NationStates Jolt Archive


Do the Aggies have "the bomb"?

Daistallia 2104
27-08-2004, 18:04
I just came across this. If you know the reputation of Texas A&M, it's a bit scary....


August 26, 2004: If terrorists or a rogue nation wanted to get their hands on some bomb-grade uranium-235, one source would be the research reactor at the University of Wisconsin or five other universities (Oregon State, Washington State, Purdue, Texas A&M and the University of Florida) operating small reactors running on weapons-grade uranium.

Fuel for the reactors was originally supplied by the federal government, and the universities have been waiting for over twenty years for a program to trade in their highly enriched uranium for a lower grade similar to that used in commercial reactors. The fuel was initially supplied to small reactors around the world under the "Atoms for Peace" program, but in 1978, the Department of Energy realized that the material presented a proliferation hazard and started a quiet campaign to reclaim it. According to a July 2004 GAO report, only 39 of the 105 worldwide research reactors had been converted or were in the process of converting to less lethal grades of uranium. Converting the reactors to lower grade fuel has been held up due to a lack of funding.

Actually stealing the material would be a bit difficult and awkward, since the highly-radioactive fuel is typically stored at the bottom of a pool of water, 27 feet deep, in two dozen bundles (weighing 58 pounds each).

The six university reactors do not have the heavy security measures that the military and Department of Energy have for weapons-grade fuel – or even the measures commercial nuclear power plants have taken. With foreign graduate students running around campus, non-proliferation and homeland security experts are concerned about the potential for mischief. Student reactor technicians make around $10.50 per hour.

A typical commercial power reactor has fuel that has been enriched to 3 to 5 percent uranium-235. Material is considered bomb-grade if it is enriched at 90 percent or better. The university research reactors are operating with material enriched from 70 to over 90 percent uranium-235. An alternative nefarious use for the uranium, for a nation possessing enrichment technology, would be to steal it, smuggle it back to a processing plant and then reprocess the acquired material to a higher level of enrichment. It is easier and quicker to take 70 percent enriched material and get it to 90 percent (i.e. bomb-grade) than to start from uranium that is not enriched at all. – Doug Mohney (http://www.strategypage.com//fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=HTCHEM.HTM)

To pinch a line from Tom Leher's song "Who's Next?":
"We'll try to remain serene and calm,
When A&M gets the bomb"
Copiosa Scotia
27-08-2004, 18:07
Yes, courtesy of quarterback Reggie McNeal.
Superpower07
27-08-2004, 18:10
That's scary if Al-Queda would finally be able to "set us up the bomb."
Chess Squares
27-08-2004, 18:18
They set us up the bomb
Grebonia
27-08-2004, 18:26
When I read articles like this, all I can ever think is damn, why don't you do the terrorists homework for them? I think media works as a think tank for terrorists.
Joey P
27-08-2004, 18:28
When I read articles like this, all I can ever think is damn, why don't you do the terrorists homework for them? I think media works as a think tank for terrorists.
Dude, the information is already out there. By making it public they increase pressure on the people who are screwing up to tighten security. Don't you think terrorists have their shit together enough to do a web search and visit a library?
Mikitivity
27-08-2004, 18:42
Dude, the information is already out there. By making it public they increase pressure on the people who are screwing up to tighten security. Don't you think terrorists have their shit together enough to do a web search and visit a library?

I agree.

Security consultants and potential terrorists have this all figured out. It isn't like these articles are publishing guard time tables or actual instructions.

Though I loved it in the Ultimate Sipderman issue where Peter went up against the Kingpin and phoned the security camera company to figure out how to defeat the cameras. The company gave him all the info he needed.
Schrandtopia
27-08-2004, 19:11
don't mess with Texas

no

really

for the love of God don't, I'd get the wind blown radiation
Subterfuges
27-08-2004, 19:15
I wonder what information I could get posing as Spiderman?
Arenestho
27-08-2004, 20:06
Now that this is all over the internet they'll probably find out and use it, say good bye to Texas :p
Free Soviets
27-08-2004, 20:15
When I read articles like this, all I can ever think is damn, why don't you do the terrorists homework for them? I think media works as a think tank for terrorists.

and when i read things like this and realize that these terrorists still don't have the stuff and still haven't pulled off any more attacks in the us, all i can think is that there is way more hype than actual terrorism going on. if these terrorists were as big of a threat as they are made out to be we should see something like at least one attack per month. instead we've got pretty much nothing. in fact, all we've really got is the elf and some skinheads, only one of which even really count as terrorists.