The Cellar - View Single Post - Uranium -238 Seized in Moldova.

Urbane Guerrilla · 08-29-2010, 02:26 AM

OFGS, you guys. (If you're not deadpan joking.) That is depleted uranium. They use that for compact elevator counterweights, and in aviation. It is an alpha-emitter that has a half-life the age of the Earth: 4.5 billion years. This particular isotope of uranium metal isn't even really the active principle in reactor fuel: that requires enrichment in the fissionable U-235 to a content from about 5 to 20 percent.

Those boys were running a scam.

Though you could kill a guy by dropping it on his head out of a third-floor window. Aim right and it could be lethal enough.

08-29-2010, 02:26 AM	#12
Urbane Guerrilla Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Southern California Posts: 6,674	OFGS, you guys. (If you're not deadpan joking.) That is depleted uranium. They use that for compact elevator counterweights, and in aviation. It is an alpha-emitter that has a half-life the age of the Earth: 4.5 billion years. This particular isotope of uranium metal isn't even really the active principle in reactor fuel: that requires enrichment in the fissionable U-235 to a content from about 5 to 20 percent. Those boys were running a scam. Though you could kill a guy by dropping it on his head out of a third-floor window. Aim right and it could be lethal enough. __________________ Wanna stop school shootings? End Gun-Free Zones, of course.