Missing Wal-Mart exit signs could be used to make a dirty bomb!

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Vic
Next up, terrorists stockpile watches!* :Q

Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen. A normal hydrogen atom has only a proton and an electron. A tritium has that plus 2 neutrons. In making nuclear bombs, tritium is commonly used as a 'booster' because the additional neutrons can be freed relatively easily and then go on to further additional fission reactions, boosting the yield. In fact, I'd wager that just about every nuclear bomb made by any of the major nations contains some tritium for this purpose. So how exactly is this a 'dirty' bomb as opposed to a regular bomb? And how exactly are these terrorists going to make one of these bombs without plutonium or uranium-235?

* glow-in-the-dark watch faces are one of the most common commercial usages of tritium

A dirty bomb is not a type of nuke. A dirty bomb contains radioactive material that is dispersed in a conventional explosion, the sole purpose of which is to spread radioactive material around an area.

I've got a little tritium filled cylinder on my keychain. It's neat.

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I do find this to be disconcerting, especially given the Wal-Mart factor. WM is world-renown for having some of the best inventory control and tracking practices in the business.

The terrorists would have been smarter to steal from Target, or even better, K-Mart.

Well considering K-mart is for the most part no longer around like it used to be what would be the point?

 

[LTC8K6]

I heard that 14.8 billion UPS uniforms were stolen...

 

[Acanthus]

Tritium is also a naturally occuring element... You drink thousands of tritium molecules every day.

They have a medium half life and arent very radioactive. A dirty bomb made of this stuff would be no more effective than a conventional bomb.

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: herm0016
its a beta emitter... as long as you are behind a sheet of aluminum foil or glass or something solid you will be fine. just don't eat it. I don't think I would be worried about that. but I do wear a dosimeter at work for a reason. am241be and cs127 are my reasons.

So those tin foil hats will finally come in handy?

 

[Acanthus]

Nice sig pj, how much did the TARP cost?

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: Vic
Next up, terrorists stockpile watches!* :Q

Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen. A normal hydrogen atom has only a proton and an electron. A tritium has that plus 2 neutrons. In making nuclear bombs, tritium is commonly used as a 'booster' because the additional neutrons can be freed relatively easily and then go on to further additional fission reactions, boosting the yield. In fact, I'd wager that just about every nuclear bomb made by any of the major nations contains some tritium for this purpose. So how exactly is this a 'dirty' bomb as opposed to a regular bomb? And how exactly are these terrorists going to make one of these bombs without plutonium or uranium-235?

* glow-in-the-dark watch faces are one of the most common commercial usages of tritium

A dirty bomb is not a type of nuke. A dirty bomb contains radioactive material that is dispersed in a conventional explosion, the sole purpose of which is to spread radioactive material around an area.

I've got a little tritium filled cylinder on my keychain. It's neat.

OMG, WE GOT ONE FOLKS--CALL HOMELAND SECURITY!!!!

Tritium is also a naturally occuring element... You drink thousands of tritium molecules every day.

They have a medium half life and arent very radioactive. A dirty bomb made of this stuff would be no more effective than a conventional bomb.

Sounds like you know a liiiiitle bit too much about this stuff, hey? Been stealing some signs lately? I AM CALLING HOMELAND SECURITY.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: SirStev0
CSI New York (I caught the end of it waiting for another show to start) had an episode where someone was killing people with radiation or something. He was getting it by stealing smoke alarms and exit signs.

Whoever wrote that should be hanged for treason!! Clearly the terrorists who stole these signs did it basd on that.

There is NOTHING in the story about terrorists or dirty bombs.

Get a grip, OP!

He sees things we don't; you'd do well to listen to the OP. For example, the evil beloved patriot invasion!

Denying the plausible is not going to make it less plausible.

So what?

I could think of hundreds of plausible terror scenarios other than this, but that doesn't mean I should wet my pants and post my irrational fears on the internet every time I think of one.

Are you aware there are millions of sharks in the Indian Ocean, which could potentially be fitted with dirty torpedoes by ill-tempered Somali pirates, and unleashed into the Gulf of Aden, thereby threatening the world's supply of petroleum, bringing civilization to its knees?

:shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: feralkid
Are you aware there are millions of sharks in the Indian Ocean, which could potentially be fitted with dirty torpedoes by ill-tempered Somali pirates, and unleashed into the Gulf of Aden, thereby threatening the world's supply of petroleum, bringing civilization to its knees?

:shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

Actually, not so insane. I have been tasked with monitoring NK activities for the past 18 months. In this bay they are currently training killer whales (they can tolerate the colds of alaskan waters best) to completely take out the shipping industry. They will be ramming fishing boats en masse. If you look closely at the one of the piers here you'll actually see a huge network of nets, where the killer whales sleep and eat. This is some scray stuff, folks.

 

[QuantumPion]

A dirty bomb may cause panic and hysteria, but it is not really possible to make one which would actually cause loss of life. The reason is that when you disperse a small quantity of radioactive material via explosive, the radioactivity gets spread out so much that it is not possible to get significant dose from it, unless you were so close to the bomb that the bomb itself would kill you anyway. The only way to make a dirty bomb really effective would be to use so much radioactive material that it would kill the person gathering and assembling the bomb before they could deploy it.

 

[ayabe]

They're also used in sights for pistols and rifles, the terrorists could be stockpiling guns....maybe.

:shocked:

 

[cyclohexane]

the op is raging lunatic. The source of the article is also full of shit

 

[herm0016]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: herm0016
its a beta emitter... as long as you are behind a sheet of aluminum foil or glass or something solid you will be fine. just don't eat it. I don't think I would be worried about that. but I do wear a dosimeter at work for a reason. am241be and cs127 are my reasons.

So those tin foil hats will finally come in handy?

finally, a use for those hats!

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: Socio
Hot and gone, Wal-Mart signs prompt NRC action

Federal regulators have instructed dozens of companies to count their exit signs that use a low-level radioactive compound and report any that are missing, a directive issued after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it could not find 15,000 of the signs.

The world's largest retailer said Tuesday it has checked all of its U.S. stores and removed any glow-in-the-dark signs that use tritium, a hydrogen isotope that, when used in the signs, has a radioactive strength similar to that of a smoke alarm.

The tritium gas in these signs is in a small quantity but the combined gas from 15,000 of them could be used to create a pretty deadly dirty bomb.

I do find it odd that so many of them are missing, I can see some falling off and then tossed in the trash instead of being disposal of properly, but 15,000?

You are total raging paranoid idiot.

Do you have any idea what tritum is used for? hint: It's not for a dirty bomb.

It's used to boost the yield of a fission reaction, which actually would make it a "cleaner" weapon, not "dirty".

You really need to stop posting idiotic threads like this.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The damn commies are poisoning our precious bodily fluids through fluoridation!

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: Vic
Next up, terrorists stockpile watches!* :Q

Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen. A normal hydrogen atom has only a proton and an electron. A tritium has that plus 2 neutrons. In making nuclear bombs, tritium is commonly used as a 'booster' because the additional neutrons can be freed relatively easily and then go on to further additional fission reactions, boosting the yield. In fact, I'd wager that just about every nuclear bomb made by any of the major nations contains some tritium for this purpose. So how exactly is this a 'dirty' bomb as opposed to a regular bomb? And how exactly are these terrorists going to make one of these bombs without plutonium or uranium-235?

* glow-in-the-dark watch faces are one of the most common commercial usages of tritium

A dirty bomb is not a type of nuke. A dirty bomb contains radioactive material that is dispersed in a conventional explosion, the sole purpose of which is to spread radioactive material around an area.

I've got a little tritium filled cylinder on my keychain. It's neat.

True. What seems to be lacking is the understanding that even 15000 signs worth of material would be diluted by the explosion. It would have to be a very small BOOM to have any effect at all. Someone isn't thinking this through.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

OH SHI* NO WAI

 

[Nemesis 1]

Well If one investigates the ammo we been using in Irag. Things get sickening really fast. Iraq has almost been made unliveable because of the depileted uranium ammom.
Its one hell of away to get rid of stockpiled depileted uranium. Our soldiers are getting sick also . You should see the birth defects there now. Its horroable. What have we allowed our government to do in our good names. Ungoldly acts of terrorism this is . Google find out. Sad but true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRIa0_ah8sI

 

[Ozoned]

Originally posted by: Socio
Hot and gone, Wal-Mart signs prompt NRC action

Federal regulators have instructed dozens of companies to count their exit signs that use a low-level radioactive compound and report any that are missing, a directive issued after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it could not find 15,000 of the signs.

The world's largest retailer said Tuesday it has checked all of its U.S. stores and removed any glow-in-the-dark signs that use tritium, a hydrogen isotope that, when used in the signs, has a radioactive strength similar to that of a smoke alarm.

The tritium gas in these signs is in a small quantity but the combined gas from 15,000 of them could be used to create a pretty deadly dirty bomb.

I do find it odd that so many of them are missing, I can see some falling off and then tossed in the trash instead of being disposal of properly, but 15,000?

IIRC each incident for improper disposal of concentrated tritium carries a substantial fine. Walmart has deep pockets.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Vic
The OP is a moron. Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen that is only weakly radioactive with a half-life of more than 12 years. The real concern here is it's VERY expensive, one of the world's most valuable substances by weight.

If it's priced by weight, I'm going to buy an airship full of it then.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Socio
Hot and gone, Wal-Mart signs prompt NRC action

Federal regulators have instructed dozens of companies to count their exit signs that use a low-level radioactive compound and report any that are missing, a directive issued after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it could not find 15,000 of the signs.

The world's largest retailer said Tuesday it has checked all of its U.S. stores and removed any glow-in-the-dark signs that use tritium, a hydrogen isotope that, when used in the signs, has a radioactive strength similar to that of a smoke alarm.

The tritium gas in these signs is in a small quantity but the combined gas from 15,000 of them could be used to create a pretty deadly dirty bomb.

Huh? How do you make a dirty bomb out of a gas? It's hydrogen. It floats, it disperses quickly and doesn't hang around.

Trying to make a dirty bomb out of tritium is like trying to make a mess by pouring helium on the floor. Sure, tritium is radioactive but that doesn't change its chemical or physical properties. It won't lay around on the ground polluting the area, it'll dissolve in the atmosphere.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: Vic
The OP is a moron. Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen that is only weakly radioactive with a half-life of more than 12 years. The real concern here is it's VERY expensive, one of the world's most valuable substances by weight.

If it's priced by weight, I'm going to buy an airship full of it then.

Only suckers by a gas by volume

 

[exdeath]

Completely hyped.

As a radioisotope, tritium is a very weak beta emitter and is not a significant health risk and (would have to be ingested in significant quantities), and short enough half life that it poses no long term environmental concerns. It's about as safe as a radioisotope can get: long enough half life to result in low emissions, but not so long that it sticks around forever.

As for fuel in a nuclear fusion bomb, that is also absurd. Again, too short lived, and as it is hydrogen, it readily permeates any known storage medium. In fact actual nuclear weapons do not use tritium at all because of these difficulties (the tritium is produced from deuterium and lithium at time of detonation).

Typical journalist who equates "radioactive" with "voodoo" and makes a big fuss out of nothing.

 

[exdeath]

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1
Well If one investigates the ammo we been using in Irag. Things get sickening really fast. Iraq has almost been made unliveable because of the depileted uranium ammom.
Its one hell of away to get rid of stockpiled depileted uranium.

Depleted uranium is just that: depleted.

U-238 when vaporized into particulate matter is a poison just like lead, mercury, or any other heavy metal.

It has nothing to do with radioactivity, which would only result from trace levels of remaining U-235, and by the time you fired enough shells to have any measurable trace of U-235, the amount of non radioactive but toxic "lead dust" would be a much bigger problem.

The birth defects and all that kind of stuff are a result of classical lead poisoning, not radiation or unique to uranium shells in any way.

 

[StageLeft]

Did they set us up the bomb yet?