Not necessarily true. Although in today’s context, it is generally understood that a dirty bomb would be radioactive components designed to be scattered over a rather small area by conventional explosives, back in the 70’s the U.S. had (and still probably has) dirty nuclear explosives in their stock that give a much greater blast, but are designed for air bursts, scattering deadly materiel and making areas uninhabitable, but not necessarily doing a great deal of physical damage.

For that matter, nuclear blasts using fission as their basis are generally pretty dirty.

Errare humanum est. Ego te absolvo.

I apologize for being over passionate about this particular subject. After reading all of the comments I’d have to say that it doesn’t do any of us any good to get insulting towards each other.

Mea maximus culpa.

With Respect,

V5

the border to the United States is still open, last count, 3,896 12,772 and counting Illegals, thanks La Raza

And the numbers, people, keep coming in…… Surge in Iraq?

Smaller is more intriguing, but there is nothing to stop a “large” nuke (regular “warhead”) from being trucked /shipped into any coastal city (the farther you travel the more chance of detection, so it stands to reason that it will be a seaside burg).

These things put out a lot of radiation and are easy to spot so most likely a ship in the harbor or along the coast somewhere. New York, D.C., Miami, San Diego, San Fran, Seattle. Easy targets for the determined jihadists. Just not bloody likely’s all.

Enjoy the evening…

-Erratum note from the Department of Redundancy Department.

The War has been declared.

If the jihadists will fly own own planes into our own buildings -and into the central seat of our military- and gladly be blown to bits themselves in the process, then far worse is inevitable.

Unless the denialist / defeatist / retreatist mindset at large (thanks to the hysterically slanted imagery of the MSM) is overcome, some U.S. city will certainly be slag.

And the size of the device will hardly be important.

So as I figured. All you know is what you found on the internet…

Beto Ochoa

Actually, I do have quite a bit of knowledge about the workings of nuclear weapons. Although I’ve retired from the military, I’m still active in this field, working at one of the national security labs. And since you totally ignored the word “unclassified,” I can be certain that you have no concept on the importance keeping references generic (and I notice that you still aren’t providing any links to back up your claims. I’m betting that you’re a democrat (making wild claims, and trying to shout down anyone attempting to provide actual facts). Your only experience is probably giving nuclear weapons secrets to the Chinese during Hazel O’Leary’s reigh as secretary of DOE.

By the way, I’m setting my BS-rejector to the micro-moron level, don’t bother posting any more – your posts won’t show up any more.

P.S. I’m glad you enjoy working for the jihadists.

Pantex Plant is America’s only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. Source: Pantex Plant web site.

Half-life of uranium-235: 704 million years. Source: Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Half-life of plutonium-239: 24,110 years. Source: Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Are these adequate references? I notice you don’t bother to back up any of your wild statements with any sources.

It seems to me that Vent with MM is a far superior product. In fact, I can think of a few video blogs that would be more interesting and professionally produced than Heartland. As well, now that I know how difficult it is to be well-spoken and lucid while staring into the void inside a green circle, I have to give huge props for Michelle doing that on a regular basis on Fox! I had no idea, and now I’ve got some serious respect for Michelle’s contributions to Fox News.

And Monster, in my own defense, I never claimed to be a weapons expert and that’s not what I was there for. I was supposedly there to address nuclear proliferation among terror groups. So much for that, eh?

I’ve posted here what I thought I’d be able to say last night about terrorism’s nuclear proliferation. Thank g-d for blogs!

As a matter of fact they are re-machined regularly.

Beto Ochoa on January 28, 2007 at 3:14 PM

I thought (briefly) about commenting on your first post, but decided against it. It was pretty clear from that post that you were, perhaps, stretching the truth a little bit. You “both built and maintained nuclear weapons” nuclear weapons? Where did you work? Los Alamos National Lab? Lawrence Livermore National Lab? The Pantex Plant, which, by the way, is the only place in the U.S. where nuclear weapons are assembled and disassembled? Probably not, since your comments clearly show you do not have a very good grasp of nuclear weapons components.

While it is true that the NW pits do not last forever, their lifetimes are measured in decades, not months. Next, the pits are not “re-machined periodically,” they are re-manufactured. Also, while there are limited-life components in nuclear weapons, they are not replace every six months as you imply, but on a time scale much longer than that.

You may want to apply for a job at Fox News; Since Barnett was able to get on the air, you should be able to also.

That’s why the computer controlled multi-axis milling machines needed to perfectly mill and reform the “pit” are a heavily monitored/controlled item. However, who knows how many of them from the French, Germans, Russians, and other technologically advanced countries have been sold or stolen.

V5

Anyone want to bet a city that Russian weapons scientists–who used to be a highly paid, privaleged elite in the old U.S.S.R., but who can barely feed their families these days–wouldn’t be tempted to do a little rehab work if the price were right?

I have no idea who this “Dean Barnett” is, but he obviously does not have a clue about anything he is talking about.
Just one example: “The radiological material in these devices decays, and if it is not updated and replaced every six months, the device becomes useless.”

He misstates the case. Fissile material swells up and must be re-machined to specific dimensions
or it will not achieve critical mass. Not so often in implosion type uranium weapons as in the gun type plutonium device.

Does this guy think that every nuclear weapon in the world (U.S., Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, etc.) is re-made every six months?

As a matter of fact they are re-machined regularly.

Just one example: “The radiological material in these devices decays, and if it is not updated and replaced every six months, the device becomes useless.”

Fact: The half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,110 years (source: Wikipedia); the half-life of uranium-235 is 7.038×10^8 years (703,800,000 years; source: again, Wikipedia). This is something even a high-school physics class teaches. Does this guy think that every nuclear weapon in the world (U.S., Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, etc.) is re-made every six months?

The fact that Fox News is using someone like this as an ‘expert’ really drops their credibility level in my eyes.