ISIL claims they made a dirty IED

MtnGoat · 12-02-2014, 13:33

ISIL claims they made a dirty IED with stolen 40kg of Uranium that went
missing from a Mosul University 4 months ago.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/is...ranium-130501/

Sdiver · 12-02-2014, 14:38

Meh ... as our Emperor in Chief has said, they're nothing but a JV team. They wouldn't know what to do with a weapon of mass disruption, even if it fell from the sky.

Stay Frosty everyone.

Flagg · 12-02-2014, 17:22

Better for them to make and detonate it in the region, than to marry up the material for terror use in the west.

My question is:

What acceptable use would Mosul University have for 40kg of uranium?

I would think someone would have had a robust plan regarding the security/control and contingency removal plans for radioactive materials in the region, even small quantities used for nuclear medicine….especially in light of the poor security environment.

**The Reaper** · 12-02-2014, 18:20

There is uranium, and then there is URANIUM (U235).

40 pounds of uranium is no big deal. Even the nominal spherical critical mass for an untampered U235 nuclear weapon is 56 kilograms (123 lb).

The most effective way to employ a subcritical mass of fissionable material as a weapon is not trying to detonate it.

Just physics, YMMV.

TR

TacOfficer · 12-03-2014, 22:20

Just a thought, but....

Does the U.S. Still employ the theory if they use WMD, we get to use ours?

I'm sure our commander in putz doesn't have the will, but it's a nice thought.

MtnGoat · 12-04-2014, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by TacOfficer

Just a thought, but....

Does the U.S. Still employ the theory if they use WMD, we get to use ours?

I'm sure our commander in putz doesn't have the will, but it's a nice thought.

Are you really seriously asking if this President would use them? Hell he won't use American planes to bomb key targets in Country for weeks on end. If you don't know or picked up, this Administration is not friends with the DoD.

TacOfficer · 12-04-2014, 12:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by MtnGoat

Are you really seriously asking if this President would use them? Hell he won't use American planes to bomb key targets in Country for weeks on end. If you don't know or picked up, this Administration is not friends with the DoD.

I agree 100%
In fairness, I did say our current "Commander in Putz" does not have the will.
I was thinking of policy, not his resolve. I'm convinced he is without spine and perhaps the grey matter atop it.

Frankly, the conditions he has created through enept management of this debacle makes me wonder if a most aggressive Commander in Chief could suppress the threat even with the lifting of DoD sequestration (castration).

.....but I still wouldn't mind seeing a reply in kind of WMD. We can serve them hearts and minds on a platter of U235.

Flagg · 12-04-2014, 13:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

There is uranium, and then there is URANIUM (U235).

40 pounds of uranium is no big deal. Even the nominal spherical critical mass for an untampered U235 nuclear weapon is 56 kilograms (123 lb).

The most effective way to employ a subcritical mass of fissionable material as a weapon is not trying to detonate it.

Just physics, YMMV.

TR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

BTW as said before there is two types of uranium. I wont get into details but just plain old Uranium, either type sitting there is not a big deal. It has to be played with by experts to become dangerous and U235 is the stuff that is bomb material.

Just to be safe perhaps we should nuke the middle east.

So, if true, we're probably looking at unrefined or depleted uranium such as used as ballast?

**The Reaper** · 12-04-2014, 14:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flagg

So, if true, we're probably looking at unrefined or depleted uranium such as used as ballast?

There are still terrorist uses for it.

It just isn't the one with the big flash, boom, and mushroom cloud at the end.

TR

Flagg · 12-04-2014, 19:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

There are still terrorist uses for it.

It just isn't the one with the big flash, boom, and mushroom cloud at the end.

TR

Yup…..that's why I threw in the med bit.

Sadly, the thesis I wrote 20 odd years ago about sovereign state and non-state proliferation of nuclear materials has largely fallen out of my head and my hard copy is missing from the last move.

Age/memory catching up to me, as I can't recall all the details around criticality.

Warren Buffett's insurance/reinsurance interests have had him stating concerns about the use of a nuclear weapon in the west.

I'm more worried about the simpler asymmetric design and delivery.

I know we can't delve into related details, but I remember stories about an internal "gambling/betting" internet portal about a decade or so ago which sounded like a tool to develop a "wisdom of SME crowds" thing going on in terms of threats.

I read it got binned about a decade ago, but I would hazard a guess that the asymmetric range of threats would show some interesting data if it were running and used by certain communities of SMEs.