Terrorist attack - could this happen?

[sasguru]

He was born Sep 1968??? His little trip to Czechoslovakia was in 1988.

He was 30 when he died in 2001. Do the maths.
And ask the nurse for your medication, loon.

OK got it worng he was 33. What evidence that he was in Czech apart from the ravings of a lunatic mind

[bobhope]

Re: nuclear attack on London.

I'm surprised the possibility doesn't enter into the heads of Londinium-dwellers more often. It's entirely feasible, so it then comes down to probabilities.

Where would the primary targets for such an attach be? New York / London of course.

Wonder what it would do for house prices :-) ?

[Churchill]

Please don't try bringing anti semitism into this, that's the sole domain of the left and your friends on here who watch fluff such as Loose Change. Anti American conspiracy, anti semitism and anti capitalism go hand in hand in case you didn't notice.

There was nothing anti-semitic about his post. It may have played on stereotypes but it certainly wasn't anti-semitic.

You really don't understand what you read, do you?

[richard-af]

Where would the primary targets for such an attach be? New York / London of course.

Yes. Why don't we trick the beardies, and pretend that the capital is now Skelmersdale? No loss even if they did detonate.

[wendigo100]

2) All Russian warheads are protected by action codes known only the Russian president and the chief of the Russian General Staff. How therefore could these weapons be detonated without Russian assistance?

If I recall correctly, a suicide bomber just needs enough fissile material to make critical mass. He doesn't need all the mechanics, action codes and stuff.

He only needs to bang together two semi-spheres, using his hands, to set it off, and that's about ten KG of weapons-grade plutonium.

So the answer is that he cuts the fissile material out of the warhead. Being a suicide bomber, he's not arsed about being irradiated.

[sasguru]

Re: nuclear attack on London.

I'm surprised the possibility doesn't enter into the heads of Londinium-dwellers more often. It's entirely feasible, so it then comes down to probabilities.

Where would the primary targets for such an attach be? New York / London of course.

Wonder what it would do for house prices :-) ?

The thought has crossed my mind. But being vapourised in an instant is porbably not a bad way to go, eh?

[richard-af]

If I recall correctly, a suicide bomber just needs enough fissile material to make critical mass. He doesn't need all the mechanics, action codes and stuff.

He only needs to bang together two semi-spheres, using his hands, to set it off, and that's about ten KG of weapons-grade plutonium.

So the answer is that he cuts the fissile material out of the warhead. Being a suicide bomber, he's not arsed about being irradiated.

Not quite. Yes, enough of the fissile material in one lump will detonate, but the bang is not anywhere close to what a proper nuke could do with the same material. Something to do with the blast breaking the lump apart before all potential material is used. Clever neutron bombardment with Polonium (Yes! Our new celeb element!) and other, techy stuff is required... thank goodness.

[wendigo100]

Not quite. Yes, enough of the fissile material in one lump will detonate, but the bang is not anywhere close to what a proper nuke could do with the same material. Something to do with the blast breaking the lump apart before all potential material is used. Clever neutron bombardment with Polonium (Yes! Our new celeb element!) and other, techy stuff is required... thank goodness.

It would still be a bastard bang though, a sort of dirty bomb with A-Levels.

[richard-af]

You'd only get a fizzle with Plutonium... a nasty dirty bomb though... and Polonium/beryllium urchins are so 1940s...

Plutonium a damp squib? The perma-tanned oldies in Nagasaki might disagree with that!

[wendigo100]

Plutonium a damp squib? The perma-tanned oldies in Nagasaki might disagree with that!

I think zeity is comparing it with one of his lizardy doomsday bombs.