Loose Nuke Smugglers Caught With Uranium

Why does it matter that they're slutty?

Surprised this does not happen more often

Transnistria is like the Florida of Moldova...to put it in Fark terms. And, Moldova makes Albania look like Luxembourg

The group had allegedly been involved in shipments of hand grenades, Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, and even containers of uranium-235,

Which item above does not belong?

FunkOut: Did they buy it from a Dr. Frank N. Furter?

No, Libyans.

I'll trade it for a shoddy bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts.

DancingElkCondor: Surprised this does not happen more often

Transnistria is like the Florida of Moldova...to put it in Fark terms. And, Moldova makes Albania look like Luxembourg

I'm pretty sure that Florida doesn't consider itself to be a separate country, though.

Does it make the explosive space modulator?

Try TransDnistria, ABC News

zerkalo: Try TransDnistria, ABC News

Or, I'm an idiot

Moldova has a "breakaway regions"? They have some of the most amazing Soviet technology, designed to facilitate Red Army invasions of Europe. Moldovans own a lot of equipment, specialized highway and tank-friendly travel routes, that Russia probably wants back. God knows they produce something like wooI and wine and nothing else for export. I would think that being a :"breakaway" region of Moldova is just asking for Russia to invade-and-quell a la Georgia.

It's just past Nistria.

So you get a pound of let's assume weapons grade uranium. Critical mass is around 13 pounds so you have to come up with another 12 pounds which apparently cost $476,000,000. Then you have to get some lithium 6 deuteride for the neutron source some U238 for the fission third stage and an explosive trigger for the fission first stage and an explosive injector for the lithium deuteride fusion second stage. If I get my hands on that kind of cash I'm going with the 2 chicks at one time thing.

OscarTamerz: So you get a pound of let's assume weapons grade uranium. Critical mass is around 13 pounds so you have to come up with another 12 pounds which apparently cost $476,000,000. Then you have to get some lithium 6 deuteride for the neutron source some U238 for the fission third stage and an explosive trigger for the fission first stage and an explosive injector for the lithium deuteride fusion second stage. If I get my hands on that kind of cash I'm going with the 2 chicks at one time thing.

Who says you have to build a fission-fusion-fission device? Just build a gun-type device and mount it in a panel van.

Even if you can't get the other 12 lbs, a pound of finely powdered u235 is going to make for one hell of a dirty bomb. Mix it with some aluminum and ANFO, with the right delivery mechanism, you could shut down a city center for years.

/crap, now I'm on another watchlist....

OscarTamerz: EDITED FOR CONTENTi>

I was going to talk about this, but now I'm thinking I'd rather not be on that particular list.

I like pie.

Esn: DancingElkCondor: Surprised this does not happen more often

Transnistria is like the Florida of Moldova...to put it in Fark terms. And, Moldova makes Albania look like Luxembourg

I'm pretty sure that Florida doesn't consider itself to be a separate country, though.

Give it time....

OscarTamerz
So you get a pound of let's assume weapons grade uranium. Critical mass is around 13 pounds so you have to come up with another 12 pounds which apparently cost $476,000,000. Then you have to get some lithium 6 deuteride for the neutron source some U238 for the fission third stage and an explosive trigger for the fission first stage and an explosive injector for the lithium deuteride fusion second stage. If I get my hands on that kind of cash I'm going with the 2 chicks at one time thing.

Or you find someone with a physics degree who can build things, and make the amount of uranium about the size of a coke can just slam together. Inefficient by modern standards, but it works.

DancingElkCondor: Surprised this does not happen more often

Transnistria is like the Florida of Moldova...to put it in Fark terms. And, Moldova makes Albania look like Luxembourg

Let's be clear. It's not the florida of Moldova. It's like the guantanamo of Russia. Russia controls that place and uses it as a conduit to sell weapons to dictatorial and evil regimes and to intimidate ukraine and to a lesser extent moldova. anybody here thinking that transdnistria is in any way "independent" or "seeking independence" is a fool - Russia controls the place and they like it exactly as it is since it allows them to pull their shady stuff and be a regional bully.

I was wondering where I could buy some for my Q36 Space Modulator. Now I know.

I just figured out the -stan countries.

/sigh

Bomb Head Mohammed: DancingElkCondor: Surprised this does not happen more often

Transnistria is like the Florida of Moldova...to put it in Fark terms. And, Moldova makes Albania look like Luxembourg

Let's be clear. It's not the florida of Moldova. It's like the guantanamo of Russia. Russia controls that place and uses it as a conduit to sell weapons to dictatorial and evil regimes and to intimidate ukraine and to a lesser extent moldova. anybody here thinking that transdnistria is in any way "independent" or "seeking independence" is a fool - Russia controls the place and they like it exactly as it is since it allows them to pull their shady stuff and be a regional bully.

Ehhhh, not exactly..... First, in elections a couple months ago, the Kremlin"s chosen candidate lost. That's not to say Russia isnt still terribly influential there, just to say they don't always get their way...A better descriptor of Transdnistria is "Gangster Enclave".... Also Transdnistria isn't used to exert pressure on Ukraine, that's what Crimea is for...Transdnistria is used to more pressure Moldova....Russia still does have "peace keepers" stationed there from the shooty time at the collapse of the USSR, but most people understand that the true reason those peace keepers were stationed there was to gaurd one of the largest arms depots the USSR had, though most people alos understand that at this point most of that stuff has been sold out the back door, and so now the whole thing is just a bargaining chip in their relationship with Romania and the wider EU....If Russia saw an angle they'd abandon Transdnistria in a heartbeat

Something to keep in mind though is that most of the people on that side of the river are ethnic Russians and were made afraid of what a reunion of Moldova and Romania would mean for their culture, regardless of any truth. But that said I know ethnic Romanians/Moldovans on this side of the river who want no part of a reunion with Romania either, so it's quite a complex situation....

//lives in Chisinau

That's where they used to make radios.

RPG's and unranium 235......no, can't go there either.

zerkalo: Try TransDnistria, ABC News

The place has traditionally been called Transnistria in English, to the extent that it is mentioned at all.

I always wondered about the d-n root that appears in the names of so many European rivers--Danube, Don, Dniepr, Dniester...

DancingElkCondor: Esn: DancingElkCondor: Surprised this does not happen more often

Transnistria is like the Florida of Moldova...to put it in Fark terms. And, Moldova makes Albania look like Luxembourg

I'm pretty sure that Florida doesn't consider itself to be a separate country, though.

Give it time....

There is a difference. The government in Moldova doesn't like this region trying to break away. If Floriduh ever leaves the United States, it will be thrown out and the rest of us will be glad to see it go.

It is called Transnistria. It was born Dnistria, but always identified more with Nistria, so when it came of age it decided to make the switch.

R.I.P. Transnistria

OscarTamerz: So you get a pound of let's assume weapons grade uranium. Critical mass is around 13 pounds so you have to come up with another 12 pounds which apparently cost $476,000,000. Then you have to get some lithium 6 deuteride for the neutron source some U238 for the fission third stage and an explosive trigger for the fission first stage and an explosive injector for the lithium deuteride fusion second stage. If I get my hands on that kind of cash I'm going with the 2 chicks at one time thing.

Just the U-235 will go boom.

Gyrfalcon: It's not QUITE that easy, according to my incredibly spotty and slipshod research, which I'm assuming is about as good as a terrorist would be able to manage, before he said (in Arabic or Pashtun) "F*ck this, let's just blow it up!" Just "slamming" a pile of uranium together wouldn't do squat, except probably irradiate you and whoever was dumb enough to be standing nearby. You do have to slam it together at a fairly high rate of speed.

The faster you slam it the more reliable the bomb. If you just take a chunk in each hand and slam there's still a decent chance you get a multi-kiloton yield.

Not only is critical mass for U238 about 10 kilos (22 lbs, so they're way short) BUT it has to be compressed into a sphere about 9.5 cm in diameter. That's pretty small. And I took that right of Wikipedia, so there's no reason to watch list me in case anybody's looking. So if you're trying to make a gun or implosion weapon, you need a titanium case to get your critical mass into a small enough sphere, like the Fat Man implosion bomb, which I'm extrapolating from "Trinity and Beyond" a commercially available DVD so please stop monitoring my Internet.

An implosion device is far beyond anything we've seen terrorists do. A gun device isn't, though. You can't make a Pu-239 gun device (well, you can, but it's going to fizzle and maybe kill a block instead of a city) but U-235 doesn't emit nearly as many neutrons on it's own. A gun device can usually attain full assembly before a neutron comes along and sets it off.

roscotsmalls: //lives in Chisinau

Have you visited Transnistria before? What's it like? I was thinking to check it out with a few buddies some time. Our plan was to visit Chisinau, then head over to Tiraspol. I guess that would be by bus given the "border" crossing into Transistria. Is it worth seeing? I've always been fascinated by pseudo-countries.

Been to Moldova before...What an interesting place. I never made it to Transnistria, but I met germans who did and they said it was like going back in time to Soviet Russia. Pretty cool I guess. Usually you would have to bribe the boarder guards I heard but thats no biggie. Also, they make some super awesome cognac in Transnistria as well which is famous back in Moldova.

ciberido: FunkOut: Did they buy it from a Dr. Frank N. Furter?

No, Libyans.

What else can you do, it's not like it's available in every corner drugstore.

Loren: The faster you slam it the more reliable the bomb. If you just take a chunk in each hand and slam there's still a decent chance you get a multi-kiloton yield.

In a word, NO. We didn't spend multiple billions getting it just right in WW II if it were that easy, and if it were, anyone with refined uranium could do it. They can't, because it isn't.