Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: ERRORS in rebuttal to "Pandora's Promise" [View all]PamW
(1,825 posts)FBaggins is EXACTLY CORRECT.
Whether something is "fissile" or not is a PHYSICAL PROPERTY of the isotope; and does NOT depend on WHERE it is.
It's like saying paper is combustible or not combustible depending on where it is, ( or time of day, phase of moon.... ). It's NONSENSE.
As FBaggins points out; everything that is being said about Pu-240 can be said about U-238. But that doesn't mean you can make a bomb out of U-238.
Additionally, this is all a "red herring". Non-scientist bananas doesn't realize that the main problem with Pu-240 is NOT whether it is "fissile" or merely "fissionable". The main problem with Pu-240 is that it SPONTANEOUSLY FISSIONS.
That's a BIG PROBLEM because it leads to the "pre-detonation" problem; which is why Plutonium can NOT be used in a gun-assembled device.
It is also why when you have enough Pu-240; that you can't use the material in an implosion device either.
So many of these discussions are fostered by anti-nukes like bananas who are NOT SCIENTISTS and they don't know what is or is not important.
That's why they can be BUFFALOED so easily.
They jump up and down and scream about some TRIVIALITY that has NOTHING to do with determining the issue at hand.
Witness bananas PREOCCUPATION with whether Pu-240 is "fissionable" or not. I never said that Pu-240 was not "fissionable". I said it was not "fissile". Bananas doesn't understand the vocabulary and is EASILY CONFUSED when two words sound SIMILAR but have DIFFERENT meanings.
For the record, Pu-240 is fissionable, but NOT fissile. U-238 is also fissionable, but NOT fissile. You can't make out bomb out of U-238.
The anti-proliferation technology that is present in the IFR fuel cycle is MUCH, MUCH more than whether certain materials are "fissile" or merely "fissionable". As stated by Dr. Till; some of the materials included are radioactive and produce undesired heating. See:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/interviews/till.html
Q: So it would be very difficult to handle for weapons, would it?
A: It's impossible to handle for weapons, as it stands.
It's highly radioactive. It's highly heat producing. It has all of the characteristics that make it extremely, well, make it impossible for someone to make a weapon.
It takes many years of study to master all the intricacies of this highly complex field; and bananas "thinks" he can master it with a few clicks on Google.
PamW