Good point Emil.
....especially if you combine that with the fact that BN-350 has been off line for years ( I guess I confused it with BN-600, which is still working -- thanks for the info, Franz).
Maybe someone else can enlighten us as to how difficult - or not - it might be to try to get radioactive fuel assemblies several meters long out of their sodium storage pool (??) and sneak them out of the plant & off-site (hidden under a coat ??).
I don't doubt that its possible, but it probably would take some time - even if all plant personnell cooperated - and the wouldbe hijackers would be vulnerable all along their escape route to... ????
All in all a pretty implausible scenario, IMHO.
Jaro
>>>
I agree with the "self protection" factor to a
some degree. I wish that it was the case...
However, let me ask you.
1. What will be dose rates from the U-238=>Pu-239
blanket?
My guess because U-238 is not a thermal neutron
U-235 fuel or MOX where majority dose coming from
the fission products. U-238 is there NOT to
support fission, as you obviously are knowing and
it will not produce as much of the fission
products into the blankets as from U-235 thermal
neutron fission. We may see high dose rates from
the material activation which will go down fast
12 month or so. I would guesstimate, after
several month we wont see any acute gamma dose
rates to have an efficient "self protection
factor", unless millirems are killers and thieves
are antinukes ;-)
2. U-238/Pu-239 are very heavy metals = hundreds
of tons is not a such huge amount to see it as a
stock pile as one may think at first.
As the Quiz's question:
Question: For how many years and how many of
thermal-Neutron " donor " reactors were working
out to make up the first Pu-239 fuel load for the
BN-350?
A nice weekend for the everyone.
Emil.