Imagine my surprise when I look a little deeper into United Nuclear and find that its founder is none other than Bob Lazar.  In the previous post I mildly endorsed United Nuclear as a supplier of low level radioactive sources for experimentation. They appear to be a legitimate supplier of safe to handle sources. I haven’t changed my mind about the need for such suppliers but I am cautious about their grasp of physics.

It turns out that Bob Lazar has quite a reputation in certain circles concerned with extraterrestrial visitors. Lazar does get quite a bit of airplay.  Just this morning while in a groggy half sleep I heard Lazar interviewed on a UFO program on the Travel Channel.

It turns out that Bob Lazar claims to be a nuclear physicist and claims to have been involved in work aimed at understanding the flight mechanisms of a flying saucer disc in storage at Groom Lake, Nevada, in what is called Area 51. 

In a secret underground laboratory Lazar and others discovered the secret to the flying disc’s power source. Element 115 is transmuted to Element 116 by proton absorption, followed by the emission of two antiprotons. These anti-protons form a flux that travels down a tube whereupon they undergo annhilation with gasses found there. A great amount of thermal energy is liberated which is then converted to electric energy. But wait, this isn’t even the fun part.

The reaction of element 115, Ununpentium, also evolves a type of gravity wave that follows the curved shape of the flying saucer disc, which Lazar refers to as a “tuned wave guide”. This gravity wave propels the flying saucer disc through space-time by warping space.

Golly, that explains a lot. It always struck me that the saucer shape with it’s high surface to volume ratio must have put a real crimp on luggage space for the aliens. Also, what are the aerodynamics of a saucer shape? Man, this kind of stuff is perfect for the unedited internet.

So, I’ve driven my Jeep off the road into this Lazar swamp and now it is time to get back on the road.

This Lazar guy is pretty creative. But perhaps he should’ve taken a cue from Joseph Smith and started a religion instead. Lazars craziness physics is falsifiable if you wanted to go to the trouble. But religion uses the supernatural interface which is not falsifiable with physics. So, a religious wild-assed scheme is far more durable than one based on natural phenomena. 

Klaatu Berada Nickto.

The curious tale of murder by radiolysis becomes more convoluted each day. A Google search reveals an expanding table of accusations and denials, each party having some kind of axe to grind. There are the British authorities, anti-Putin exiles, Russian oligarchs, a diminishing group of fearless Russian journalists, angry and indignant ex-Soviet KGB patriots, and of course, Tsar Putin.  This case is beginning to reveal that there may be no perfectly clean parties, radiologically or otherwise. 

This is a fleeting glimse of a struggle takig place between bitter Russian ex-patriots and the Putin regime.  Some sketchy reports indicate that this disturbing battle involves an underworld of operatives working for both oligarch wise-guys and organs of the state secret police. It’s just creepy. There is no other way to put it.

But, it could easily be that the murder of Litvinenko was pulled off without the knowledge or sanction of the official security apparatus and was executed by freelancing bad guys.

Switching subjects now, a company in New Mexico called United Nuclear has an interesting commentary on it’s website, though I’m not sure that it makes any actual conclusions.  But, you can get a Polonium-210 coffee mug.  A 0.1 microCurie Po-210 source will run ya about $69.00. United Nuclear claims that their sources couldn’t have been used in the Litvinenko killing.  Assuming that their comments are accurate, I would have to agree with that conclusion.

I hasten to add that it is important that there be a commercial source of such things.  In order for people to invent new products using radiation, we need suppliers like United Nuclear.  We also need radiation sources for teachers to educate students and the public about radiation.  These people have some pretty cool stuff and it is my sincerest wish that pointy headed fools in DC do not try to clamp lots of extra constraints on to companies like United Nuclear because of the Litvinenko murder.  Gosh, it’s a good thing that Po-210 wasn’t found in somebody’s shoe. The TSA would be making us scan our feet at the airport.

So, here we go. You know the nauseating feeling and that metallic tang sensation you get on your tongue when you’ve narrowly averted a car crash or had some other close call? Well, a recent news article has left me with the same feeling.  

According to an article in the Jerusalem Post, a group of middle eastern countries have signalled to the IAEA that they are interested in establishing a “common program in the area for nuclear energy for peaceful purposes”. 

The subtext of the Israeli article is that this move is a kind of equilibration by Sunni populations in response to Iranian/Persian Shi’ite nuclear development.  The countries in question are Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Tunesia, and the United Arab Emirates. 

According to the IAEA, 29 nuclear reactors are under construction in the world today.  Seven of them are in India, which plans to increase their number 8-fold by 2022. China has four reactors under construction and reportedly plans a 5-fold expansion in the next 15 years.  The IAEA keeps a handy list of new and retired reactors around the world.

Here is a nuclear joke you can tell to entertain your friends! Question: How many nuclear engineers does it take to replace a lightbulb? Answer: Fifty! One to replace the bulb and forty nine to figure what to do with the old one! 

On the one hand, it is logically and morally precarious to deny others what you yourself have enjoyed since the end of WWII. That would be the reassuring hum of nuclear electricity and prospect of security through the overwhelming firepower afforded by fission. 

On the other hand, the existing nuclear states have built infrastructure for the safe movement of nuclear materials through the system and folding new states into it may not be so hard.  However, the existing nuclear states have a compelling interest in avoiding disruption of the nuclear fuel cycle. More demand means higher prices.  Maybe the existing nuclear states should form something like OPEC to regulate the supply of nuclear fuel? 

I’ll admit that I’m a bit nervous about the prospect of Middle Eastern states becoming handy in the nuclear arts.  Any given “Atoms for Peace” program could degrade into a shell game that could hide a nuclear weapons effort. 

A plain reading of history seems to show that if someone else is helping with some of the enrichment, straight fission bombs are not as hard to develop as one might have supposed. It’s hard if you start ab initio with a pitchblende mine, a cloud chamber,  and F=ma.  But if you can outsource reactors and fuel, it’s a lot easier. The art in bomb design appears to be wringing out the biggest bang for the smallest amount of fissile material. Fortunately for everyone, thermonuclear bombs seem to be substantially trickier to make- my conclusion based on the open literature. 

If you think about it, a pre-nuclear state will almost certainly conclude that not having a nuclear weapon is tantamount to suicide. So the pressure to build nuclear weapons is irresistable to many regimes.

A nuclear arms buildup among the theocratic states seems especially worrisome, even though secular states like the USSR and North Korea make a poor case for secular stewardship.  Like it or not, the notion of MAD- Mutual Assured Distruction- did provide balance in the cold war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.  Maybe what we are seeing is a nascent MAD in the middle east.

The worst case would be where the much desired Islamic Caliphate would have a “nuclear option”.  We can only hope that islamic theocratic fever is quenched by the pragmatics of economic prosperity. This is where a levelheaded US government could lead the way.

Chins are wagging over the what is being called a slip-up by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.  According to the New York Times, during an interview with a German cable news channel, Olmert reportedly said–

“Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons as America, France, Israel, Russia?” [Italics by Th’ Gaussling]

Oops! How do you say “Faux pas” in Hebrew? 

It’s kind of silly that this is even an issue.  For quite some time the only real questions have been- 1) How many coats of Turtle Wax are on the bomb casings? And, 2) Did they buy the extended warranty?

It’s an open question as to whether or not speaking publicly about its nukes enhances their deterrent effect for Israel. Look at that fetid Stalinist shrimp, Kim Jung Il.  He waves his nuclear capability around like a brain damaged test monkey with a turd on a stick. And, of course, we afford him the courtesies alloted to a brain damaged test monkey. A’hem.