it was going to be chunk from the goonies asking about fudge, disregaurd i'm an ass. i'll go back to work now.

If they detonated a nuke they would kill themselves in the process. That's why I don't think they would do it.

Um, wouldn't you kill yourself in the process of flying a plane into a building?

Right but it would be much more painful to blow yourself up with a nuke than to fly into a building. I mean come on.

Why would being blown up in a nuke be more painful than flying an airplane into a building? Both cause instant vaporization which equals instantaneous death.

Die instantly from flying a plane into a building or die instantly by sitting on top of a nuke. Hmmmm.... that one's a tossup.

How the fark can a (close range) nuke be painful? You would be vaporized instantly.

The part about the 747 causing a meltdown is a bunch of crapola, too. Commercial nuclear power plants are designed and built for the local environment for the plant. Plants in California are built to withstand heavier earthquakes than plants in Illinois. The design of containments for all nuclear power plants considers the possibility/probability of planes crashing into them. For plants built near airports or military bases crash design is more of a consideration. However, they can all withstand some type of crash. Even if a 747 was intentionally flown into a nuclear power plant containment, it would not just fly thru and disappear like the ones that hit the WTC. There might be some breach of containment, but most of the damage would be absorbed or deflected. Also, a breach of containment does not mean a meltdown. There would have to be some serious damage to piping systems well inside the containment before that would be a danger.
And whats really annoying is the reference to a Chernobyl type disaster - that is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Chernobyl was a graphite moderated reactor - when it overheated it fed the reaction. U.S. commercial nuclear power plants are water moderated - when they overheat the reaction slows down. There might be a steam explosion that contained a small amount of radioactive particles, but there would NOT be a meltdown. And the effect would be minimal.

There are much worse things terrorist could do.

Will is a fag

Huh

That was very informative. Thank you, Saywhat. I am trusting your information is accurate. It does sound like you did your research.

Saywhat: A steam explosion might spread only a small amount of radiation, but what about a raging jet-fuel fire?

God... the simplicity of minds somedays.

"nukes hurting more that planes?"

"2000lb. Fedex packages?"

Wow... and the list goes on...

The thing IS:
Our troops on the ground... would certainly be vulnerable to a crude nuclear device. Delivery IS a problem for terrorist groups. But NOT if you are in their "hood".

Remember folks, they would HAVE to drive right through the front door with even as much as a 5 or 1o kt. yield.

Can you imagine the escalation and ensuing panic if a terrorist group set off a nuke against deployed US troops? Hell, if after we retaliated turning their cities to glass nearby countries did not respond in some way... it would be the end.

But make no mistake... once a few nukes fly... it will get MAD really quick. We saw what can happen when a few thousand innocent lives are taken by hijacked aircraft. Imagine the hysteria surrounding something like this.

Finally, do I think it will happen.
Uhmmm... no.

*correction*

They WOULDN'T have to drive through the front door with a nuke.


sheeeesh....

;-)

Terrorist Will must be terminated! Will last name Smith must be killed. Will Smith is a terrorist.

Good point Saywhat.
Also meldown does not mean nuclear explosion. Its not possible to build a nuclear bomb out of the materials in a nuclear plant, let alone cause a nuclear explosion by crashing a plane into a plant. Bombs and powerplants also use different kinds of fuel, you could turn a team of nuclear scientists loose in a nuclear plant indefinatly and they couldn't build a bomb.

Enginerd -- What if the nuclear plant was from a Sub or a aircraft carrier. 80% Enriched is not good stuff. I am no engineer, really this is a question. Say the Russian's rusty boats are broken into, could someone with the know how make a bomb?

i'm sorry, but dropping off a load of cesium is a far cry from nukes.

PM - about the jet fueled inferno. In order for there to be a large release of radioactivity the fire would have to get to the reactor core. That means that besides crashing and burning its way thru the concrete and steel outer containment (which is called the secondary containment), it would have to get through a seven or eight inch thick, high quality, steel containment shell that holds the core (the primary containment). And its not like the primary containment is easy to get to either. Don't get me wrong, the fire would be a major problem, and there probably would be some release of radioactivity, but there is no way it would be even close to "Chernobyl like"

I always thought that a terrorist attack would come in the form of a suitcase nuke atop the Empire State Building.

From what I have heard through the years, when the USSR fell apart, a number of their "suitcase" nukes disappeared, and were never found. There were several instances of Russian officers selling military items, to line their own pockets. One particular instance was three Mig-29's being sold for $75.00 each. The Migs were sitting in a pasture, waiting to be picked up, when officials found out and seized them. How much did the suitcase nukes go for, and who got them?

I grew up across the Red River from Barksdale AFB. I still live here. Barksdale has long been know as a large nuke base, being home of the B-52's. During the "Missles of October" in 1962 (I was 12), it was heavily rumored that BAFB was a prime target for the nuke missiles in Cuba. At the height of the scare (I'm not kidding, it was close to End Times then), many of the mothers of my friends in the neighborhood, came over to our house, to talk to my mother. I can't convey the emotion of the day, by trying to explain it here. Suffice to say, many here thought it was the end. BAFB would be a crater bigger than the Great Lakes. I decided I wanted to see it, if this was "IT", so I walked out to the sidewalk (I was playing hooky from school), and stood looking south for about an hour. When nothing happened, I walked back inside. The world calmed down. But ever since that day, nukes haven't bothered me. If it's over, it's over. Tornados worry me more.

Batcar- If you think Tornados are bad try an earthquake. The little ones are fun, but you never know how big it is going to be.

The article did have some misinformation, the writer should have had someone who 'studied in class' read over it.

The only scary thing that I know about russian nukes concerns the triggering mechanism, it is public (I suppose) knowledge (among us) but probably not the type of thing to bandy about in a public forum. Let us just say, they had one real good trick, which we did not have to use. Given that one good trick, making a nuke is a snap.

Can't we all just-grow-old-and-die-naturally along?

You FUD-doomsday nuts are just about as convincing as the people that run the blackhelicopter-tinfoil hat-xfiles-it's all a conspiracy-the end is near-sites.

I'm amazed by how much the 14-16 year olds of the world know about missing nukes, buying nukes, building nukes and how to sneak bombs into the country.

Take your FUD and shove it.

Nukes are easy to build. Nukes are easy to buy. Nukes are easy to steal. We will all die soon!!!! I heard it on Dateline NBC, it must be the TRUTH!!!!!

Drrroooooooooollll......

rodney: along what?

Nukes are easy to buy, I saw one the other day at a garage sale for only two dollars. I was gonna buy it, just to put on my coffee table, you know, as a converation item. Anyway, I was about to buy it, when this guy with a towel on his head and a big long beard comes up and offers five million for the thing! I didn't have my wallet on me, so I could match him. The biatch running the sale sold the thing to him and he laughed at me and walked off. I was so mad I bought a 50 cent M-16, shot him, and stole the nuke. Serves him right!

Back on the delivery issue, I think that it might not be
that hard. How hard do you think it would be to smuggle
a smaller nuke into Cuba? (I don't know, I'm asking).
Assuming you could do that, you just pop in a little Cessna
and detonate over Miami (those things are more fun when
go off above the ground anyway).

Yeah, ultra high-tech suitcase nukes are very easy to come by.

Fb-: So you are anti-FUD I take it? We get the point dude :)

FB- do you think that our nation faces any threat from abroad - if so, what? What should be done about it?

No one is saying that nukes are easy to steal, but it seems that it is possible. When the log rolls over we will all die....

Everyone seems to think of aircraft delivery but that's out with the fighters up and the restrictions the FAA has implemented. What about a container ship? Load a nuke into one of several hundred containers on a ship bound for NYC (or LA, Houston, etc) and detonate at one of the mid-city docks. So what if it's not an airburst or a hightech weapon? A few thousand pounds of high explosive in the middle of another 20-30 thousand pounds of radiactive waste would do almost as much damage. Or what about the same setup with a biological or chemical agent? Ships are not searched very well, if at all and I just spent all of 30 seconds coming up with that. What do you think a group of dedicated terrorists can come up with when they have weeks and months to work it out?

FUD/doomsday/disaster folks are just the opposite end of the spectrum as the people who bury their heads in the sand and say nothing will happen. The truth is in the middle but being prepared for the worst is a better plan than saying "WTF!" (like at about 8:47 am EST on 9/11) as something else explodes and burns as many more die. I believe more is on the way but sincerely hope I'm very wrong.

nah... using nukes would be cowardly

HIGHLY Clancyesque.

However, I must ask about the containment walls at nuke plants. What's the big deal about "several inches of solid steel"? A jumbo jet will do major damage to things a lot sturdier than that. And if they can hit the WTC twice, they can hit the plant twice, maybe with a suitcase nuke on board, blow nuke, plane, and plant at two seconds to impact, and make a new great lake.

You guys remind me of that Puerto Rican lady at work today that came wearing a gas mask and refuses to drink water at work because she saw a cnn show about biological terrorism.

For any of your newcomers here, this is just the typical posts from elitests. They can't stand dissenting opinions and respond with off-topic slander.

Fb-'s idea of a good time, and funnily enough, similar to the subtlety of his argument.
*yawn*

dammit fb - quit pissing everybody off. Let us enjoy the rush of testerone - i mean how often do we get wars in this country anyways? We don't want to be enlightened - just wanna have a collective patriotic dickstroke...is that ok? come on, brotha....you gotta understand...

Ironpuppy,

But I am pro war?!?!

Jeez people, let's try not to muddy the issue witht he facts, please.

Hell... Fb IS "abroad".

In body AND mind.

I DO love his attempts to be amongst the "intellectual elite" of the caribbean!

lol

hmmm let's just tell all the terrorists exactly how to make a bomb and oh wait, if that doesn't work, let's give them some more options and tell them exactly how to accomplish those!! Christ....

GeorgeBrett,

I wouldn't expect somebody like you to know anything about the 'intellextual elite' of Caribbean culture. Nor of great painter like Diógenes Ballester and José Morales. Nor of great poets like Opal Palmer Adisa or Kendel Hippolyte. At most you know the songs of Bob Marley.

What do I care though.. we all just poor nubians down here.

NO, NO, AND NO. There isn't going to be any nuclear attacks on America for several reasons you dopes.
1-Getting enough weapons grade u-238 is outrageous enough, but getting it to the point of going critical is an entirely different matter. I don't care WHAT you've read or seen on the internet about how simple it is, -WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN IS HORSE SH!T.
2-The so-called 'dirty bomb' is absolute rubbish, for the same reason as above.
3-As far as just leaving a pile of radioactive material in the middle of Times Square goes, Don't you think a person in a lead suit who was constantly stopping to vomit every 50 feet would draw some suspicion? O.k., maybe not, but how about if he was wearing a turban?
4- A suitcase bomb should be more properly referred to as a 'steamer trunk' bomb.
SPECIAL ADDED BONUS FOR ALL OF YOU IDIOTS OUT THERE WHO ARE COMPLETELY IGNORANT OF NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY:
It's already too late! As you read this you are already being bombarded by radiation!!!!!!!........









-it's called 'light.'

Don't people also realize the shelflife of nuclear weaponery? Even if the Taliban were able to get a suitcase sized nuclear weapon, they are only...well... fresh for a couple of months until the radioactive material inside decays to a point where its harmless.

I've been noticing, especially lately, that news agancies always jump at the chance to explain new ways you might die. there was a full spread article in the Globe and Mail the other day with the title "Apocalypse 2002" in gigantic letters across the top. Under it was a blown up pic of a nuke exploding. Then it moronicly went on to detail how the earth could be completely destroyed within the next 12 months.
It seems like every farking day they're coming out with new out-of-context quotes implying that you better build a bomb shelter asap.
yeah, so anyway, I just find these things are all mostly horse shiat if you really examine them

what was the purpose of your fourth point, ratslapper? are you saying we shouldn't fear nuclear weapons due to the fact that all radiation is harmless? * or that we should be terrified that the terrorists will develop a super powerful visible-spectrum-bomb?

i see your point on the other three. i'm just having trouble with #4.

*note that this is different from not fearing nuclear weapons because they are extremely unlikely, or because there is nothing you can do about it anyway, or even because you have a radiation suit which you wear at all times (and you have a special room for waste elimination, sex, and hygeine).

exactly.