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United Nuclear

Posted by michael on from the even-the-name-is-perfect dept.

goombah99 writes "Hey Mr. Science, need a rocket pack for your bicycle? Look no further than United Nuclear scientific supply where under their dangerous products category you can purchase your own radioactive uranium ore, as well as a two million volt generator if you need one. Or what mad scientist can do without his own particle accelerator (which they advertise can mutate DNA in seed, explore the atom, or simply transmute elements)"

37 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by sweeney37 · · Score: 5, Funny

    All of these samples measure over 40,000 CPM and we'll occasionally have some as high as 300,000 CPM.
    This is 2 to 15 times the radiation level as our "High Radiation Level" samples.
    Do Not store these samples on your person, and wash your hands after handling them.

    Yeah, if I'm touching uranium that they label as being "Super High Radiation Level" I'm thinking I may want more than a "hand-washing".

    Mike

    1. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, handwashing helps get rid of any particles that may be on your skin.

    2. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by gantrep · · Score: 5, Funny

      Everyone is way too paranoid about radiation. Sure you wouldn't want to handle it every day, but a piece of uranium metal is not the same thing as a nuclear bomb, ok?

      You can hold plutonium metal in your hand and you can even eat uranium metal with minimal harm.

      Wow, huh?

      Even though these samples may be very radioactive, most likely, the handwashing as they say is all you would really need. They're the experts, they deal with it. Trust them.

    3. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by _Splat · · Score: 4, Informative

      The depleted uranium used in weapons can be easily and verifiably shown to produce no hazardous levels of radiation. As far as I know, the amount of radiation produced by depleted uranium is indistinguishable from background.

      People that claim that depleted uranium caused their illnesses are mistaken. The cancer rate among people exposed to depleted uranium is the same as that of the population. Any appearence of depleted uranium-caused illnesses is an illusion, just like the Gulf War syndrome. (Studies show that the symptoms of Gulf War syndrome are just as common among people who were not in the Gulf War.)

      --
      -Splat
    4. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by Clockwork+Apple · · Score: 3, Informative

      I actually got this info from an interview I saw with an Army General (I think he was a general) who was incharge of the DU risk factor investigation team, and once he turned in his report it was tossed aside because we were already into destert storm. From what I hear he retired and is leading a movement to look into it in a more open manner.

      Just saying I beleived what he said and the other reports they showed on the program.

      --
      "Doctor, it's not the voices I hear in MY head, but the voices I hear in YOUR head that really frighten me."
    5. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by Eevee · · Score: 4, Informative

      Who would you trust? How about The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists?

    6. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by adagioforstrings · · Score: 5, Funny

      Are these the same experts that say that Depleted Uranium weapons do no leave any harmfull after effects after they are used

      Uh, I thought that was the point? I know what you mean, though, it just seems kind of funny:

      Scientist 1: Today we're testing to see if there are harmful effects from depleted uranium weapons
      Scientist 2: Righto. Commence with experiment.
      (Scientist 2 activates 30mm chaingun with depleted uranium shells to deliver DU to test subject)
      Scientist 2: Uh...harmful effects?
      (Scientist 1 inspects test subject)
      Scientist 1: Hmm, hard to say. Maybe on that bit over there?

    7. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by homer_ca · · Score: 3, Insightful

      DU is almost pure U-238 which is less radioactive than the U-235 used to make bombs, but I suspect some of the health risks of uranium are chemical instead of radiological. Uranium is a heavy metal like lead or mercury. Breathing in uranium dust or drinking contaminated water can't be good.

    8. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by Sayjack · · Score: 4, Funny

      In the former German Democratic Republic, thousands of miners were working with Uranium ore. Twenty years earlier they died than the rest of the people, by average.

      They should have washed their hands more.

      --

      -- Good judgement comes with experience. -- Experience comes with bad judgement.

    9. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by Phanatic1a · · Score: 3, Informative

      Insightful?

      Depleted uranium has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. You're more radioactive than an equivalent mass of DU, because of the carbon-14 and other trace radioisotopes in your body.

    10. Re:on second thought, pass the lead gloves please. by Phanatic1a · · Score: 3, Informative

      Gah.

      Saying a kilogram of plutonium in a water supply could kill thousands of people is like saying the water in the oceans could kill every person on earth. Technically, it's true, if you divided it up into nice doses and deposited it specifically in the body where it could do the most harm, you'd kill a bunch of people, but that's not going to happen just by drinking the stuff.

      Chemically, plutonium follows pathways similar to calcium. If you ingest it in a readily absorbable form, it can wind up in the bone marrow, and there it can do bad things. But most forms aren't readily absorbable; divide it finely enough to dissolve in water, and you're going to end up with plutonium oxide, which isn't readily absorbable and won't stay around in the body too long. There were accidents during the Manhattan Project of workers inhaling significant quantities of plutonium, and their death rates by lung cancer weren't any different from the norm. It's a very bad idea to ingest plutonium, but that's probably due more to its heavy metal toxicity than to its radiological hazards.

      The water in the oceans could kill far more people than a bomb would, also, if you split it into handy 2-liter doses and crammed it into everyone's lungs.

      It's not only an alpha emitter, however. Plutonium undergoes significant spontaneous fission, and depending on the fission mode can spit out betas, gammas, or neutrons depending on its whims.

  2. important safety tip! by Tumbleweed · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Or what mad scientist can do without his own particle accelerator

    If you get more than one, don't cross the streams. It would be ... bad.

    Cats and dogs living together ... MASS HYSTERIA!

    1. Re:important safety tip! by fireboy1919 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm a little fuzzy on the whole good-bad thing.

      What do you mean, "bad?"

      --
      Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
    2. Re:important safety tip! by Tumbleweed · · Score: 3, Funny

      Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

      Total protonic reversal.

    3. Re:important safety tip! by fireboy1919 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ok right that's BAD, important safety tip.

      Thanks Egon.

      --
      Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
  3. Potential Advertisement by TheOnyx · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Well, you can't find weapons of mass destruction, but now, you can build one with our at-home kit!"

    --
    "Do not hold strong opinions about things you do not understand."
  4. Happy Fun Rock by citking · · Score: 5, Funny
    Disclaimer packed with each ore sample:

    Do not taunt happy fun rock. If happy fun rock starts getting hot, turn and walk calmly but quickly towards the nearest bomb shelter...

    --
    "This food is problematic."
    1. Re:Happy Fun Rock by el-spectre · · Score: 4, Funny

      When I was in high school, a teacher handed around a rock for us to see, and once it was 2/3 of the way around class, said 'oh, if you think you might be pregnant... don't touch that. It's mildly radioactive'

      Thanks prof!

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
  5. Disappointing... by Otter · · Score: 4, Funny
    This category contains samples of the most sought after Uranium ore, Pitchblende. Pitchblende is a jet-black, very heavy, semi-crystalline Uranium ore that is pure Uranium Oxide...Very rare and nearly impossible to find at any price. We've been searching all over the world for more Pitchblende for over a year now, and these are our last samples... when they're gone, they're gone.... Sorry, there are currently no samples for sale in the category.

    I'm surprisingly disappointed given that I had no idea I wanted a piece of pitchblende. But they made it sound so enticing, and then I discover they're out...

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  6. Just what the radioactive Boy Scout needs.... by marbike · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps it is a good thing that this company was not well known when Dave Hahn was working on his breeder reactor.
    http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/rad scout.html

    --
    it is better to light a flame thrower than curse the darkness. -Terry Pratchett Men at Arms
  7. Not again! by MerryGoByeBye · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You people need to stop posting stories that originated on memepool as joke material! Have you no journalistic character? Parroting is not news!

    Christ!

  8. Just wait till they put a big red 'R' on it! by teamhasnoi · · Score: 3, Funny
    Woo Woo!

    I think I heard the sound of a million ricer jaws dropping.

  9. News Flash! by dapuk · · Score: 3, Funny
    It has been determined that the sudden shortage of uranium is in the hands of members from the slashdot.org terrorist organization.

    The military believe that they plan to build a nuclear warhead. George W Bush has asked for the slashdot.org terrorist communication and control center to be destroyed immediately. It is believed that Cmdr Taco is the mastermind of this attack.

    More news as we get it...

  10. New favourite store by Cap'n+Roger+Wang · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sorry Thinkgeek, but I think that I've just found a new place to spend my discretionary income.

  11. Slashdot Works For US Government - Stopping Terror by docstrange · · Score: 5, Funny

    Recent conversation between CMDR Taco and Donald Rumsfield.

    Rumsfield: Hey CMDR Taco, there's this website we need to take down that sells nuclear supplies. We think that terrorists might be using them to build weapons of mass destruction.

    Taco: No problem, i'll have a slashdot story posted immediateley. It should stop the website dead in it's tracks until we can permanently shut them down.

    Rumsfield: Excellent, thank you for protecting our country.

    --
    Remember that you are unique, just like everybody else.
  12. No responsibility by tarquin_fim_bim · · Score: 5, Funny

    "A few of these projects will instantly kill if precautions are not followed. Although we have personally conducted every experiment & built every project here, we assume no responsibility for your attempt to do so."

    I suppose a refund would be out of the question then.

  13. Shipping? by jbfaninmo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does UPS, Fedex or USPS ship Uranium? Bit of a nasty suprise for the delivery guy.

  14. Are they hiring...? by warriorpostman · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I don't even know if these guys are on the up-and-up as it's already difficult to navigate their website... If they are legit...they would be added to the employment genre, of "ohmygod-whatacooljob-thatwouldbe". Here's a few of their products.

    From the suspiciously cool ...
    This device increases a vehicle's horsepower by an average of 23%. The system does not cause any damage to the engine, and only consumes about 2 amps of electrical power (about as much as your taillights use). The power increase is due to the introduction of large volumes of Ozone to the engine air intake.
    ...all the way to hehebeavis cool.
    Typical "Stun Guns" are handheld devices that produce a high voltage shock to incapacitate an attacker. They have a big disadvantage of requiring you to be very close to the attacker to use them. Our "Water Taser" is a cross between a high output Stun Gun, and a small "Super Soaker" type water pistol. High voltage travels down the conductive water stream and incapacitates the attacker from a distance.


    I gots to get me some of that.
  15. Oh great... by dereklam · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...now there's a database that's going straight to Ashcroft...

  16. Invade Slashdot by mobileskimo · · Score: 4, Funny

    • Rumsfield: What do you mean these slashdot terrorist have no oil?

      CmdrTaco: They don't even have a country.

      Rumsfield: Oh well that's just dandy! Now I got two excurisions I need to explain!

      CmdrTaco: They have karma...

      Rumsfield: "karma"? Is it worth anything?

    --
    "Last one in is a rotten goblin!" - Kepp
  17. Suppliers like in "Science Made Stupid"? by hiryuu · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can't help but be reminded of some of the "supply stores" mentioned in "Science Made Stupid" as the places to get various dangerous things. U-235 rods from "Bud's Scientific Supply," anyone?

    Footnote on page 25 (might not be in the web version linked above): "A fuller discussion of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle may be found in the Appendix. Then again, it may not."


    --
    Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
  18. Paranoia by siskbc · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Are these the same experts that say that Depleted Uranium weapons do no leave any harmfull after effects after they are used?

    You have any credible evidence that they do? All I've heard from is "Mother Jones" and Greenpeace types combined with studies that make the cell-phone/cancer research look rock-solid.

    Are they the ones that say you can hide from an H-Bomb by crouching under your school desk?

    Nobody ever said that was a good idea, but it was the only option in a freaking classroom, eh? Besides, I bet it wasn't the poor guy running this web site, regardless.

    YOU trust them.

    And YOU adjust your tinfoil hat. The world isn't a conspiracy. Who is "them," in this context, anyway?

    --

    -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

  19. What irony... by teutonic_leech · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... they're selling this stuff online and I get my nailclippers confiscated before boarding my plane. What a world we live in ...

  20. Darwin's theory of natural selection beckons.... by Sayjack · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can hear Darwin's theory of natural selection beckoning me to resign from the gene pool as I salivate and fantasize over my jet engine driven bicycle spewing lightning bolts as I complete my newspaper route with unprecedented speed and precision.... Can you feel it calling you as well?

    --

    -- Good judgement comes with experience. -- Experience comes with bad judgement.

  21. Uranium facts by Lord+Prox · · Score: 4, Informative

    World Heath Org has a little fact sheet about DU (close enough to uranium ore for a /. posting I think. After DU is refined to contain almost nothing but uranium and these rocks are mostly rocks with a little uranium.)

    Some highlights
    Of the uranium that is absorbed into the blood, approximately 70% will be filtered by the kidney and excreted in the urine within 24 hours; this amount increases to 90% within a few days.

    In a number of studies on uranium miners, an increased risk of lung cancer was demonstrated, but this has been attributed to exposure from radon decay products. Lung tissue damage is possible leading to a risk of lung cancer that increases with increasing radiation dose. However, because DU is only weakly radioactive, very large amounts of dust (on the order of grams) would have to be inhaled for the additional risk of lung cancer to be detectable in an exposed group. Risks for other radiation-induced cancers, including leukaemia, are considered to be very much lower than for lung cancer.

    Due to its high density, about twice that of lead, the main civilian uses of DU include counterweights in aircraft, radiation shields in medical radiation therapy machines and containers for the transport of radioactive materials. The military uses DU for defensive armour plate.

    Erythema (superficial inflammation of the skin) or other effects on the skin are unlikely to occur even if DU is held against the skin for long periods (weeks).

  22. Re:Plenty of Radioactive items... by Phanatic1a · · Score: 3, Informative

    And by comparison, bananas shoot off about 3500 pCi/kg from Potassium-40. Beer, about 400, and beef about 3000. Some nuts, about 7000 pCi/kg from Radium-226. A Ci is a curie, 3.7 * 1010 disintegrations per second.

    So that bunch of bananas sitting on your kitchen counter is bombarding you with about 130,000 beta particles each second. Natural uranium has an activity level of 0.7 pCi/g, so a kilogram of uranium sitting on your counter would be spitting 26,000 alphas at you in that time frame. And, of course, organic matter has a natural activity of 6 pCi/g due to carbon-14, so you yourself are releasing, oh, about 15 million disintegrations per second (3.7E10 disintegrations per second per curie * 1E-9 curies per picocurie * 6 pCi per gram * 70,000 grams per average adult male).

    Just for comparison's sake.

  23. Terrorist Honeytoken? by RedSynapse · · Score: 3, Interesting
    A thought just occurred to me. I wonder if the goverment has set up any phony businesses like this as a type of terrorist honeytoken?

    Just throw up some page on the web that says it sells unrefined uranium ore as a novelty or bulk amounts of chemicals used in making a conventional bomb or chemical weapon - no questions asked - and see who it is who's interested in buying these things.

    If it we me, I'd create a site called ScienceSalvage.com. Sell a bunch of legit science junk, but then occasionally throw in that you just found a lot of powdered cyanide or an old cesium powered radiation treatment machine and see who's willing to shell out a fair chunk of change for something like that. If they eventually order you can just say sorry we already had another buyer and hadn't bothered to update the site. The next day white vans appear infront of the would be buyer's house.