[ RadSafe ] Fusion Proliferation

[JPreisig at aol.com]

Dear Radsafe:
 
     From:    _jpreisig at aol.com_ (mailto:jpreisig at aol.com)     .
 
 
    Hey All,
 
          Hope your day is  going well.  I've been chuckling to myself 
about JAitken's post  about Cs137,
   Americium, Tritium etc.
 
         We depend on the Russians  for some/all of these radionuclides.  
Ouch!!!!  Can you say
   security issues????
 
         As far as Schlumberger  goes,oil field drill time goes for 
Millions of dollars an hour or
   something expensive like that.  Back in 1978 (before  Measurement While 
Drilling???) I was told
   it cost $5K per day, just to have a Schlumberger wireline  truck at a 
well site.   The Minitron
   (Bi__itron???) neutron generator tube cost $5K per tube, back  in 1978.
 
         Hope the Russians aren't  our only source of Am241.  Put Am241 
together with Be, and you have
     a nice source of neutrons.  The radsafe  archives should have some 
discussion of nuclear device
     triggers, if these postings haven't mysteriously  disappeared.
 
          As for Tritium, the  USA Government has to make Tritium rather 
continuously, to refresh  the
     tritium in Hydrogen weapons.  Tritium has  that 12 year half life.  
Last I heard, Team USA
     was making Tritium at either Hanford and/or the  reactor(s) in South 
Carolina.  This has all
     been discussed publicly in journals like Physics  Today.  I guess 
Lithium is of interest also.
 
          Have been watching  watching on TV some shows about the original 
fission and/or
    fusion weapons, with their spherical and/or cylindrical  geometries.  
One show actually
    detailed design of a Fusion device in some detail.   I once saw 
Hydrogen weapons and their
    design described in detail in Popular Mechanics and/or  Popular 
Science.  The actual workings
    didn't ring true until I saw the recent TV show.
 
          Funny, I've worked  around Tritium and Deuterium (and Uranium) at 
EMR Photoelectric
    (Schlumberger/Schlumber Technologies) and D2O at that  Federal National 
Lab (you know,
    the Long Island Nuclear Lab) and really wasn't very  concerned about 
deuterium and/or tritium.
    Some of the less technical people were very concerned  about deuterium, 
tritium and where it
    all was.  Guess I was thinking like a scientist  and/or engineer, and 
not a nuclear
    accountant.
 
         Sorry, to be so  long-winded.  If Uranium and/or Plutonium are a 
proliferation issue for  fission
    reactors, then deuterium and tritium WILL BE a SERIOUS  issue for 
fusion reactors.
    Can we ignore this issue????  The proof of concept  hasn't even 
happened for Fusion.
    I'm not very concerned about uranium/plutonium  proliferation.
 
         The American/Allied forces  (according to TV) discovering 
Heisenberg's reactor, uranium etc.
    and heavy water found plenty of Uranium, etc.  They  were even trying 
to ship some to Japan ---
    see the Radsafe archives.  The German's didn't have  the commitment to 
nuclear warheads that
    the USA had; nor did they have the number of excellent  scientists 
(Feynmann, Oppenheimer, etc.)
    that the Manhattan Project had.  The USA also had  Hanford, Oak Ridge, 
UChicago, Los Alamos
    etc.  Serious work being done by serious  people.  See Radsafe postings 
about enrichment,
    cyclotrons, diffusion, centrifuges, Calutrons, strong  focusing, 
Alternating Magnetic Gradients.
    etc.
 
          Reprocessing HLW is  not a walk in the park --- it requires 
effort and work.  Politically,
    no rational politician will really go near it.
 
          Have a good  week!!!!    Regards,   Joseph R. (Joe) Preisig,  PhD
 
 
PS     Reprocessing would provide jobs for Americans,  and some jobs for 
the transportation
          industry etc.