[ExI] Depleted Uranium (was: We Need a Movide People!! Dammit!)

[John K Clark]

"Keith Henson" <hkhenson at rogers.com>

> But  depleted uranium that's used for things like bullets never went near
> a reactor. It's "depleted" of the easy to fission isotope U235.

It's true that depleted Uranium (U238) is depleted of easy to fission U235,
but it's not true that it never comes near a reactor, nor is it innocuous
stuff. If you want to manufacture Plutonium all you need to do is place
depleted uranium near a reactor.

And also, about 70% of the energy in an H bomb does not come from U235 or
Plutonium or even the fusion reaction, it comes from common cheap depleted
Uranium (U238). The fusion reaction makes lots of very high speed neutrons
and those high speed neutrons can split even hard to split depleted Uranium;
and that releases one hell of a lot of energy.

  John K Clark