Ace of Spades HQ

November 21, 2013

IG: maintenance of US nuke weapons at risk due to environmental impact statement delays
— Purple Avenger

Tritium is a key component of current US nuclear weapon designs. Having a half life in the ~12 year range, tritium decays and "goes bad" pretty quick needing constant replacement to keep devices fully operational. We can produce enough for the next couple of years, but then the necessary tritium supply may become compromised.

OAS-L-14-01 November 2013

...The Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and the license amendment request it supports are critical to meet future tritium demands, which are expected to exceed Nuclear Regulatory Commission permitted amounts by October 2015. To increase the current reactor safety limits by January 2015, NNSA had established a management challenge to complete the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. If the license amendment is not approved by October 2015, TVA will be forced to produce less tritium than required by current NNSA plans. If the resulting shortfall cannot be recovered in future reactor cycles it may become necessary for TVA to use an additional reactor, which would be very costly to NNSA. NNSA estimated that it would take 4 years and a minimum of $20 million dollars to prepare an additional reactor to meet its tritium production requirements....

From what I understand of current nuclear weapons design, a device with degraded tritium supply would still probably go "bang" to some degree. Tritium appears to be part of the "dial a yield" tuning mechanism. The fission core, which exists outside the tritium injection mechanism, should still go critical normally and be splody.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 11:32 AM | Comments (183)
Post contains 271 words, total size 2 kb.

1 If you like your tritium, you can keep your tritium.

Posted by: Barky O'Genius at November 21, 2013 11:33 AM (8ZskC)

2 Obama could make a speech and the tritium would return to full strength.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at November 21, 2013 11:34 AM (8ZskC)

3 Purp,

Tritium also boosts yield, which means less of everything.

Ironically the loss of tritium will mean MORE fissile material if we actually had any interest in maintaining our nuclear capability.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 21, 2013 11:36 AM (oJ5Fd)

4 Tritium is part of what's used to ignite the second stage of thermonuclear bombs, IIRC. You'll still get an atomic explosion, but a much lower yield if the secondary hydrogen fusion reaction doesn't happen.

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at November 21, 2013 11:36 AM (CJjw5)

5 What's more important, a fucking environmental impact statement, or the readiness of our nuclear deterrent?

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at November 21, 2013 11:36 AM (vd7A8)

"Let me be clear. Our tritium supplies will not decay. PERIOD."

-Obammy, talking out his ass

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/b][/i][/u] at November 21, 2013 11:36 AM (4df7R)

7 We can always buy some from China.
/s

Posted by: navybrat at November 21, 2013 11:38 AM (h77Mi)

8 From what I understand of current nuclear weapons design, a device with degraded tritium supply would still probably go "bang" to some degree. Tritium appears to be part of the "dial a yield" tuning mechanism. The fission core, which exists outside the tritium injection mechanism, should still go critical normally and be splody. --- From what I remember of The Sum Of All Fears, which is not exactly a sourcebook for nuclear physics, having an insufficient amount of tritium in the nuclear material will cause a "fizzle", meaning a bomb that is supposed to be in the 20-megaton range may have a yield closer to the 2-megaton range. It's used to make the process far more efficient and increase the output of the reaction without having to significantly increase the amount of material, such as uranium or plutonium, used in the bomb.

Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at November 21, 2013 11:38 AM (/Crba)

9 I enjoy titium, god love ya. The hamster is crawling out of my undershorts again, mommy.

Posted by: Joe Biden at November 21, 2013 11:39 AM (YmPwQ)

10 If you like your 10kt initiators, you can keep your 10kt initiators...the 150kt enhanced stuff, not so much.

Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/s] at November 21, 2013 11:39 AM (Xlbr8)

On this subject...........I don't think "should" is the ideal.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at November 21, 2013 11:39 AM (LA7Cm)

12 What's more important, a fucking environmental impact statement, or the readiness of our nuclear deterrent?

SCOAMF's been promising the world he'd reduce our nuclear weapons capabilities almost as long as he's been promising to heal the planet.

Posted by: HeatherRadishï¿½ needs a beer at November 21, 2013 11:40 AM (ZKzrr)

13 There are some Libyan guys in the parking lot at the mall who can sell us more if we run out.

Posted by: Marty McFly at November 21, 2013 11:40 AM (8ZskC)

14 It is completely false to say that tritium provides a high far greater than the cocaine I am used to, and let Me be clear that most of the tritium produced is not being rerouted to the White House party room for My personal use.

Posted by: Barack Hussein Obama at November 21, 2013 11:40 AM (+H/11)

15 I thought tritium was the substance they put in Kaboom cereal, instead of sugar.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 21, 2013 11:40 AM (TOk1P)

16 Nice. Harry Reid invokes the nuclear option, and now an EIR delays the tritium necessary to do the job right. Coincidence?

And, the obligatory "Damn Dick Nixon for the Environmental Protection Agency."

Posted by: Keith Arnold at November 21, 2013 11:40 AM (DMtT+)

17 Great, yet another thing destroyed in deference to Gaia.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 21, 2013 11:41 AM (JRmiD)

"What's more important, a fucking environmental impact statement, or the readiness of our nuclear deterrent?.."

You better watch your ass.

Posted by: The EPA at November 21, 2013 11:41 AM (LA7Cm)

19 13 There are some Libyan guys in the parking lot at the mall who can sell us more if we run out. --- We can always scrape the luminous stuff off a bunch of glow-in-the-dark watches.

Posted by: Oliver Wendell Holmes at November 21, 2013 11:41 AM (/Crba)

20 I think my old French Tritium is dead.

Posted by: toby928© insists on talking about robots at November 21, 2013 11:41 AM (QupBk)

21 And sonar hurts the whales. We are so screwed.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 21, 2013 11:41 AM (JRmiD)

22 Tritium and Nuclear Assault...Hammerstein Ballroom 93'

My head still hurts!!!

Posted by: dan a nj con formerly known as dana nj con at November 21, 2013 11:41 AM (wmU4G)

23 Well surprise surprise this administration wants to do away with 50 ICBMs... thus they will claim they solved the tritium shortfall.

*gag*

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 11:42 AM (BXhlo)

24 Isn't Tritium the same as a Triscuit? Paste on a Triscuit is yummy.

Posted by: Joe Biden at November 21, 2013 11:42 AM (mETGQ)

Isn't tritium the stuff that the tribbles ate in "Star Trek?" So cute!

-Meggy Mac

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/b][/i][/u] at November 21, 2013 11:42 AM (4df7R)

26 a bomb that is supposed to be in the 20-megaton range may have a yield closer to the 2-megaton range.

All the megaton class H-bomb "classic" city busters were retired years ago as accuracy improved. What we have now is a kind of hybrid fusion enhanced fission devices of much lower yields that are tunable from 10's of kt up to a few hundred kt.

Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/s] at November 21, 2013 11:43 AM (Xlbr8)

27 This is but another way for the mulatto Messiah to unilaterally disarm America.

Posted by: Harold at November 21, 2013 11:43 AM (xTVTq)

28 Tritium use to be on all watch dials that glowed. It is self glowing and does not stop glowing like the new crap, Luminox, which needs charging with light and lasts about 15 hours. You can not get any watch maker to replace the tritium so as the half life comes the watch gets less and less bright. It still is self glowing.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 11:43 AM (0FSuD)

29 Great, yet another thing destroyed in deference to Gaia.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 21, 2013 03:41 PM (JRmiD)

----

Not sure if was covered here or not..... the the last lead smelting facility in the US shuttered it doors recently.....

Posted by: fixerupper at November 21, 2013 11:43 AM (nELVU)

30 obama is decommisioning a whole unit of IBCMs without any Congressional oversight all by his lonesome. And not only destroying the ICBMs but also their silos. So.....

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 21, 2013 11:43 AM (t3UFN)

31 Tritium was my favorite character from the Matrix.

Posted by: Joe Biden at November 21, 2013 11:44 AM (NE2or)

32 There should be plenty on Capitol Hill after Reid went nuclear.

Posted by: Roy at November 21, 2013 11:44 AM (VndSC)

33 Ooooohhhhhh.... rets go over dis Tritirum study again...... Speak srowry, my engrish not good.

Posted by: Kim Jong-Un at November 21, 2013 11:44 AM (32Ze2)

34 Yeah the whole let's make the US disarm via environmental regs bullshit has been around for awhile. It's much like getting to gun control by making it impossible to manufacture bullets.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Now with extra taunting. at November 21, 2013 11:44 AM (VtjlW)

35 Do you know what else if affected by not having a Tritium source? Night sights.

Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b] at November 21, 2013 11:44 AM (sByIH)

36 Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 03:43 PM (0FSuD)

---

Tritium is also used on alot of firearms night sights.

Posted by: fixerupper at November 21, 2013 11:44 AM (nELVU)

37 >>obama is decommisioning a whole unit of IBCMs without any Congressional oversight all by his lonesome. And not only destroying the ICBMs but also their silos. So.....

Hadn't seen that. He really wants us vulnerable to attack doesn't he?

Posted by: Lizzy at November 21, 2013 11:45 AM (JRmiD)

38 Trinity? Or Tritium?

Much prefer Trillian.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 11:45 AM (BXhlo)

39 It's ok, we'll be able to buy some from Iran soon.

Posted by: John Kerry at November 21, 2013 11:45 AM (NE2or)

40 26 a bomb that is supposed to be in the 20-megaton range may have a yield closer to the 2-megaton range. All the megaton class H-bomb "classic" city busters were retired years ago as accuracy improved. What we have now is a kind of hybrid fusion enhanced fission devices of much lower yields that are tunable from 10's of kt up to a few hundred kt. --- Like I said, my reference material was hardly a nuclear physics sourcebook. The bomb in that book was originally an Israeli one dating back to the Six Days War of '68, meaning it was about 25-year old technology at the time the book was written.

Posted by: Oliver Wendell Holmes at November 21, 2013 11:45 AM (/Crba)

41 Maybe we should just build some low-tech old school fission devices that don't go bad just sitting on the shelf?

Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/s] at November 21, 2013 11:46 AM (Xlbr8)

42 Once America has been reduced a to large-acreage version of Albania, nobody will bother to attack it.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at November 21, 2013 11:46 AM (8ZskC)

43 Tritium played at my cousin Sol's Bar Mitzvah.

Posted by: Herschel Epstein at November 21, 2013 11:46 AM (32Ze2)

44 I wanted to post this on the last thread, but everyone is crashing to join the new thread, so here goes: I hated the ending of Taken. Not because the good guy won or the girl was saved. I hated it because the slaver's security team acted completely incorrectly. If there is a threat, a security team doesn't wander the boat singly. They collapse the zone and surround their primary. Liam Neeson was able to pick off the guys and then confront the big bad. Stupid ending.

Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b] at November 21, 2013 11:47 AM (sByIH)

45 Lizzy the article to putting out of service and destroying the silos is in the sidebar. Free Beacon link.

Has the Boy Blunder and his Gaia worshiping apparatchik thought about how to dispose of the solid rocket motors? Someone should ask him if that is part of the environmental impact study. Shove an ICBM up his keister over it.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 11:47 AM (BXhlo)

46 Ever eat Tritium? Taste like Grape Nuts, many parts are edible.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 11:47 AM (HVff2)

47 So..., we should stock up on night sights now, eh?

Posted by: Mike Hammer at November 21, 2013 11:48 AM (aDwsi)

48 I had a work colleague who said that he could build me a H-bomb with some plumber's lithium, an acoustic lens and a A-bomb

Posted by: Indiana Jones at November 21, 2013 11:48 AM (e8kgV)

49 And in other news, federal officials are not taking any action against windmill operators whose windmills are killing god-knows how many birds.
So protecting some parts of the environment are more important that others, I guess.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 21, 2013 11:48 AM (JRmiD)

50 Check out this pattern I exclusively discovered!: obama and HClinton to Eastern Europe: Yeah, we're not letting you have a missile shield; instead we're gonna do somethin way bettah. obama to Israel: Yeah, we're no longer to oppose Iran's nuke program; instead we're gonna make a deal with Iran that'll make you way safer! obama to Americans: Yeah, we're not gonna let you keep your health insurance you like; instead we're gonna make you buy something way bettah!

Posted by: soothsayer at November 21, 2013 11:49 AM (/zHtF)

51 We can produce enough for the next couple of years, but then the necessary tritium supply may become compromised. I've got two watches with tritium dials I'll sell them.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 21, 2013 11:49 AM (ix+5k)

In Clancy's book "Sum of All Fears", wasn't one of the focal points of the muzzies building the bomb the fact that they didn't have enough tritium to give the bomb it's full affect?

I want our nuclear arsenal to go BOOM, not b b b b bang.

Posted by: Soona at November 21, 2013 11:49 AM (66ULQ)

53 Sum of All Fears had a Isralie atomic bomb (think upgraded Fat Man) that was reverse engineered into making a two stage thermonuclear device. The tritium is the second stage, i.e. the fusion part. The MIRVs used to be (still are?) 3 stage devices, where the outer uranium thermal shielding provides yet another fission reaction and adding to the total yield. As Clancy said in the postscript, he did change a few details of the bomb construction, but more to salve his conscious than any belief that it would make a damn bit of difference as it was essentially open source material at that time.

Posted by: Conservative Crank at November 21, 2013 11:50 AM (sQ0LB)

Trinity? Or Tritium?

Much prefer Trillian.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 03:45 PM (BXhlo)

I've always been partial to Marvin. He shares my view of humanity.

"The best conversation I had was over forty million years agoÂ… And that was with a coffee machine."

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/b][/i][/u] at November 21, 2013 11:50 AM (4df7R)

55 Reason 2,3427 to hate the eco-nazis. Environmentalists hate people. And we hate them.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at November 21, 2013 11:50 AM (ZPrif)

56 Tritium? Isn't that Roman for the number three?

Posted by: Joe Biden at November 21, 2013 11:50 AM (mETGQ)

57 Go long on Tritium...and Pork Bellies.

Posted by: dan a nj con formerly known as dana nj con at November 21, 2013 11:50 AM (wmU4G)

58 Okay who is the Moron in the Tuscon area who bought this Titan II launch complex?

http://www.missilebases.com/tucson

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 11:51 AM (BXhlo)

59 I want our nuclear arsenal to go BOOM, not b b b b bang. Second look at Rods from God?

Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b] at November 21, 2013 11:51 AM (sByIH)

60 "The best conversation I had was over forty million years agoÂ… And that was with a coffee machine." Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit at November 21, 2013 03:50 PM (4df7R) You can never go wrong with a coffee machine. They are articulate and sincere.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 11:51 AM (HVff2)

61 Maurice Â“Mad DogÂ” Vachon, one of QuebecÂ’s biggest wrestling icons, died in his sleep Thursday morning in Omaha, Nebraska. He was 84.

Posted by: Chief Jay Strongbow at November 21, 2013 11:51 AM (e8kgV)

62 Trinity? The slap scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd8TpzioY6k

Posted by: Mike Hammer at November 21, 2013 11:52 AM (aDwsi)

"So protecting some parts of the environment are more important that others, I guess..."

That's right and don't you forget it either, Buster.

Posted by: The EPA (The IRS is my brother) at November 21, 2013 11:52 AM (LA7Cm)

Palate cleanser for the Moronettes.

http://tinyurl.com/mnavtkt

Posted by: maddogg at November 21, 2013 11:52 AM (xWW96)

65 They had a (relative) ton of tritium, the problem was that it was old a decayed, so a lot of it had degraded to--not dueterium, I don't think, but some other hydrogen isotope that basically sucked up free neutrons instead of liberating them like tritium would.

Posted by: Conservative Crank at November 21, 2013 11:52 AM (sQ0LB)

66 The Tritium is the Hydrogen in a Hydrogen bomb. Yes, it will go BANG, but without it it's only a fission device not a fusion bomb.Tritum is an isotope of Hydrogen with 2 neutrons.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at November 21, 2013 11:52 AM (ylG8S)

67 Hadn't seen that. He really wants us vulnerable to attack doesn't he? Posted by: Lizzy at November 21, 2013 03:45 PM (JRmiD) The Obama administration has drafted a plan to shutter an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) squadron three years after it assured hesitant lawmakers that the New START U.S.-Russia arms reduction treaty would not lead to deep cuts in the ICBM force. A new timeline prepared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon maps out a strategy to eliminate an ICBM squadronÂ—and destroy its missile silosÂ—by Dec. 5, 2017. An environmental assessment would begin next month. The document says the reductions are necessary to Â“meet the New START Treaty compliance date by closing an ICBM squadron and eliminating the associated Launch Facilities.Â” Several Democrats on the Senate ICBM coalition voted for New START, vowing that the treaty would maintain a strong ICBM force. Sens. Max Baucus (D.) and Jon Tester (D.), both from Montana, the home of many ICBMs, issued a press release in 2010 backing New START and saying that the missiles would Â“continue to play a key role in U.S. national security for decades to come.Â” Â“There was some talk around this town about making deep reductions to the ICBM force,Â” Baucus said in the press release. Â“We made it clear to the president that was unacceptable, and fought hard to make sure the START Treaty recognized the critical role that ICBMs play in U.S. national security.Â” http://freebeacon.com/despite-promises-obama-planning-to-close-icbm-squadron/ read it and weep

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 21, 2013 11:52 AM (t3UFN)

68 Just tell Joey Choo Choo that tritium is glow in the dark paste.

Posted by: RWC at November 21, 2013 11:53 AM (fWAjv)

69 Tritium. Heavy Metal band?

Posted by: USA at November 21, 2013 11:53 AM (VIaw0)

70
I was told there would be no nuclear physics on the blog.

Posted by: fixerupper at November 21, 2013 11:53 AM (nELVU)

71 >>>"The best conversation I had was over forty million years agoÂ… And that was with a coffee machine."
Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit at November 21, 2013 03:50 PM (4df7R)

You can never go wrong with a coffee machine. They are articulate and sincere.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 03:51 PM (HVff2)<<<

I thought we had something special? Well, fuck you all... *runs off sobbing*

Posted by: a toaster at November 21, 2013 11:53 AM (NE2or)

72 Tritium use to be on all watch dials that glowed. It is self glowing and does not stop glowing like the new crap, Luminox, which needs charging with light and lasts about 15 hours. Since I had to have a melanoma carved out of my wrist, *exactly* over where my glow-like-a-summabitch watch rested for a decade, I've kinda lost interest in that feature of watches.

Posted by: Lace Wigs [/i] at November 21, 2013 11:53 AM (UL/Aj)

"Second look at Rods from God?.."

Always intrigued me. I think we may have a problem getting that much weight into space though.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at November 21, 2013 11:53 AM (LA7Cm)

74 I hated the ending of Taken. Not because the good guy won or the girl was saved. I hated it because the slaver's security team acted completely incorrectly.

Remember the last time an Arab country won a war against a non-Arab country?

Me neither.

Posted by: Hollowpoint at November 21, 2013 11:54 AM (SY2Kh)

Tritium is used either to boost single-stage fission devices or as part of the fusion fuel for two-stage (hydrogen bomb) devices. (I think the tritium in that second case may actually derive from a lithium-deuteride isotope as opposed to being tritium per se, but I forget).

Damn - back in the 1980s I got "this close" to being able to do the DOE nuke weapons course for non-engineers ("nukes for dummies" it might have been called, but this was before the popular book franchise) offered to people involved in defense issues.

Posted by: non-purist at November 21, 2013 11:54 AM (afQnV)

76 I saw Tritium open for Mott The Hoople. What a show!

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at November 21, 2013 11:54 AM (f9c2L)

77 Start hoarding walmart EXIT signs

Posted by: 2549 at November 21, 2013 11:54 AM (S/KDm)

78 I've got two watches with tritium dials I'll sell them. Posted by: rickb223 at November 21, 2013 03:49 PM (ix+5k) Don't watches with T dials are more valuable to collectors. See @28

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 11:54 AM (0FSuD)

79 BIG booms aren't economical. There's an inverse R-cubed thing going on that makes them less effective than a pattern of smaller devices.

Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/s] at November 21, 2013 11:54 AM (Xlbr8)

80 Well Marvin is certainly an interesting character. But I was rolling with the 'T' names.

Poor Marvin, always having problems with that diode.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 11:55 AM (BXhlo)

81 In Sum of All Fears, the problem wasn't a lack of tritium, but a lack of purity of the tritium. When it breaks down, the resulting contamination actively reduces the yield of the weapon.

Even with a shortage of tritium for US weapons, the weapons would be serviced to address this fizzle problem. You'd run into a problem of just how many weapons you could service, however.

Posted by: xbradtc at November 21, 2013 11:55 AM (pEGU0)

82 61 Maurice Â“Mad DogÂ” Vachon, one of QuebecÂ’s biggest wrestling icons, died in his sleep Thursday morning in Omaha, Nebraska. He was 84. Posted by: Chief Jay Strongbow at November 21, 2013 03:51 PM (e8kgV) Now that makes me sad, grew up watching AWA Wrestling in the 70s. Saturday nights, my Dad (RIP) and my brother.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 11:55 AM (HVff2)

83 I saw Tritium open for Metallica back in 88.

Posted by: johnd01 at November 21, 2013 11:55 AM (ukNFU)

84 You can never go wrong with a coffee machine. They are articulate and sincere.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 03:51 PM (HVff2)

Very true. Though as they age they tend to get rather bitter.

Whatever you do, DON'T agree to go home with a drunk Shop-Vac. AWKWARD.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/b][/i][/u] at November 21, 2013 11:55 AM (4df7R)

85 Political Expedience is priority #1 to the Left. The Left's causes are merely vehicles to advance their power-grab agenda. It's All Bullshit.

Posted by: soothsayer at November 21, 2013 11:56 AM (/zHtF)

86 UFC is legal in every state except New York. New York is blocking it cause the Fertitta brothers who own most of UFC won't unionize Station Casino in Vegas. NY allows boxing. And kickboxing. And muay thai. And jiu-jitsy. And wrestling. It allows all martial arts, but not mixed martial arts. Actually it does -- but only amateur MMA, not pro MMA like UFC. Dana White, UFC CEO often bashes the dirty union tricks blocking UFC in NY.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at November 21, 2013 11:56 AM (ZPrif)

87
good thing its not called Titium or this thread would explode. In true moron style.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at November 21, 2013 11:56 AM (iGPSR)

88 Maurice Â“Mad DogÂ” Vachon, one of QuebecÂ’s biggest wrestling icons, died in his sleep Thursday morning in Omaha, Nebraska. He was 84. --- Which one had the prosthetic leg due to a car accident? Mad Dog or his brother Butcher?

Posted by: Oliver Wendell Holmes at November 21, 2013 11:56 AM (/Crba)

89 I hated it because the slaver's security team acted completely incorrectly. And that my friend, was the reason the A-Team was so successful. I love it when a plan comes together.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 11:57 AM (HVff2)

90 You'd run into a problem of just how many weapons you could service, however.

Disarmament via neglect.

Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/s] at November 21, 2013 11:57 AM (Xlbr8)

91 Since I had to have a melanoma carved out of my wrist, *exactly* over where my glow-like-a-summabitch watch rested for a decade, I've kinda lost interest in that feature of watches. Posted by: Lace Wigs at November 21, 2013 03:53 PM (UL/Aj) Unless you wore you watch face down, it would be impossible for the radiation on the dial to go through a metal watch. You got the cancer from something else.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 11:57 AM (0FSuD)

92 Thet Left 'cares' about the environment as much as they 'care' about Blacks, the poor, and f*gs.

Posted by: soothsayer at November 21, 2013 11:57 AM (/zHtF)

93 >>read it and weep..

Thanks for the link.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 21, 2013 11:57 AM (JRmiD)

94 Or is Tritium a medical condition having three titties?

Posted by: Joe Biden at November 21, 2013 11:57 AM (mETGQ)

"The best conversation I had was over forty million years agoÂ… And that was with a coffee machine."

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit at November 21, 2013 03:50 PM (4df7R)

________________________

I like the cut of your jib, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

Posted by: Machines For Sale at November 21, 2013 11:58 AM (32Ze2)

96 Okay who is the Moron in the Tuscon area who bought this Titan II launch complex? So much for my post-lottery plans...

Posted by: Brother Cavil, upholstering his throne of skulls at November 21, 2013 11:58 AM (naUcP)

97 Tritium use to be on all watch dials that glowed. It is self glowing and does not stop glowing like the new crap, Luminox, which needs charging with light and lasts about 15 hours. Since I had to have a melanoma carved out of my wrist, *exactly* over where my glow-like-a-summabitch watch rested for a decade, I've kinda lost interest in that feature of watches. Puts his Traser in briefcase. I'll go back to my Ironman.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 21, 2013 11:58 AM (ix+5k)

98 Or is Tritium a medical condition having three titties? Posted by: Joe Biden at November 21, 2013 03:57 PM (mETGQ) No it's a luxury condominium on the Bikini Atol

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 21, 2013 11:58 AM (t3UFN)

99 The tritium issue has been known for a couple of decades. Tritium has a half life, it decays, so they are a maintenance item on the weapons. When you are dismantling the weapons, you can collect the tritium, reconcentrate and reuse for maintenance purposes on the smaller number of weapons. But eventually, as in everything, math wins. So you need to produce new tritium. Like in a reactor. Not a commercial power reactor - they are designed so they don't make stuff useful for weapons production. Well, except apparently at TVA, which is the gubmint, really. You could use a DoE Defense Complex reactor - like at Savannah River or Oak Ridge or Hanford. Except none of those are running. And the startup is impossible. I would say that it is due to the EPA stuff, but the truth is that the environmental impact statement is just a tool of the anti-war folks. They really don't care about the environment, it isn't like the tritium production has a real enviornmental outcome. What they don't want to do is make more tritium, which will be used in weapons. That this works I will blame on Al Gore. In the Clinton administration, they put him in charge of the sciency stuff, because he was all smart. And he installed all kinds of hippies in those departments (NASA, DoE, EPA...) And they became the enforcement arm not of the government rules, but rather of the radical environmentalists.

Posted by: blaster at November 21, 2013 11:58 AM (W6bkf)

100 good thing its not called Titium or this thread would explode. In true moron style.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at November 21, 2013 03:56 PM (iGPSR)

A model of the neutrons in tritium: (.)(.)

Yeah science, bitch!

Posted by: Jesse Pinkman at November 21, 2013 11:58 AM (+H/11)

101 Note that there's also a shortage of plutonium 238, also due to federal slow-walking and mismanagement of the nation's nuclear affairs.

Not needed in weapons design or manufacture, but crucial for deep space probes which operate far enough out that solar power is not enough to get the job done. Only nuclear power can do it, and the best isotope for the role is Pu-238.

Posted by: torquewrench at November 21, 2013 11:59 AM (gqT4g)

102 About the 1:05 mark seems appropriate for this thread
http://youtu.be/4ZppNsmBXfc

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 11:59 AM (BXhlo)

103 74 I hated the ending of Taken. Not because the good guy won or the girl
was saved. I hated it because the slaver's security team acted
completely incorrectly.

Remember the last time an Arab country won a war against a non-Arab country?

... remember the term "death blossom"

If a group of armed Arabs perceive that they may be under attack, they immediately begin to shoot in all directions ... "death blossom" ... Allah will protect the innocent

Posted by: Eponymous at November 21, 2013 11:59 AM (e8kgV)

104 That's by design. The Obama administration really does believe in unilaterally disarming.

Posted by: The Political Hat at November 21, 2013 11:59 AM (XvHmy)

105 OT: This will make you rage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz-vgDOjAck

Posted by: The Political Hat at November 21, 2013 11:59 AM (XvHmy)

106 Dana White bashing the corrupt union thugs is one of the main anti-union things that young men hear. Dana is a very effective, very foul-mouthed speaker. Doesn't hold back.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at November 21, 2013 12:00 PM (ZPrif)

107

Speaking of Marvin, this little passage from "Life, the Universe and Everything" reminds me of the HQ talking to an LIV:

"...I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give you an example. Think of a number, any number."

"Er, five," said the mattress.

"Wrong," said Marvin. "You see?"

The mattress was much impressed by this and realized that it was in the presence of a not unremarkable mind.

Voon.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/b][/i][/u] at November 21, 2013 12:01 PM (4df7R)

108 The US Government no longer has any common sense about what Defending this country entails. There are many Defense components we no longer make in this country... and resources we still have that we won't use... (think rare earths). Hell... that we do not reprocess Nuclear material is stupidity of the first order... we could decrease the amount of stored material significantly, but a Carter era law stops us... We MUST have the ability to build all defense components INSIDE this country... even if it costs a bit more to do so... outsourcing the means to defend yourself is suicidal.

Posted by: Romeo13 at November 21, 2013 12:01 PM (lZBBB)

109 The Indian reservations in Connecticut are thankful that UFC is still banned in NYC.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at November 21, 2013 12:01 PM (ZPrif)

110 F-U light weights!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/trivium

TRIVIUM!!!!

Posted by: dan a nj con formerly known as dana nj con at November 21, 2013 12:01 PM (wmU4G)

111 Deep Space Probes had a bar fight with Black Oak Arkansas in Little Chute, WI 1982

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 12:02 PM (HVff2)

112 read it and weep>>

I read that earlier and noticed they are going to destroy the silos instead of moth balling or selling them off. I f they are going to make life riskier for me at least let me buy a great bunker.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at November 21, 2013 12:02 PM (tf9Ne)

113 good thing its not called Titium or this thread would explode. In true moron style. Posted by: Guy Mohawk at November 21, 2013 03:56 PM (iGPSR) A model of the neutrons in tritium: (.)(.) Yeah science, bitch! Posted by: Jesse Pinkman Well played.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 21, 2013 12:03 PM (ix+5k)

114 I'm not sure. I'll wait until jwest tells me what my opinion should be.

Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at November 21, 2013 12:03 PM (KVY+w)

115 Deep Space Probes had a bar fight with Black Oak Arkansas in Little Chute, WI 1982 ---------------- Yeah. I got my ass kicked that night...

Posted by: Jim Dandy at November 21, 2013 12:03 PM (aDwsi)

116 94 Or is Tritium a medical condition having three titties? Posted by: Joe Biden at November 21, 2013 03:57 PM (mETGQ) Get your ass to Mahz!

Posted by: wooga at November 21, 2013 12:03 PM (UpQkr)

117

Sure, Mr. Obama has made mistakes, too. After coming to office, he wasted time on a futile policy of engagement and then on ineffective sanctions. He ignored the British, French, Israelis, Egyptians and Saudis who warned him that he was being naÃ¯ve and turned his back on the freedom-seeking Iranian masses in June 2009. When Mr. Obama finally endorsed assertive diplomacy and punitive sanctions in 2011 and 2012, it was too little, too late.

But Mr. Obama was operating within the smoky ruins of the strategic disaster he had inherited.

... Poor Barack, he is always a victim. Why would anybody elect a "victim" as President and Leader of the Free World ?

Posted by: King Henry VI Part III - Act 1, Scene III at November 21, 2013 12:03 PM (e8kgV)

118 Leave the gun and take the tritium.

Posted by: Clemenza at November 21, 2013 12:03 PM (oFCZn)

119 "I would say that it is due to the EPA stuff, but the truth is that the environmental impact statement is just a tool of the anti-war folks. They really don't care about the environment, it isn't like the tritium production has a real enviornmental outcome. What they don't want to do is make more tritium, which will be used in weapons."

The antinuke left decided all the way back in the 1970s to pursue a starvation-constipation strategy to make operations difficult for both nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants.

Starvation by opposing things like uranium mining and isotope production.

Constipation by opposing any form of waste storage, movement or disposal.

Note that Harry Reid is an integral part of that bloc. Reid fought to get the many billions in federal money for Nevada that came with building the Yucca Mountain waste disposal complex. Then when the money had been spent, the pork had been handed out, and Yucca was shortly to open, Reid pulled strings to get one of his staffers, an antinuke nut, appointed to the NRC to scupper Yucca going into service.

Posted by: torquewrench at November 21, 2013 12:04 PM (gqT4g)

120 should still go critical normally and be splody.

Should....

Posted by: EC at November 21, 2013 12:04 PM (GQ8sn)

121 Inadequate tritium could indeed cause a fizzle yield. If the current understanding of how thermonukes work is correct then a certain critical radiation flux in the hohlraum is necessary to ablate the tamper sufficiently to compress the LiD fuel inside and achieve ignition. Once you get that the reaction is self-sustaining and produces enough fast neutrons to fission the U238 tamper and case, which multiples the yield, a lot. The real problem is not whether the technical efficacy of the US's nuclear deterrent will be harmed. That's a secondary consideration. What is much, much more important is what this says about the actual deterrent stance itself. One of the most crucial things about a deterrent is that your opponent must be absolutely, 100% sure you will use if it certain bright line criteria are satisfied. This is why we had launch-on-warning for land-based ICBMs and fail-deadly postures for the SSBNs. As soon as your enemy starts thinking there are situations in which he could get away with something that should trigger a strike then the likelihood he will do it goes up hugely. This is part-and-parcel of Obama's fundamentally puerile nature. It's not even so much weakness as frivolity. $20 million is chump change. It's a seventieth of what it costs to run that Versailles-on-the-Potomac that is the Obama White House. But YOU DO NOT DICK ABOUT WITH THE NUKES. No wonder the Iranians feel emboldened to thumb their noses at the US, with Putin cheering them on from the sidelines. God alone knows how much more damage this vapid, posturing nebbish can do in the next three years.

Posted by: David Gillies at November 21, 2013 12:04 PM (ECf6n)

122 We MUST have the ability to build all defense components INSIDE this country... even if it costs a bit more to do so... outsourcing the means to defend yourself is suicidal. THAT'S when your shit goes b-b-b-bang instead of BOOM!

Posted by: rickb223 at November 21, 2013 12:05 PM (ix+5k)

123 Questions we need to ask Presidential candidates:

Do you have any "executive experience" ?

The courts have said I can have privacy in all matters where I can expect privacy. When can I expect privacy ?

Give an example of how you work with those whom you don't agree.

Are there any assurances that appear to have been inferred or implied during the campaign that you feel you won't be able to back up with action once in office ?

When should you and your staff be held responsible, and what form would "being held responsible" take ?

As far as I know there is no official definition and I've been told in some languages it is just not defined, so please .. define "fair"

Are you a "victim" ? If so, why should anybody ever elect a "victim" as President and Leader of the Free World ?

Posted by: Islamic Rage Boy at November 21, 2013 12:05 PM (e8kgV)

124 (.Y.Y.)

Posted by: GIVE THOSE PEOPLE AIR! at November 21, 2013 12:05 PM (QupBk)

125 Not needed in weapons design or manufacture, but crucial for deep space probes which operate far enough out that solar power is not enough to get the job done. Only nuclear power can do it, and the best isotope for the role is Pu-238. Again, a problem known for decades. There is a plutonium processing plant at Savannah River. After Chernobyl, there was an emergency shutdown, with materials still in the system. So, there was a plan - hey, let's start it up, clean out the pipes so we can safely shut this thing down, and while we are at it, make enough Pu238 to supply NASA missions for 30 years. But instead, the enviros said NFW, you are not going to run it to make plutonium (which is for BOMBS!!!) for NASA, and you aren't going to make this place safer, instead, let's leave all this hydrofluoric acid and heavy metal poisons and shit in these decades old pipes and containers, because of the environment!!!

Posted by: blaster at November 21, 2013 12:06 PM (W6bkf)

126 We MUST have the ability to build all defense components INSIDE this country.. -------------------- You wish....

Posted by: Chinese capacitors at November 21, 2013 12:06 PM (aDwsi)

127 O/T Fox is reporting McDonald's will no longer serve the McRib.

Mooch approves.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at November 21, 2013 12:06 PM (lVPtV)

128 OT: This will make you rage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz-vgDOjAck

***

Think I'd jump up on the stage and start swinging violently.

Posted by: dan a nj con formerly known as dana nj con at November 21, 2013 12:06 PM (wmU4G)

129 Unless you wore you watch face down, it would be impossible for the radiation on the dial to go through a metal watch. You got the cancer from something else. I think it was a combination of insults to the same area; exposure to photo-processing chemicals, sun worshiping, and the watch. I could only give up one of the three so I ditched the watch. Unlike Sheldon, of Big Bang Theory, I didn't have a household Geiger Counter.

Posted by: Lace Wigs [/i] at November 21, 2013 12:07 PM (UL/Aj)

130 If titium component can't be removed, recycled and reused for big 'splody, then leave as is for warhead use, either smaller targets or more nukes per larger target. It isn't as if you can decompose titium radiation shit as if "safer" that way. Let it "be" as designed, a splody weapon for national defense.

Posted by: panzernashorn at November 21, 2013 12:08 PM (MhA4j)

131 I don't know, guys. We may not have to do shit with these guys in charge.

Posted by: Al Qaeda at November 21, 2013 12:08 PM (FcR7P)

132 128 OT: This will make you rage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz-vgDOjAck

***

Think I'd jump up on the stage and start swinging violently.

Wow. As ugly as they are stupid. And racist.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at November 21, 2013 12:09 PM (lVPtV)

133 127 O/T Fox is reporting McDonald's will no longer serve the McRib. Mooch approves. --- I'm not sure whether to bring up the Sam Kinnison routine calling it the McShit sandwich or the lawsuit from the prisoner claiming he got AIDS from eating one of them.

Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at November 21, 2013 12:09 PM (/Crba)

134 R!

Posted by: panzernashorn at November 21, 2013 12:09 PM (MhA4j)

135

>>Since I had to have a melanoma carved out of my wrist, *exactly* over where my glow-like-a-summabitch watch rested for a decade, I've kinda lost interest in that feature of watches.

.Those are alpha particles and a paper bag will stop them. They can't penetrate skin.

Posted by: Registered voter at November 21, 2013 12:10 PM (kYfFr)

136 127 O/T Fox is reporting McDonald's will no longer serve the McRib. I always thought they sucked, course I don't live in the ghetto, and have eaten real ribs. If you want that crap, Boston Chicken, owned by McD, still sells it. It's a great laxative.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 12:11 PM (0FSuD)

137 TPH that stage had weapons grade stupid on it. Too bad the density was not high enough for them to cross over a Schwarzchild radii...

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 12:12 PM (BXhlo)

138
never ever wanted to try the mc rib.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at November 21, 2013 12:12 PM (iGPSR)

139 When genetic engineering becomes reality I expect baldness in men and body hair on women to vanish in a generation.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at November 21, 2013 03:40 PM (ZPrif)

--------------------------------------------

We'll replace the tritium in our bombs with Folger's Coffee Crystals. We'll see if they notice.

Posted by: Soona at November 21, 2013 12:12 PM (66ULQ)

140 Having a half life in the ~12 year range, tritium decays and "goes bad" Waiting for the White House to whip up a website for tritium inventory management may not turn out to be a good idea.

Posted by: t-bird at November 21, 2013 12:13 PM (FcR7P)

141 Posted by: dan a nj con formerly known as dana nj con at November 21, 2013 04:06 PM (wmU4G)

The two of them are undoubtedly Ethnic Studies majors or Queer studies majors and will never, ever be successful. They are well on their way to a satisfying career in the food service industry.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 21, 2013 12:13 PM (oJ5Fd)

142 If you want that crap, Boston Chicken, owned by McD, still sells it. It's a great laxative. Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 04:11 PM (0FSuD) Boston Market, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, headquartered in Golden, Colorado,[1] is a chain of American fast casual restaurants. It is owned by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 21, 2013 12:13 PM (t3UFN)

143 never ever wanted to try the mc rib.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at November 21, 2013 04:12 PM (iGPSR)

Who are you?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 21, 2013 12:13 PM (oJ5Fd)

144

MAKING THE BOMBS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geTHEO7IcgQ

Posted by: CIRCLE JERKS at November 21, 2013 12:14 PM (OhOhI)

145 non-purist said: Tritium is used either to boost single-stage fission devices or as part of the fusion fuel for two-stage (hydrogen bomb) devices.

I believe this to be true as well. It's used as a boosting mechanism inside the primary which fuses concurrently to the primry fission reaction and produces additonal neutrons which can then escape outwards and cause additonal fission rxn's in the uranium primary which would otherwise not occur. Thus, it boosts the efficient of the fission primary.

I don't remember much of how the dial-a-yield mechanism works. Does it just vary the boost downward? I'd assume it must, the tampers are all fixed?!

Posted by: Uriah Heep at November 21, 2013 12:14 PM (jhI6f)

146 Also, something left unvoiced so far:

When people see massive neglect in the nuclear weapons complex, they tend to put it down to inattention. No. It's another deliberate, carefully set forth, long term strategy of the institutional left.

To include Obama's current SECDEF. Who is a member of the loopy "Global Zero" initiative to get rid of all nuclear weapons everywhere.

Hagel is no doubt quietly delighted by these problems. As they mount up, they just make it harder and more expensive for the USA to continue to produce nuclear weaponry. And at some point letting the antinuke left play the budget card. Why, it's just too expensive, don't you know?

By the way, that Chuck Hagel is still featuring in our national politics is yet another feature of the complete dysfunctionality of the contemporary Republican Party. Thanks again, GOP voters in Nebraska, for having sent this nut case to Capitol Hill in the first place. Awesome job.

Posted by: torquewrench at November 21, 2013 12:14 PM (gqT4g)

147 When genetic engineering becomes reality I expect baldness in men and body hair on women to vanish in a generation. Could spell the end of "The Harry Reid Look", as well.

Posted by: t-bird at November 21, 2013 12:14 PM (FcR7P)

148

Yes, we're really going to have to engage in a tooth-and-claw struggle with the President of the United States to keep our nuclear arsenal fully operational.

We're creeping up on President Buchanan territory here. His Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, scattered regular US Army units across the North American continent and consolidated federal armories in the South just prior to the Civil War in an intentional act of sabotage. There is some evidence, admittedly secondhand, that Buchanan knew and approved of Floyd's actions. Hence, Buchanan's consistent 'worst President' ratings, since even Jimmy Carter, close runner-up, never committed acts of treason. I'm sure Buchanan's ghost is glad of the competition.

Posted by: troyriser at November 21, 2013 12:14 PM (gNlvW)

149 Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 21, 2013 04:12 PM (BXhlo)

Racist.

That would be a "hole of color" to you.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 21, 2013 12:15 PM (oJ5Fd)

150 The two of them are undoubtedly Ethnic Studies majors or Queer studies majors and will never, ever be successful. They are well on their way to a satisfying career in the food service industry. Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 21, 2013 04:13 PM (oJ5Fd) Hey, its a good gig, working with teenagers, working on holiday and getting half price grease burgers. Mmmmm

Posted by: Misanthropic Humantiarian at November 21, 2013 12:15 PM (HVff2)

151 @142 Maybe that's why it sucks. They DO have the shity ribs that McD sells. Nasty stuff. I see in the wiki, McD unloaded them in 2007. http://tinyurl.com/3bymlt

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 12:17 PM (0FSuD)

152 In a sane world there would be some reciprocity - the green bastards would have to write and staff a National Security impact statement every time they wanted to build a windmill.

Posted by: Jean at November 21, 2013 12:17 PM (CMlD4)

153 course I don't live in the ghetto, and have eaten real ribs.

Plenty of BBQ ribs in "the ghetto."

Posted by: HeatherRadishï¿½ needs a beer at November 21, 2013 12:17 PM (ZKzrr)

154

Major comment fail. I shall don the hoody of shame.

Posted by: Soona at November 21, 2013 12:18 PM (66ULQ)

155 "I don't remember much of how the dial-a-yield mechanism works. Does it just vary the boost downward?"

No, it varies it upward from a base yield.

More tritium for more yield.

That's the heart of Purp's comment about how the primary will still light off even with no tritium at all. It's just that if tritium is added, the primary yield goes up, and that enhances the yield of the secondary (in system with one of those).

Posted by: torquewrench at November 21, 2013 12:18 PM (gqT4g)

156 Who are you? <<<<

More of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich raaaaacist.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at November 21, 2013 12:19 PM (iGPSR)

157 Jerusalem is Â“unpleasantly surprisedÂ” that, as of Thursday afternoon, the Obama administration had not unequivocally condemned vicious anti-Israel statements made Wednesday morning by IranÂ’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, senior Israeli officials told The Times of Israel. In an address to an assembly of tens of thousands of Basij militiamen, Khamenei declared that Israel was doomed to fail and characterized the Â“Zionist regimeÂ” as the Â“sinister, unclean rabid dog of the region.Â” He also said Israelis Â“cannot be called human beings.Â” Footage of the event showed the crowd shouting Â“Death to AmericaÂ” and Â“Death to Israel.Â” At a meeting Thursday morning with Jewish leaders in Moscow, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said todayÂ’s Iran reminded him Â“of the dark regimes of the past that plotted against us first and then against all of humanity,Â” and thus had to prevented from attaining nuclear weapons. Â“The real Iran is what the leader of Iran, Khamenei, said yesterday,Â” said Netanyahu. Â“He called Jews Â‘rabid dogsÂ’ and said that they were not human. The public responded to him with calls of Â‘Death to America! Death to Israel!Â’ DoesnÂ’t this sound familiar to you? This is the real Iran! We are not confused,Â” said Netanyahu. Khamenei delivered the speech hours before the resumption of talks in Geneva between the P5+1 countries and Iran on thwarting IranÂ’s rogue nuclear program. To IsraelÂ’s dismay, the speech did not prompt an immediate condemnation by the United States, the officials said Thursday. On Wednesday, in response to a reporterÂ’s question, Stat Department spokesperson Jen Psaki merely called the comments Â“not helpful.Â” Bubbi, Bibbi obama ain't no friend of yours!

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 21, 2013 12:19 PM (t3UFN)

158 Plenty of BBQ ribs in "the ghetto." Besides KC where? Nothing up North I'd eat.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 12:20 PM (0FSuD)

159 You can feed the kids cheap at Boston Market, if you can still get an extra whole chicken with a regular family meal.

Posted by: Jean at November 21, 2013 12:20 PM (CMlD4)

160 159 You can feed the kids cheap at Boston Market, if you can still get an extra whole chicken with a regular family meal. True dat, and kids don't care if it tastes like cardboard and is cold.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 12:22 PM (0FSuD)

161 Fun fact--

The half life of a McRib is twice that or Tritium.

Posted by: Nuclear Scientist at November 21, 2013 12:23 PM (NE2or)

162

re: never wanting to try the McRib

1) it's McDonalds

b) it looks disgusting

4) it's McDonalds.

Posted by: Conservative Crank at November 21, 2013 12:23 PM (sQ0LB)

163 "On Wednesday, in response to a reporterÂ’s question about Iran's use of nuclear weapons on Israel, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki merely called the ~~comments~~event Â“not helpful.Â”

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 21, 2013 04:19 PM (t3UFN)

Coming soon to a DC podium.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 21, 2013 12:23 PM (oJ5Fd)

164
Gettin cold out. Gonna hafta make a pot of chili tomorrow.

And by chili, I mean with beans, beef, peppers, onions, tomato paste.

Not that sissy ketchep on noodles crap you guys serve out East.

Posted by: fixerupper at November 21, 2013 12:24 PM (nELVU)

165 re: never wanting to try the McRib
1) it's McDonalds
b) it looks disgusting
4) it's McDonalds.
5) you're a filthy COMMUNIST

Posted by: Hollowpoint at November 21, 2013 12:24 PM (SY2Kh)

166 Besides KC where? Nothing up North I'd eat.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 21, 2013 04:20 PM (0FSuD)

My backyard.

Hill Country in NYC.

The BBQ Joint in Easton MD.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 21, 2013 12:25 PM (oJ5Fd)

167 Come off it, Hollowpoint, McD's sandwiches blow goats. Wendy's makes much better burgers.

Posted by: Conservative Crank at November 21, 2013 12:26 PM (sQ0LB)

168 FIRST, ANY FURTHER DISSING OF THE MCRIB WILL BE MET WITH A FULL SCOLDING. COMMUNISTS. Second, allowing one's nuclear deterrent to degrade at the same time every other potential adversary on the planet is upgrading theirs does not encourage stability.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here)-also drooling imbecile incapable of doing algebra or something at November 21, 2013 12:27 PM (659DL)

169 I like Wendy's chili. And it's great to throw into bean soup to beef it up. I don't put it on pumpkin pie though. That is ---not helpful.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at November 21, 2013 12:29 PM (dfYL9)

170 "a minimum of $20 million dollars to prepare an additional reactor" Jeez, that's cheap. Less than a Michelle O vacation costs.

Posted by: gp at November 21, 2013 12:29 PM (mk9aG)

171 Wendy's makes much better burgers.

----

"Five Guys" for the win.

Posted by: fixerupper at November 21, 2013 12:32 PM (nELVU)

172 My favorite engineering history books ever, by Richard Rhodes: "Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun", the latter about the development of the H-bomb. I love reading about all the little issues these guys went through and how they overcame them.

Posted by: Rule #2 at November 21, 2013 12:36 PM (doas6)

173 172: In that case, you would probably like to read "Reminiscences of Los Alamos".

Posted by: ManeiNeko at November 21, 2013 01:04 PM (TiE76)

174 Come off it, Hollowpoint, McD's sandwiches blow goats. Wendy's makes much better burgers.

It's not a burger it's the McRib, Komrade.

Posted by: Hollowpoint at November 21, 2013 01:05 PM (SY2Kh)

175 They had a (relative) ton of tritium, the problem was that it was old a decayed, so a lot of it had degraded to--not dueterium, I don't think, but some other hydrogen isotope that basically sucked up free neutrons instead of liberating them like tritium would. Tritium (hydrogen-3) beta decays to helium-3, which is an excellent neutron absorber with a ginormous cross-section for absorbing a neutron and subsequently emitting a proton. It does not alpha decay, contrary to some statements above on watch dials. Speaking of alpha decay, I seem to recollect that quite a few of those dials were radium painted, not tritium. Radium is an alpha emitter and the most common isotope, Ra-226, if I'm reading the Oak Ridge tables correctly, emits a 186 keV gamma. That's got enough juice to shine through the metal backplate of a watch at a level that could cause damage over the long term.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at November 21, 2013 01:07 PM (PMGbu)

176
So..., we should stock up on night sights now, eh?

Posted by: Mike Hammer at November 21, 2013 03:48 PM (aDwsi)

The stash would be pretty much useless after 12 years. You'd have to keep replenishing the supply.

You could probably cut costs some by stocking the little tritium vials alone, and re-mounting them in the sights yourself, WECSOG-style*, as the old sights dim out. Recently read some gun forum posts about doing this, so it is possible.

*Wile E. Coyote School Of Gunsmithing, for the gun noobs

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 21, 2013 01:11 PM (TIIx5)

177 Lithium deuteride, when hit by neutrons from a fissioning primary, breeds sufficient tritium for the secondary fusion reaction in a multistage weapon, plus some extra neutrons for that fast fission kick on your uranium jacket should you have one. Li-D is fairly low maintenance. I didn't think we had any tritium gas boosted bomb cores left in inventory.

Posted by: deskmerc at November 21, 2013 01:21 PM (pYOXQ)

178 Lithium deuteride is a hell of a convenient solid fuel source (the Castle series tests come immediately to mind). As I understand it, you still need the tritium to properly initiate the fusion reactions involving the various components of the secondary, including the solid-phase LiD fuel. Perhaps the coupling between the primary and the secondary has been improved to the point where it no longer matters much but the debate over tritium sources strongly suggests that isn't the case.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at November 21, 2013 01:32 PM (PMGbu)

179 deskmerc: the fusion boosting is necessary to reduce the size of the primary for a given yield, which makes your MIRV war head smaller (q.v. W-8

. It also gives you easier dial-a-yield capability. It's likely that the LiD secondary is ignited by compression due to radiative implosion of the tamper as its outer surface ablates away at a fairly respectable fraction of the speed of light. This is primarily due to heating by soft X-rays from the primary and from the plasma formed in the interstage radiation channel. The bulk of the neutrons in the initial stages of implosion are generated by compression from subcritical to supercritical of the Pu or U235 spark-plug at the core of the fusion fuel. The fast neutrons generated during D-T fusion in the secondary then fission the tamper and the radiation case assuming it's U238 (if not then you've got an Enhanced Radiation Weapon i.e. neutron bomb). That usually contributes a substantial part of the yield (>50%). The Castle Bravo test in 1954 had a much higher yield than anticipated because it was not appreciated that Li7 could also breed tritium by catalytic neutron capture. The neutron, instead of being lost as it was when breeding tritium from Li6, was free to fission the tamper and gave a yield of 15MT instead of the 4-8 expected.

Posted by: David Gillies at November 21, 2013 01:48 PM (ECf6n)

180 That's W-88 . Stupid auto-smileys.

Posted by: David Gillies at November 21, 2013 01:49 PM (ECf6n)

181 Can't we buy that shit from Canada? They've got a bunch of heavy water reactors, and if I'm not mistaken the heavy heavy water captures neutrons from the fission process, meaning some of the deuterium becomes tritium.

Posted by: ol_dirty_/b/tard at November 21, 2013 02:25 PM (KSjsb)

182 Since I had to have a melanoma carved out of my wrist, *exactly* over where my glow-like-a-summabitch watch rested for a decade, I've kinda lost interest in that feature of watches.

Posted by: Lace Wigs at November 21, 2013 03:53 PM (UL/Aj)

Unless you wore you watch face down, it would be impossible for the radiation on the dial to go through a metal watch.

Nor the plastic / sapphire crystal on the face

Speaking of alpha decay, I seem to recollect that quite a few of those dials were radium painted, not tritium. Radium is an alpha emitter and the most common isotope, Ra-226, if I'm reading the Oak Ridge tables correctly, emits a 186 keV gamma. That's got enough juice to shine through the metal backplate of a watch at a level that could cause damage over the long term.

The watches older than early 60s frequently had radium paste for luminescence (which could be a problem if you ate the watch or serviced the watch yourself) when governments freaked out and everyone quickly switched to tritium. For watches and radioactivity google Radium Girls.

Oh, I'll buy your old tritium or radium watches