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