I expect that United’s main customers for that kind of stuff are chemistry, mineralogy and physics teachers, students and assorted ‘geeks’.

Heck, 15 or more years ago I would have been a customer of theirs because I was a collector-geek of that kind of stuff. I don’t do it any more, but mostly because I have too much junk around here already, but I’m still interested in it.

follow that link AP posted that goes to United Nuclear (it’s a pretty cool site, btw). They explain it there.

I did, and I think I read pretty much everything there but I can’t find anything indicating WHY anyone would buy it. The site does not suggest any possible uses for the material as far as I could see.

I’m not sure the “fun factor” could be a reason. It’s hard for me to imagine the sale of a radioactive material being allowed for nothing more than “fun.”

There’s got to be more to it.

…

Just saw on Fox that the Italian who dined with Litvenenko has tested positive for radiation.

Suspect turned victim. Last one standing is guilty.

What use would this have at such small levels that someone would actually buy it off the internet … and, why are they allowed to sell it at all?

Gregor, follow that link AP posted that goes to United Nuclear (it’s a pretty cool site, btw). They explain it there. Basically, the quantities they sell are so small, you don’t need a license to possess or sell it. It would take 15,000 times that amount to be dangerous. As to why someone would want to buy it, who knows? Other than maybe the “fun” factor? (Ooh, look, I’ve got polonium! Cooool!)

But Polonium is described as soluble in weak acids, which means that it could probably be dissolved and transported in solution. As an alpha emitter, it’s radioactivity would be blocked by the container. The liquid could be added to an acidic drink or foodstuff.

I know of someone who got too much a few years ago and the answer was to consume a lot of liquid to flush the system. Needless to say, the liquid of choice was alcohol, thereby earning him the sobriquet,”Kid Radium”.

In this case, caution and trepidation are in order, The head of a major country in the world may be assassinating political dissidents. Nations themselves may be next. Why would Putin stop now, he’s been found out, why not just finish tying up the loose ends and bury whatever secrets he wanted to?

Radio station Echo Moskvy reported Friday that Litvinenko converted to Islam. Litvinenko, it said, was read the Yasin surah, or prayer, and given Islamic death rites by an imam invited to the dying spy’s hospital bedside.

Ekho, a prominent liberal broadcaster funded by state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom, said Litvinenko would be buried in a Muslim cemetery in London. The station cited Chechenpress, the official news agency of the wartorn republic’s insurgency.

Polonium-210 on multiple airplanes, “rogue elements” and now a jihad connection. It’ll be interesting to see where he’s buried.

That said, although the USSR Russia is a mess and Litvinenko was a suspicious character, I still see Putin’s paw prints all over this. The Brits do, as well, but don’t want to have to deal with it, head-on, unless and until they must. That, however, raises the question: Just who is responsible for the confusion?

How do we know this isn’t related to the Airline plots that were broken up over the summer?

Not impossible. Litvinenko was a known supporter of Chechen jihadist terrorists, and even converted to Islam on his deathbed. He is apparently a hero among jihadists now … in other words a “martyr”. Could he have accidentally poisoned himself?

How long would it take for people to have signs of radiation sickness? From the traces they’ve found at various areas i mean.

Scot on December 1, 2006 at 12:10 AM

Well, I can’t say for sure. But for what it is worth, here are my thoughts.

I suspect that this poisoning that killed Litvinenko could be a screw up. From what it looks like, this poison was of a high enough dose as to cause him to become sick almost immediately, and then die after some weeks. So he probably got a high dose. Too high of a dose.

I am speculating that it would probably be better to give a much lower dose of this radiation. Because I think the radiation would just hang arround in your system and would then cause some nasty incurable fast-spreading cancer to develope, and the victem dies of cancer in a few months to a year. And I think this would be much tougher to pin on a state.

Heck, the guy just developed cancer. It happens.

Again, this is just speculation on my part. But if I were a head of state or a “rogue” element of a government, I would much prefer the slower acting poison method. The guy is just as dead, and it will be almost impossible to trace.

Which is why when people start speculating as to why the Russians would use something that seems to point right back at them, I guess that the person who delivered the poison screwed up and delivered to large of a dose. And that might explain why this guy who couldn’t administer the right dose also managed to leave traces of the Polonimu 210 all over the place. Cuz if he can’t administer the right dose to the sushi/tea/whatever, perhaps he screwed up the transportation of the toxin as well.

Yeah, we say the KGB would never make a mistake like that. I don’t know. Screw ups and mistakes are a fact of life. Human nature being what it is, give people enough time and they will find a way to screw things up.

Or maybe this “assassin” was just an example of the Peter Principle.

Just my guess and my two cents.

Does anyone know the answer to this?

Because then you would have to do things like…recall ambassadors, set up international investigations like the Lebanese are doing to the Syrians, possible criminal charges filed against Russian officials…

Naw. Rouge elements is much safer.

EFG on November 30, 2006 at 10:58 PM

Yes, calling it a “plot involving rogue elements” will make things much easier to clean up. My guess is that there are many phone calls going back and forth between London and Moscow (with a lot of yelling involved) at this time. The Soviets Russians want all of this to just go away, quickly.

Anyway, I still think it was Putin. If he didn’t explicitly order it, someone did it on his behalf.

Las Vegas?

British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy killed with a radioactive poison, was the victim of a plot involving “rogue elements” within the Russian state, the Guardian has learned.

Like Spiney Norman, I suspect this is just to avoid all the… unpleasantness that would ensue from accusing the Russian government of poisoning people in Britan.

Because then you would have to do things like…recall ambassadors, set up international investigations like the Lebanese are doing to the Syrians, possible criminal charges filed against Russian officials…

Naw. Rouge elements is much safer.