Canada quietly shipping bomb-grade uranium to U.S.

[DeathToTheOil]

Weapons-grade uranium is quietly being transported within Canada, and into the United States, in shipments the country's nuclear watchdog wants to keep cloaked in secrecy.

A confidential federal memo obtained through the Access to Information Act says at least one payload of spent, U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium fuel has already been moved stateside under a new Canada-U.S. deal.

The shipments stem from the highly publicized agreement signed last year by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama, amid fears that nuclear-bomb-making material could fall into the hands of terrorists.

The Canadian stash gradually being shipped from Chalk River, Ont., contains hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium -- large enough to make several Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs.

But even as the radioactive freight travels toward the U.S. border, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has no plans to hold public hearings or disclose which communities lie along the delivery route.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/27/pol-canada-shipping-bomb-grade-uranium.html

[TheWraith]

1. Fortunately, weapons grade uranium is pretty harmless outside a weapon.

Unlike, say, plutonium, uranium isn't a very large producer of neutron flux (and therefore secondary activation in surrounding materials).

Can't say I'm really overly shocked though that Canada had weapons grade HEU sitting around. File them along with Japan under countries proudly claiming to be non-nuclear while also being able to assemble a bomb in about as much time as it takes to pick up a pizza.

[DeathToTheOil]

2. Beginning of 4th paragraph:

"But even as the radioactive freight travels toward the U.S. border..."

Isn't that just as bad?

[BOHICA12]

3. Any decent size Hospital is receiving radioactive freight ...

the genie is out of the bottle, so us not in the business have to hope those in the business know what they are doing. Best not to ponder too much or the head explodes.

[HopeHoops]

20. It's tracer materials, like technetium-99m for MRIs and other tests.

The idea of getting injected with radioactive shit that has a half-life never really thrilled me, but it does light up the images for the techs.

[TheWraith]

4. Why would it be?

The entire point is it's being taken somewhere that it can be, at the very least, reliably secured. If not downmixed into reactor fuel--that's what we've been doing with the weapons grade material freed up from decommissioned US and Russian nuclear weapons, remixing it for use in power plants.

Either way, I'm infinitely happier with the stuff being somewhere safe.

[DeathToTheOil]

5. I'm not being argumentative

It's just that, as a child of the Cold War, I associate radioactivity with

[boppers]

14. I associate it with bananas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose

Oh, and this chart is good for perspective:
http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[MADem]

25. I have to concur. nt

[Hugabear]

6. Does this mean Iran would be justified in attacking Canada?

Using Bush-logic, seems so...

[vminfla]

7. Depends on Canada's ambitions towards ethnic cleansing genocide

Has Canada threatened to annihilate any of its neighbors?

[boppers]

15. They already tried it once.

Made it to DC, IIRC.

[Devil_Fish]

9. Beats me, Maybe Iran should start flying drones over U.S....NT

[Taverner]

8. Did you expect them to do this, um, loudly?

[HopeHoops]

10. Like we need it.

[hack89]

18. We don't - this is a security measure

to consolidate as much as possible in fewer, more secure locations.

[unkachuck]

11. "Weapons-grade uranium is quietly being transported..."

....whether it's North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, United States or a multitude of other countries, the desire for nuclear weapons is growing....they haven't found practical use on the battlefield (yet) but everyone knows, nothing but nothing deters like a nuclear bomb....

....the main difference in our action concerning Iraq and North Korea is nuclear....we've placed an extreme premium on having nuclear weapons for countries that rub us the wrong way....

....ssshhhh...."Weapons-grade uranium is quietly being transported..."

[slackmaster]

12. That's wonderful news

We certainly can't trust the Great White North to respect our national security.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. So?

[formercia]

16. This is spent reactor fuel that contains enriched Uranium.

It would be quite the chore to extract enough fissile material to make a weapon.

I don't see what the big deal is. There are pools of spent fuel all over the US.

[JTFrog]

17. This thread is almost as good

as the Jerry Lewis thread.

What a hoot.

[DeathToTheOil]

19. He's a nuclear scientist, too???

Is there NO END to the man's talents?????

[formercia]

22. No, I just read the thread.

Your sarcasm has been noted for future reference, Buckwheat.

[DeathToTheOil]

24. Sno' nuff, ex-spook

[HopeHoops]

21. THAT'S the big deal. Many of those pools are full.

Nobody really knows what to do with the stuff in the pools as it is. They want to bury it underground, but transporting it is a major risk.

[Sirveri]

23. Depending on the purity it could be used for Naval Nuclear propulsion.

Even if not pure enough they could have out sourced the initial enrichment and are finishing up the remaining out at Oak Ridge.

Considering that we're still building nuclear powered ships and refueling our nuclear powered carrier fleet, that's probably what it's for.