The Reaper: Thank you, sir. Interesting comments on potential diplomatic ramifications.
Nuke: Thank you too, and that's a great paper you linked, I'm glad to have those numbers. "Everyone who knows how to accurately machine Pu...." [Shudder.] You probably know (hence the
?) that a milligram of the stuff can kill you outright through just plain chemical toxicity.
Maytime: I saw that report, and began to think it was a hoax after all. But did you see this, the next day?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220737,00.html
Quote:
|
An air sampling taken after North Korea's claimed nuclear test detected gaseous radioactive debris consistent with an atomic explosion...officials said Friday night. They said no final determination had been made....
|
Which reminded me of your question:
Quote:
|
could the DPRK have "doped" some soil near "ground zero" with their reactor grade fuel to make it appear to our sniffers that their device went critical (or pre-ignited)?
|
They could certainly blow radioisotopes sky-high by salting a large conventional device with them, but I think it would be difficult to fake the correct mixture. To get the right balance of plutonium-derived fission products, plus unconsumed plutonium (no explosion is perfectly efficient), you'd pretty well have to have achieved the nuclear explosion you're trying to fake. I have to imagine that after all our own testing and sampling we could tell the difference.
I'm no expert on this subject, and your prediction could be right, but my guess is that the guys who have access to the data will know, one way or the other, if they don't already.