From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!hp-pcd!keith
Newsgroups: net.misc
Title: Cosmos A-bomb? - (nf)
Article-I.D.: hp-pcd.565
Posted: Fri Jan  7 12:03:55 1983
Received: Sat Jan  8 05:44:01 1983

#N:hp-pcd:6400009:000:934
hp-pcd!keith    Jan  7 11:12:00 1983

I was watching the CBS news report this morning (7 JAN) regarding the Soviet
satellite (no, not Poland) that was about to come down upon our heads.  The
principal concern is the nuclear reactor aboard the satellite which carries
some amount of Uranium (I think).

The report covered the obvious hazard of radioactive material being distributed
in a populated area, but the reporter also speculated about the possibility
of the Uranium being recovered by some terrorist who would then fashion it
into a A-bomb.

My question is: Is this reasonable?

I don't know much about the workings of reactors that go up in space, but I
seem to remember assurances given by earth-bound power companies that reactor
grade material can't be made into weapons grade material without a considerable
amount of work.  


				       Sounds like a hardware problem,

				       Keith M. Taylor
				       Corvallis, Oregon
				       hplabs!hp-pcd!keith