Newspaper: Al-Qaida Has Suitcase Nukes

[The Mad Monk]

I heard about this a maybe a year ago. According to that radio program, the Russian Mafia had gotten ahold of the nukes, and had indeed sold a few to Al-Queda -- after replacing the fissionable material with something considerably less hazardous.

They then proceeded to **** themselves laughing while counting their millions.

[curtsibling]

Obviously the potential usage of a suiycase nuke in any big city (London, NYC, Berlin, Paris) would be horrifying to the extreme.

But I agree that if the enemy were going to play the trump card, they would have made use of it by now...

[Dis]

and I have serious doubts how much damage a suitcase nuke can do. Does anyone know how many kilotons that is?

Unless you are near it, you are unlikely to be affected by it. The cleanup would be very costly though. And some radiation exposure will not be avoidable.

But you will live on.

[CerberusIV]

Whoever wrote this article doesn't know much about nukes. AFAIK the smallest nuclear demolition charges weigh about 80 kilos. One might fit into a suitcase but you would have to do a lot of bodybuilding to carry a suitcase weighing that much through customs with one hand.

[Capt Dizle]

I believe these devices exist, are in the hands of terrorists and will be used in the future.

It is only a matter of time.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by obstructor
Some of you Americans are really paranoid. Nuclear suticases owned by Al-Qaeda

Note the news agency is Reuters.

[oedo]

Duck And Cover!
Then you´ll be safe.

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Note the news agency is Reuters.

As you can see some psots below I didn`t notice it immediately

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by obstructor
As you can see some psots below I didn`t notice it immediately

Note to self: read thread before replying to posts near the beginning.

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Note to self: read thread before replying to posts near the beginning.

Agree (didn`t read first post careful enough )

[curtsibling]

Originally posted by Dissident
and I have serious doubts how much damage a suitcase nuke can do. Does anyone know how many kilotons that is?

Unless you are near it, you are unlikely to be affected by it. The cleanup would be very costly though. And some radiation exposure will not be avoidable.

But you will live on.

OK, you can shield me from the blast!

It's a nuke for hade's sake!

While not a 20 megaton city-breaker, it can still flatten a good area!

[Capt Dizle]

Originally posted by CerberusIV
Whoever wrote this article doesn't know much about nukes. AFAIK the smallest nuclear demolition charges weigh about 80 kilos. One might fit into a suitcase but you would have to do a lot of bodybuilding to carry a suitcase weighing that much through customs with one hand.

Customs?

Tons of illegal drugs are smuggled into America each year.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Originally posted by obstructor
Some of you Americans are really paranoid. Nuclear suticases owned by Al-Qaeda

Some of you Americans are really paranoid. Trained muslims simultaniously hijacking many aircraft in the US and flying them into buildings as part of an Al-Qaeda operation

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Suitcase Nukes

A "suitcase" bomb is a very compact and portable nuclear weapon and could have the dimensions of 60 x 40 x 20 centimeters or 24 x 16 x 8 inches. The smallest possible bomb-like object would be a single critical mass of plutonium (or U-233) at maximum density under normal conditions. The Pu-239 weighs 10.5 kg and is 10.1 cm across. It doesn't take much more than a single critical mass to cause significant explosions ranging from 10-20 tons. These types of weapons can also be as big as two footlockers. The warhead consists of a tube with two pieces of uranium, which, when rammed together, would cause a blast. Some sort of firing unit and a device that would need to be decoded to cause detonation may be included in the "suitcase."

Another portable weapon is a "backpack" bomb. The Soviet nuclear backpack system was made in the 1960s for use against NATO targets in time of war and consists of three "coffee can-sized" aluminum canisters in a bag. All three must be connected to make a single unit in order to explode. The detonator is about 6 inches long. It has a 3-to-5 kiloton yield, depending on the efficiency of the explosion. It's kept powered during storage by a battery line connected to the canisters.

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/readyguide/suitcasenuke.htm

That's a lot less than 80 kilos Cerberus

[Sandman]

Even if suitcase nukes actually exist, they'll be well past their sell-by date by now.

They could flatten a city block, and severely damage the surrounding area. If the terrorists wanted to kill as many people as possible, they'd probably try to blow up the Superbowl or a very busy shopping area.

Were I a terrorist leader, I'd not bother wasting my precious suitcase nuke on a soft target, slaughtering thousands of people, which would just enrage the rest of the population. It's surely powerful enough to severely damage a military base, or an oil refinery.