Re: Nuclear Weapons Material

In message <199408251633.JAA16087@netcom4.netcom.com> Mike Duvos writes:
> Uranium is not particularly radioactive, being a long lived alpha
> emitter.  This is true of plutonium and some other fissionable
> materials as well.  I can handle clad uranium or plutonium
> reactor or bomb components in complete safety with no protective
> clothing needed. The only hazard is from ingestion of the
> material, or from accumulation of decay products such as radon in
> a badly ventilated area.
> 
> Workers in nuclear fuel fabrication facilities have been known to
> use small disks of plutonium sintered into a ceramic base as
> poker chips.

Is this true?  I mean, do you know it from personal experience?
I was told by what I considered to be reliable sources that plutonium
was extremely toxic.  Upon reflection, I am sure that this is the
word that was used: toxic, not radioactive.

By "clad", do you mean coated in lead?
--
Jim Dixon

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In list.cypherpunks, Jim Dixon spake:

> In message <199408251633.JAA16087@netcom4.netcom.com> Mike Duvos writes:

>> Workers in nuclear fuel fabrication facilities have been known to
>> use small disks of plutonium sintered into a ceramic base as
>> poker chips.
> 
> Is this true?  I mean, do you know it from personal experience?
> I was told by what I considered to be reliable sources that plutonium
> was extremely toxic.  Upon reflection, I am sure that this is the
> word that was used: toxic, not radioactive.

Plutonium oxide has a reputation for causing eventual lung cancer when
inhaled in microgram quantities.  But if the plutonium metal is sintered
into a ceramic, it's not loose and breathable.  I can't say how
otherwise toxic it might be, but I'd expect it to be similar to other
heavy metals.  So the poker chips sound pretty safe.
- -- 
       Roy M. Silvernail         [ ]  roy@sendai.cybrspc.mn.org
                    PGP public key available by mail
     echo /get /pub/pubkey.asc | mail file-request@cybrspc.mn.org
         These are, of course, my opinions (and my machines)

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