[ RadSafe ] "Enriched Uranium" weapons

[Glenn R. Marshall]

Are people really having convulsions over a U-238/U235 ratio that is slightly less than the normally accepted mean value of 138 for natural uranium?  Looks like it's all probably less than 1% U-235, if the values presented are even accurate.  That's certainly within the error bar and probably within natural variance.  Looks like several samples have no ratio calculated, or at least none recorded.  Hmmm....can't help wondering why.  I also cannot help wondering if other samples were collected and analyzed but were not included in the report because, well, you know. 

So Iraq, which was ruled by a dictator for 30 years who gassed and murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people, started his own nuclear weapons program, had at least one nuclear reactor blown up by Israel, and performed God-only-knows what kinds of research in the vastness of the desert, has a couple spots of increased levels of (probably) natural uranium.  Yes!  This must be the result of some new, super-secret US or British enriched uranium weapon!  There is simply no other logical explanation!  We've got to warn everyone!

Here is the table excerpted from the famous report:

http://www.conflictandhealth.com/content/5/1/15/table/T7

Can any of you petroleum HPs guess how much NORM was released from the dozens of oil wells that were intentionally set ablaze?

OK, enough of this.  Back to work.

Glenn Marshall, CHP