Posted by
michael
on from the just-had-it-a-minute-ago dept.
jyuter writes "Apparently, Japan has lost 206kg of plutonium, enough to make 25 nuclear bombs. The official position is that it's not stolen, just 'unaccounted for.'"
There are a number of issues with this article. First of all, the only thing they are going on seems to be that they are 3% short of the estimated amount of plutonium.
I recall that there have been issues in the past with Japan's nuclear plants, so why is this any surprise?
Exactly. The article mentions that discrepancies of 1% are normal as the plutonium is in liquid form and can easily be dissolved in other substances. 3% is a bit higher than usual, but could still just be an error in the estimate.
Also, Japanese authorities estimated that 120 of the 206 kg were lost to the usual processing losses, leaving only 86 kg that are really missing. That's just about 1% of the total expected amount. A bad estimate seems to be the most reasonable explanation.
Lessee - where might it be?
by
0x69
·
· Score: 5, Funny
"Dear N. Korea, If the mere 1/5 ton of Pu that we leaked was "missing" doesn't clue you in, please rest assured that you'll bitterly regret any nuclear mistakes in our direction. Your loving neighbor, Japan"
In other news, scientists have discovered a new species of glow-in-the-dark fish near the Oopsiliki Nuclear Facility...
Auditers caught 'em half-way between using fudged-upward numbers (to make productivity look good) and fudged-back-down numbers (to account for what actually ships). (This kind of stuff has happened in the U.S.A.)
Measuring & accounting so sloppy that there's no way to tell if the "missing" stuff ever existed...or if much more is missing.
Stolen by __________, who then did ___________with it
It's an off-the-books loan to CowboyNeal.
-- It's easy to make up & spread cool- and credible-sounding stuff. Finding & checking hard facts is hard work.
The Sky is falling
by
Yokaze
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Since a non-neglectable percentage of the readership tends to skip reading the article, and the poster suggest a major mishap, I feel obliged to post a summary:
There is a large discrepancy between the projected output and the registered amount of output.
Partly, this is considered to be due to some less dramatic unaccounted ways of leaving the factory than through the hands of north-korean spies, like dillution in waste-waters and diffusion into other materials.
There is still a large amount left, which cannot have left the factory by these means. Still, it is most likely not 'lost', since it might have not been produced at all. It is a discrepancy between actual and projected numbers.
These discrepancies do always occur since no measurement is perfect. An error margin of 1% can be attributed to the measurement alone. The factory had a discrepancy of 3%.
Both numbers aren't very reassuring. But actually, I'm more afraid of the things that aren't reported.
-- "Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Slashdot Mirror
"I didn't lose my virginity, it's just unaccounted for."
206kg of lead was found where the plutonioum was last believed to have been.
--Shemnon
There are a number of issues with this article. First of all, the only thing they are going on seems to be that they are 3% short of the estimated amount of plutonium.
I recall that there have been issues in the past with Japan's nuclear plants, so why is this any surprise?
"Dear N. Korea,
If the mere 1/5 ton of Pu that we leaked was "missing" doesn't clue you in, please rest assured that you'll bitterly regret any nuclear mistakes in our direction.
Your loving neighbor,
Japan"
In other news, scientists have discovered a new species of glow-in-the-dark fish near the Oopsiliki Nuclear Facility...
Auditers caught 'em half-way between using fudged-upward numbers (to make productivity look good) and fudged-back-down numbers (to account for what actually ships). (This kind of stuff has happened in the U.S.A.)
Measuring & accounting so sloppy that there's no way to tell if the "missing" stuff ever existed...or if much more is missing.
Stolen by __________, who then did ___________with it
It's an off-the-books loan to CowboyNeal.
It's easy to make up & spread cool- and credible-sounding stuff. Finding & checking hard facts is hard work.
Since a non-neglectable percentage of the readership tends to skip reading the article,
and the poster suggest a major mishap, I feel obliged to post a summary:
There is a large discrepancy between the projected
output and the registered amount of output.
Partly, this is considered to be due to some less dramatic unaccounted ways of
leaving the factory than through the hands of north-korean spies, like dillution in waste-waters and diffusion into other
materials.
There is still a large amount left, which cannot have left the factory by these means.
Still, it is most likely not 'lost', since it might have not been produced at all.
It is a discrepancy between actual and projected numbers.
These discrepancies do always occur since no measurement is perfect. An error margin of 1% can be attributed to the measurement alone. The factory had a discrepancy of 3%.
Both numbers aren't very reassuring. But actually, I'm more afraid of the things that aren't reported.
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
And it will be used to make one Hell of a KatoffleKannon (sp?) or Potato Gun or whatever.
I do find it odd though that missing Plutonium makes the science Pages and Kotoflekannon (sp) made the main page.
Priorities I guess
D.A.K.D.A.E.---- Deny all Knowledge, Destroy All Evidence
In its place they found a mixture of green dish detergent and some glitter.