lot of smoke detectors soon. I don't know where the beryllium comes in though.
Posted by Eric Jablow">Eric Jablow  2006-07-23 01:09||   2006-07-23 01:09|| Front Page Top

#7 Physics was a long time ago for me but IIRC beryllium is a neutron reflector. Place your fissile core in a beryllium sphere and you get somewhat better yields from an equivalent critical mass and/or you can achieve the necessary uncontrolled fission reaction with a smaller critical mass. But then all I know about beryllium spheres I learned from watching The Shadow.
Posted by AzCat 2006-07-23 01:29||   2006-07-23 01:29|| Front Page Top

#8 Anniversary gift for the Mahdi?
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-07-23 01:31||   2006-07-23 01:31|| Front Page Top

#9 Maybe this will succeed in scaring the shit out of some lax officials and one or two of the doubters.

Nahhh.
Posted by Snager Sning5858 2006-07-23 03:02||   2006-07-23 03:02|| Front Page Top

#10 Expect Iran to start whining about the evil Bulgarians withholding their purchase of ten times as many innocent soil-testing devices as they will ever need that just happen to contain highly radioactive material in 5,4,3 . . . .
Posted by gorb 2006-07-23 03:03||   2006-07-23 03:03|| Front Page Top

#11 Typical idiot thinking by the blithering Iraniacs - "Gee, let's radioactively poison the landscape of Israel, with radioactive materials with really long half-lives. That will force the Jooooos to flee, allowing ...... the dim witted Palestinians to move in and glow in the dark.
Posted by Lone Ranger 2006-07-23 03:07||   2006-07-23 03:07|| Front Page Top

#12 lone ranger - you'd think the Palestinians, Leb Hezbollah, Syrians and others might not be so excited that Iran could possibly wipe Israel off the map with a nuke. I guess it's all part of that death cult mindset!
Posted by 2b 2006-07-23 05:58||   2006-07-23 05:58|| Front Page Top

#13 EU is not going to be happy until they glow in the dark.
Posted by djohn66 2006-07-23 06:33||   2006-07-23 06:33|| Front Page Top

#14 IIRC, Americum is a critical component of your typical home smoke detector. However, don't let the Enviromentalcases know that!

And it DOES make sense to order 100+ soil testers. Iran's a big place, so 10 testers can't possibly go very far. HOWEVER, it would make sense only if the Iranian AGRICULTURAL ministry, not the Iranian Military, were ordering the testers.

HWOEVER, DO keep in mind that the helicopters Saddam used to gas the Kurds were originally ordered, and justified, under the cover of them being used to gas insect crop pests.
Posted by Ptah">Ptah  2006-07-23 08:05|| http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]">[http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]  2006-07-23 08:05|| Front Page Top

#15 There were a number of control measures put inplace throughout the world when the USSR fell. Remember the nuke material was being sold on the black market and the West needed to stop it. Glad to see it is still up and working as advertised. Good job to those who put it in and continued to keep it working.
Posted by 49 Pan 2006-07-23 09:50||   2006-07-23 09:50|| Front Page Top

#16 Give the Iranians radioactive material from the heavens above. Allan wills it.
Posted by JohnQC 2006-07-23 10:34||   2006-07-23 10:34|| Front Page Top

#17 Beryllium is also a heavy non-metalic metal used to contain radiation.We used beryllium(in hazmat remediation)because of its non-sparking,non-magnetic properties.various tools were made of it.Shovels,screw drivers,adjustable wrenches,etc.
Posted by raptor 2006-07-23 10:40||   2006-07-23 10:40|| Front Page Top

#18 p.s. tools are heavy as hell!
Posted by raptor 2006-07-23 10:52||   2006-07-23 10:52|| Front Page Top

#19 The Iranians are not interested in dirty bombs. They are after the real thing. We need to find out how radioactive caesium 137 and americium-beryllium plays a role with uranium or plutonium to make an actual nuclear warhead. We have to think outside the box. If we simply state that the Iranians are interested in dirty bombs, then true investigation doesn’t go any further, which would make the Iranians very happy.

Also, this could be just a test run to find out which border facilities are the weakest. They can cross out the Bulgarian checkpoint from the list.
Posted by Poison Reverse 2006-07-23 11:37||   2006-07-23 11:37|| Front Page Top

#20 if you wanted people to believe you had successfully tested a nuke, caesium 137 would be useful

of course, without an actual explosion seen by satellites, no really technical person would believe it but if your target audience were naive nutcases, it might work
Posted by mhw 2006-07-23 11:59|| http://hypocrisy-incorporated.blogspot.com/]">[http://hypocrisy-incorporated.blogspot.com/]  2006-07-23 11:59|| Front Page Top

#21 The Iranians have operating research reactors and small accelerators .. they can produce all the Cs and Am radioisotopes they want.

Ten soil detectors are probably just that.. soil detectors. It is easier just to buy them from an international muanufacturer than make a few of them.

The Iranians are not going to emulate the Manhatten project designers and use an "urchin" (polonium 210 and Beryllium) as the neutron generator. This is 2006 and pulse neutron generators are readily available.

And they're certainly not going to harvest materials from soil detectors when they can make the stuff in their research facilities.
Posted by john 2006-07-23 12:20||   2006-07-23 12:20|| Front Page Top

#22 And you need a lot more berylium than a few milligrams to construct the neutron reflectors needed for a weapon pit.
Iran is likely to have Beryll ore reserves.. what they lack would be the vacuum hot press machines needed to form the reflectors.
Posted by john 2006-07-23 12:24||   2006-07-23 12:24|| Front Page Top

#23 We need to find out how radioactive caesium 137 and americium-beryllium plays a role with uranium or plutonium to make an actual nuclear warhead.

americium-beryllium is used to generate neutrons.. unlikely for a bomb initiator when pulse neutron generators are readily availble and more convenient
Posted by john 2006-07-23 12:29||   2006-07-23 12:29|| Front Page Top

#24 John is right. These are soil density testers used on construction site very commonly here in the USA. If you've ever been near a construction site, you'vr probably seen these contraptions that look like steam rollers with teeth. These are soil compactors. Most plans specify between 90 and 100% compaction before laying roads, foundations, etc. These devices give of a neutron flux which can be used to measure soil compaction if calibrated correctly.

Atomic bombs generally have a neutron generator to help "catalyze" the reaction. They decay pretty quickly, so you have to replace it often. Since the Iranian have a centrifuge program and not much of a reactor program, they would have to get their triggers in other ways.
Posted by 11A5S 2006-07-23 12:54||   2006-07-23 12:54|| Front Page Top

#25 thanks for the facts John.
Posted by RD 2006-07-23 12:56||   2006-07-23 12:56|| Front Page Top

#26 Since the Iranian have a centrifuge program and not much of a reactor program, they would have to get their triggers in other ways.

Their research reactors may be small but power production isn't their purpose.. isotope production is one ...they even have a small plutonium separation capability.

They can use these for neutron initiator isotopes.
Posted by john 2006-07-23 13:07||   2006-07-23 13:07|| Front Page Top

#27 I still can't get over driving a truck from Kent to Tehran.
Being old sucks.
Maybe they should put some of those Bulgarian scanners in LeChunnel.
Posted by J. D. Lux 2006-07-23 15:56||   2006-07-23 15:56|| Front Page Top

#28 john,

Thanks for the info. If you are correct in that, pulse neutron generators are readily available, then my second paragraph is probably more accurate.
Posted by Poison Reverse 2006-07-23 16:16||   2006-07-23 16:16|| Front Page Top

#29 I still can't get over driving a truck from Kent to Tehran

Can you send such a cargo by air freight ?
Probably not.

Truck might be cheaper than by ship.
Posted by john 2006-07-23 16:50||   2006-07-23 16:50|| Front Page Top

#30 It went to Defense because Defense is building things where they need to test the soil. Tunnels, large concrete structures, things like that.
Posted by Chuck Simmins">Chuck Simmins  2006-07-23 17:24|| http://northshorejournal.org]">[http://northshorejournal.org]  2006-07-23 17:24|| Front Page Top

#31 Raptor, they are heavy because those tools are mostly copper (beryllium copper). The beryllium (a very light metal - 1.9 g/cc) content is less than two percent.

Beryllium is a neutron generator when subjected to alpha particles. If you are making an implosion bomb a neutron generator is necessary to make certain there are enough neutrons to start the reaction before the implosion 'bounces'. The polonium/beryllium 'urchin' used in early weapons may be crude, but it's simple and reliable compared to an electronic neutron generator. The big problem was the short half life of polonium, requiring that the urchin be replaced on a short schedule.
Posted by KBK 2006-07-23 20:41||   2006-07-23 20:41|| Front Page Top

#32 IIRC, Tim Allen repaired his spaceship with a beryllium sphere.
Posted by Mason 2006-07-23 22:20||   2006-07-23 22:20|| Front Page Top

00:35 Azad
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