From: arc@cco.caltech.edu (Aaron Ray Clements)
Subject: Re: the usual
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
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NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu

hollombe@polymath.tti.com (The Polymath) writes:

>The possession of nuclear arms (actually weapons grade fissionables) is
>currently regulated only by market forces.  I.e.:  To own them you have to
>either make them, buy them or steal them.  The only thing that stops you
>is the staggering cost (more than most nations can afford), the fact that
>no one who has them wants to sell to you and the tight security maintained
>on existing stocks. (Just ask Saddam Hussein).

I was under the impression that to obtain fissionable materials (i.e.,
plutonium or reactor/weapons-grade uranium) one was required to obtain
a federal permit to own such materials.

>Given a source of fissionables, you can build a bomb in your garage with
>parts from hardware stores and electronic junk supplies.  You might have
>to engage in some shady dealings to get the explosive charge, but that's
>trivial compared to getting the plutonium.  The basic information on the
>design was declassified years ago and can be dug out of any technical
>library by a physics grad student.

Actually, why bother looking it up?  From the material we covered last
term (in 10 weeks) of Ge/Ch 127 (Nuclear Chemistry), I could *derive*
what it would take to build a bomb.  And as far as the explosive charge,
I (as a chemist) could synthesize a variety of explosives from commonly
available chemicals in the garage if I felt like.  The electronics 
behind the detonator and the shaped charges are a little trickier,
however . . . but not impossible using a few "tricks of the trade."
And if I really wanted to be nasty, I could include a core of 
hydrogen and deuterium . . .

Of course, the hardest part is getting the fissionable material
to start with, and living long enough to put a bomb together. 
(Plutonium has some *nasty* properties . . .)

>The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, M.A., CDP, aka: hollombe@polymath.tti.com)
>Head Robot Wrangler at Citicorp                      Laws define crime.
>3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (310) 450-9111, x2483       Police enforce laws.
>Santa Monica, CA  90405                            Citizens prevent crime.

aaron
arc@cco.caltech.edu
