From: utzoo!henry Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Cosmos A-bomb? Article-I.D.: utzoo.2739 Posted: Sun Jan 9 23:05:37 1983 Received: Sun Jan 9 23:05:37 1983 The fission fuel aboard space reactors is usually, I think, highly enriched to minimize the size and weight of the reactor. I don't think those reactors operate for sufficiently long periods to generate useful amounts of plutonium, but the original fuel might be rich enough to qualify as "bomb grade". But as Jerry Leichter points out, it's likely to come down in lots of small, well-scattered pieces. Moreover, since said pieces come from a reactor that has been operating for a while, they will be *highly* radioactive and very dangerous to handle. This does not seem like a very practical source of materials for bombs.