Although this article has its share of distortions, the worst being:
"Two of the four hydrogen bombs detonated near the small town of Palomares, dispersing radioactive plutonium."......
...which should mortally embarrass the Editors/Publishers even remotely involved in the release of this "article" That I am seriously wounded for the mere act of presenting it here, I found one part VERY interesting....
<El Pais said "traces of plutonium and americium remain in about 20 hectares">
Americium...???
I doubt the device had a smoke detector onboard....
.....possibly the remnants of a 2nd generation neutron generator?
Any guesses or info?
sonicbomb Forum Admin
Joined: Aug 06, 2006
Posts: 1631
Location: UK
Posted:
Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:19 pm
Two warheads did detonate, though only the conventional high explosive portion. I agree this is misleading as most people would assume this meant an atomic explosion.
Plutonium can be stabilized in the delta phase at room temperature by alloying it with americium. So one could presume this was the case with the pits of the MK-28s involved. Americiumcan be also created by bombarding plutonium with high-energy neutrons, so again it's possible small amount may have been created spontaniously within the pit before or after the accident.
Thank You for the info, Admin! I studied metallurgy with regard to iron/steel, copper, and aluminum... but not the mighty "Pu", and it's baffling "phases" at different pressures, temperatures, and phases of the moon..... a metal with very strange behaviors!
I just found it odd that the article would specify Am in the manner it did... like there was allot of it. I don't think such an amount would be spontaneously created- I personally like your alloy theory better....but I did not think delta phase Pu was the favorite for processing....which would put my question about Am back into play.
And you hit my point about the "detonations" quote squarely on the head, Admin! HOW can something THAT misleading sell as news?
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