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On 9/20/2025 4:59 PM, William Hyde wrote:
Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
In article <10aljbo$v9tr$1@dont-email.me>,
Lynn McGuire-a <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
On 9/20/2025 12:16 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
On 19/09/2025 21:51, Lynn McGuire wrote:
Over The Hedge: Banned Games
|e-a|e-a|e-a https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2025/09/19
Yeah, the U-238 Atomic Energy Lab should be banned if it ever really >>>>>> existed.|e-a However, I did see the |ore4+oWargames|ore4-Y movie and have
wondered
how true that could be.
Should be banned why?|e-a Yes I've read the comic,
but is this just you kvetching again about energy
production that isn't from oil?|e-a You being in
the oil business.
Because U-238 is radioactive and children should not be playing with
it.
BTW, I am extremely pro nuclear.-a One of my former employers had to
nuclear power plants here in Texas that I worked at for a day.
Lynn
Isn't U-238 basically "depleted uranium" and almost non-radioactive?
I thought that was U-235 that you had to worry about.
About half of the radioactivity of naturally occurring Uranium is
directly from u-238.-a About as much comes from u-234, which is a decay
product of u238.-a Only about 2% comes from u-235.
So if you clean out the 234 and 235 the Bq number should be cut in
half - if you remove all of the lighter isotopes, which ISTR does not
happen.
ISTR a US-a gov document which claimed that the radiation was reduced
by 60%. Possibly so, depending on how we weigh the various alpha, beta
(from decay products) and gamma emissions.
Uranium alloys very well with steel.-a Before the discovery of
radioactivity, builders were thinking of using Steel-Uranium alloys in
the girders of high rises.-a Fortunately, it was too expensive at the
time.
Depleted Uranium, which is basically U238, is sometimes used in
situations where its great density (19, vs 11.3 for lead) is needed.
This includes sailing vessel's keels, and aileron counter weights in
airplane wings. Ironically, another major use is shielding for
radiation.
In the military, its also used for kinetic armor penetrators, since its
high cross-sectional density helps, along with its self sharpening
and pyrophoric properties.
Now that you mention it, I think it was a report on waste from depleted >uranium munitions that quoted that 40% figure.
Possibly even better would be, if it exists, a relatively stable element >from the "island of stability". But that would be far too expensive for
use in munitions. Though I sense there is an SF story there.
William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
Now that you mention it, I think it was a report on waste from depleted
uranium munitions that quoted that 40% figure.
Possibly even better would be, if it exists, a relatively stable element >>from the "island of stability". But that would be far too expensive for
use in munitions. Though I sense there is an SF story there.
That would be osmium. It's expensive, while DU is a cheap byproduct.
I have used DU for speaker stands and also for test stands for inertial navigation gyros. It's heavy stuff, and not that expensive.
--scott
William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
Now that you mention it, I think it was a report on waste from depleted >>uranium munitions that quoted that 40% figure.
Possibly even better would be, if it exists, a relatively stable element >>from the "island of stability". But that would be far too expensive for >>use in munitions. Though I sense there is an SF story there.
That would be osmium. It's expensive, while DU is a cheap byproduct.
Now, to bring it back to SF this MAY change if/when we have metal
asteroid mining :-) where Osmium should be a bit less rare. It would
still be rare/uncommon but not quite as rare.
Because U-238 is radioactive and children should not be playing with it.
BTW, I am extremely pro nuclear. One of my former employers had to
nuclear power plants here in Texas that I worked at for a day.
On Sat, 20 Sep 2025 01:59:02 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
Because U-238 is radioactive and children should not be playing with it.
BTW, I am extremely pro nuclear. One of my former employers had to >>nuclear power plants here in Texas that I worked at for a day.
My sister in law's older brother (now retired) spent his career
building and installing Candus in various non-Canadian locations.
Can't remember the complete list but S Korea is on it.
Lynn's comment brought to mind a story I read some fifty
plus years ago. I don't recall the title, but the protags
were Canadian children in the vicinity of a pitchblende
(Uranite) mine, perhaps in Alberta?