Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 20:13:00 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: screwinup@aol.com (Screwinup) Cc: saar-lists-freebsd-hackers@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: Anarchists decry 72lbs plutonium launch Message-ID: <199708250313.UAA00633@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <19970824231000.TAA02698@ladder02.news.aol.com> from "Screwinup" at Aug 24, 97 07:10:35 pm
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> On Oct. 6, NASA will launch a space probe containing 72 lbs. of > plutonium. This is the 24th launch containing plutonium. Three have failed > and two have burned up leaving 1 to 3 lbs of plutonium dust in the > atmosphere. That will cause untold people to get lung cancer years hence, > but may already be causing decreased immunity we perceive as "new > diseases" or old ones coming back. Ah, uunet, how we've missed ya'... Plutonium is a metabolic poison; it interferes between stage 2 and stage 3 of the Krebbs cycle. If you were going to be dead from it you would be dead already. Take an elementry biology course. Also, unless you have built a cyclotron or high energy linear accelerator, 68lbs of Plutonium doesn't "burn up" to become something other than Plutonium. Take an elementry physics course. If it started with 72lbs of Plutonium, then it ended with 72lbs of Plutonium. Finally, the waste materials from a coal or petroleum fired power plant don't break down, period, unless acted upon by a highly energetic process. One taking more energy than was originally produced (it's called "entropy", kids); take an elementry chemistry course. Nuclear waste is only toxic for 50,000 years (or less), a far cry shorter than forever. > on Ocl. 4th. How can we save ourselves and our children from what may be a > cruel way to "reduce population"? Educate them so they have a basic working knowledge of the universe, for starters. Sheesh. PS: any takers on a guess as to whether or not 72lbs is over critical mass for Plutonium? PPS: Break-even in hot fusion was achieved in 1981 at the Tokomak at Berkeley. PPPS: It's people like you what cause unrest. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199708250313.UAA00633>