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Casting, machining or welding plutonium into the right shapes and purities without killing your self, or some of the other exotic metals, without killing your s
by cannonpr 2y ago
Casting, machining or welding plutonium into the right shapes and purities without killing your self, or some of the other exotic metals, without killing your self or making your neighbours sick in a sub 1-3 week horizon is incredibly challenging. The exact geometries you need to achieve aren’t easily available either neither is measuring is you achieved them without again killing your self.
Getting a dirty fizzle is a lot easier which is why people are afraid of dirty weapons by terrorists.
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoGetting the plutonium, in sufficient quantities, is also non-trivial.
- lumost 2y agoMaking the entire thing efficient enough to actually be delivered to a target is also another matter. This requires precise calculation of the geometries and very precise grades of plutonium, barrel pipe, and explosives. How do you even keep the gun type shapes from deforming in the barrel?
- lazide 2y agoGetting the right type of plutonium in sufficient quantity is an order of magnitude harder than either of them - there is essentially no naturally occurring plutonium, it only comes as a side effect of neutron bombardment of specific isotopes of Uranium, which are already hard to seperate, and only under specific conditions are the right types of plutonium isotopes to be useful produced. And even then, it’s non trivial to seperate them. The whole thing is a giant, high profile, and dirty mess.
- lupusreal 2y agoPlutonium won't work in a gun-type device like described in that magazine, the Pu-240 contamination makes it far too sensitive.
- dboreham 2y agoQuick note that gun type devices don't work with Plutonium.