wagnerism: I think I know where Kodak got the nuclear material in the first place.

Amazon.com

This product page has been around a long time... probably longer than Kodak itself. (just kidding, time trolls)

If you have not yet seen this, read the reviews. They're awesome.

+1 awesome. I laughed out loud in a public place by myself.

/I don't have the unicorm meat, but I do have the SQL T-shirt

downpaymentblues: Spad31: haemaker: Kodak Had a Secret Nuclear Reactor Loaded With Weapons-Grade Uranium Hidden In a Basement

Ugh. Not all "enriched uranium" is "weapons grade".

Hush. You'll spoil the knee-jerk.

Or, he will read the article.

You can too! It's only one click away! Go on. You can do it!

To be fair, you're asking us to read a gawker site.

Not surprised at all, have lived in the area all my life, Kodak in its day was seriously into many many different businesses. Very sad to see them go this way, I blame the incompetence of the current CEO and board. They are pathetic.

Gyrfalcon: IT COULD HAVE BEEN HORRIBLE! IT COULD HAVE EXPLODED! THEY COULD HAVE STARTED A NUCLEAR WAR!!!

...except that it was very small, heavily guarded, and they didn't have all the other stuff you need to make a nuclear bomb except the plutonium, and since NOBODY KNEW about it, it could never have been broken into by terrorists etc. etc. etc. and all that other scary stuff.

Proving only that if you never tell anybody something, nobody will ever know about it. And ESPECIALLY the Feds.

But since everyone now knows about it, I'm sure we'll get lots of knee-jerk reactionary panic about what COULD HAVE HAPPENED OMFG!!!!! and now everyone within a 90-mile radius will come down with mysterious cancers, deformed babies and furtive men in turbans and kafiyehs even though the thing was dismantled five years ago.

Hey, dumbass?

The Feds knew.

Try some reading comprehension.

I think it was for a little "project" for their competition, but was too late to help.

Fujifilm is victorious.

wagnerism: I think I know where Kodak got the nuclear material in the first place.

Amazon.com

This product page has been around a long time... probably longer than Kodak itself. (just kidding, time trolls)

If you have not yet seen this, read the reviews. They're awesome.

Thanks that's ruined my productivity for today.

/Off to buy some

haemaker: Woah. I stand corrected. It could have been weapons grade.

It had 1.5 Kg U-235 (unknown enrichment level). Little Boy had 64Kg.

To be fair, Little Boy was horribly inefficient, I'd be willing to bet 1.5 Kg is enough for a weapon, assuming it was weapons grade.

henryhill: Why does Fark greenlight submissions from people that are illiterate?

Because the writers claim to have degrees in English.

The installation was in Kodak's R&D complex where lots of material science research is done...Kodak has a long history of advanced materials research and lots of patents in this area. Plus they had a lot of military contracts going back a decade and earlier. Not surprising at all. I worked there and unknowingly walked over the top of this thing a million times!

===OPERATION INSTRUCTIONS===

*Open the door.
*Unlock the system.
*Insert a full trap.
*Release the trap.
*Close the door.
*lock the system.
*Set the entry grid.
*Neutralize the field.
*Pull lever and when the light is green, the trap is clean.

profplump: As noted above, the State of New York did know.

BUT, emergencies are, by FEMA/Homeland Security definition, "local first". This means that the local municipality and county EM plans need to account for all hazards, which are coordinated up to the state and then federal level. But they all start local. Under the post-Katrina era, the locality is responsible first, until it's resources are exhausted before it can request or get state/federal disaster declarations (states vary somewhat, but most adhere to FEMA/DHS guidelines).

And there's the problem- if the first responders don't know about the hazards (and we don't know that for sure- perhaps the local EM is just being quiet and has marked that part of their plan as non-FOI-able) then if a disaster (to the facility or locality) occurred, responders would be walking into a potentially lethal situation without awareness. In short, I'm calling BS.

profplump: way south: Practically speaking, should something happen (fire, flood, quake, etc...) the state authorities would probably be on scene first.
They might have appreciated the heads up.

As noted above, the State of New York did know.

And the plethora of security and safety locks, placards, and other deterrents probably would have tipped them off even if the state didn't know. If standard emergency crew training doesn't include "don't break locks to go places that warn of eminent personal danger" we've got bigger problems than a lack of industry coordination.

Signs can be obscured or damaged by fire and debris. A lock or a piece of chain is no obstruction to an overzealous firefighter looking for the source of smoke.
If you don't know to look out for something and the buildings come down, it wouldn't be too hard to expose yourself.

free image hosting

Unimpressed.

Gyrfalcon: IT COULD HAVE BEEN HORRIBLE! IT COULD HAVE EXPLODED! THEY COULD HAVE STARTED A NUCLEAR WAR!!!

...except that it was very small, heavily guarded, and they didn't have all the other stuff you need to make a nuclear bomb except the plutonium, and since NOBODY KNEW about it, it could never have been broken into by terrorists etc. etc. etc. and all that other scary stuff.


Right. Without a high-explosive implosion sphere AND an unenriched (U-238) tamper AND some serious timers/triggers/electronics, the worst thing it could have been was a 'dirty' bomb. And even with those things, I think the minimum required amount of U-235 required to go super-critical is around 13kg... or somewhere in that area. Still, what the hell, Kodak?

Marcintosh: So, what about the reactor in Cambridge MA? Or is that alright . . .

Wait...what?!

Not a nuclear power plant.

Not even close.

Impossible for it to melt down. Not enough material in it. Entirely different designed from a pressurized water reactor.

I imagine it was very handy for developing film that wouldn't be effected by radiation as much.

Jim.Casy: Marcintosh: So, what about the reactor in Cambridge MA? Or is that alright . . .

Wait...what?!

MIT has a nuclear reactor. What? You didn't know?

'Plethora' indicates an unwanted abundance. Think sand flies or somethin'.

dittybopper: MindStalker: haemaker: Woah. I stand corrected. It could have been weapons grade.

It had 1.5 Kg U-235 (unknown enrichment level). Little Boy had 64Kg.

To be fair, Little Boy was horribly inefficient, I'd be willing to bet 1.5 Kg is enough for a weapon, assuming it was weapons grade.

Apparently the untamped spherical critical mass of U-235 is around 56 Kg. You can improve that down to around 14 Kg with with very advanced engineering, but that's still almost a factor of 10 greater than 1.5 Kg.

What if you had 1.5Kg of U-235 mixed in with truck bomb? How bad would the radiation be, and how wide spread would the radiation be?

You don't need to reach critical mass to cause a whole shiat load of chaos.

so did Kodak possess more WMD than Iraq?

And how did they get permission to own it, let alone install it in a basement in the middle of a densely populated city?

The author has clearly never been to Rochester. This was clearly a joint federal-corporate operation to wipe that buttstain off the map...

fluffy2097

Jim.Casy: Marcintosh: So, what about the reactor in Cambridge MA? Or is that alright . . .

Wait...what?!

MIT has a nuclear reactor. What? You didn't know?

Remain calm. Don't panic. It's right next door to this:



(Off-frame to the right. No photo 'cause it's kinda dull and not humorous.)

This is proof that there is no peaceful purpose for nuclear reactors, Kodak had one and it destroyed the company. This is why we need to invade Iran

/ vote for me as the Republican candidate!

Larva Lump: It's right next door to this:

*I* want a warehouse of rage...

Daveism: Larva Lump: It's right next door to this:

*I* want a warehouse of rage...

I want an Ire proof rage warehouse.

Can't have the rage escaping.

aniyn: Didn't you guys invade a country for less than that?

can't invade ourselves, I guess.

/ you are not wrong.

So wait, it's a nuclear source for testing? Essentially a very very very high powered X-ray machine. Why is this a big deal?

haemaker: Woah. I stand corrected. It could have been weapons grade.

It had 1.5 Kg U-235 (unknown enrichment level). Little Boy had 64Kg.

If I remember correctly, weapons grade is 95%, but I could be wrong. This report says 93%, and I read it as saying the thing was sub-critical by design. So not quite weapons grade--and the enrichment process is way beyond what terrorists can accomplish.

profplump SmartestFunniest 2012-05-14 06:48:35 AM
Unobtanium: See: all the fights over cell-tower zoning.

Those are all about things like tower height and appearance though, not about the radio emissions.


I see you've never sat through a public hearing concerning the siting of a cell tower. Last one I was at, over half the public comments concerned being too close to source of evil invisible rays from the cell tower.

Kodak fails at capitalism. Had they sold that uranium to Al Qaeda they could've survived. Clearly, they just didn't want it enough

fluffy2097: Can't have the rage escaping.

I hate it when ire breaks out my rage...

cenobyte40k: So wait, it's a nuclear source for testing? Essentially a very very very high powered X-ray machine. Why is this a big deal?

It's not, but a photo of a radioactive anything will go critical mass on the internet in an instant.

Everyone wants to see a "Hidden nuclear reactor"

Now the more pressing matter then secret nuclear weapons lab thing is the matter of was that photo taken with a Kodak camera and/or film?

Uisce Beatha: MindStalker: haemaker: Woah. I stand corrected. It could have been weapons grade.

It had 1.5 Kg U-235 (unknown enrichment level). Little Boy had 64Kg.

To be fair, Little Boy was horribly inefficient, I'd be willing to bet 1.5 Kg is enough for a weapon, assuming it was weapons grade.

Nope, using U-235, you need around 100 lbs (Yeah, yeah, wiki, I don't have time right now to dig into better sources)

Came here to point out how woefully under critical mass this was, but I see you all have it under control.

/One of my favorite research subjects.

cenobyte40k: So wait, it's a nuclear source for testing? Essentially a very very very high powered X-ray machine. Why is this a big deal?

Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear.
Radiation. Radiation. Radiation. Radiation. Radiation. Radiation. Radiation. Radiation. Radiation.

That's it. Or to put it in to less FUDy terms, the general populations ignorance about nuclear devices beyond mushroom clouds and their effects combined with the medias need to sensationalise every-god-damn-little-thing even if it's of no consequence is the 'big deal'.

jgk3:
I see you've never sat through a public hearing concerning the siting of a cell tower. Last one I was at, over half the public comments concerned being too close to source of evil invisible rays from the cell tower.

And I bet at least a medium sized continged also played the "think of the children" card as well.

profplump: Unobtanium: See: all the fights over cell-tower zoning.

Those are all about things like tower height and appearance though, not about the radio emissions.

Not around here. School systems are trying to negotiate tower rights on some school grounds, and the amount of "exposing our children" protests are just as vocal, if not more so.

vrax: [i49.tinypic.com image 400x267]

well done

djscram: haemaker: Woah. I stand corrected. It could have been weapons grade.

It had 1.5 Kg U-235 (unknown enrichment level). Little Boy had 64Kg.

If I remember correctly, weapons grade is 95%, but I could be wrong. This report says 93%, and I read it as saying the thing was sub-critical by design. So not quite weapons grade--and the enrichment process is way beyond what terrorists can accomplish.

and we are poking and prodding Iran when their enrichment levels are currently nowhere near HEU. They aren't much more than 20% at best (they claim only to 19.75% but that is BS just to not reach the 20% level set forth as a basement level to creating a nuclear weapon, though at 20% enrichment it would hardly qualify as a bomb, and would be so bulky, it would make it a joke. ) Technically the 20% level is the threshold between Enriched and highly enriched, but not on a practical level. This is pretty interesting though. Wasn't aware of that reactor myself.

/did some time at Oak Ridge NRL. awesome place to work, and has some really cool history. Secret city and all, not to mention some of the scorned lovers and suicidal pilots. Pre-9/11 for those. You'd never get a Cessna close enough to drop photos and papers about your ex-lover/coworker now.
best part is that the stream running through the grounds, is pretty contaminated, but apparently the contamination of that flowing stream ends at the property line before it runs into the Tennessee River.

Also, after reading the article linked by Happy Hours, I have a question, how many Curies in a dollop?