Meta tags:
description= It s NU-clear, not UN-clear;
Headings (most frequently used words):
nuclear, the, and, book, dreams, perspective, again, louisa, gilder, robert, oppenheimer, riding, off, into, twilight, shattering, sword, where, edward, teller, when, you, need, him, obama, should, be, much, more, like, george, bush, promising, falls, apart, sane, republican, reviews, hawk, dove, missile, man, of, america, particle, or, pages, categories, search, recent, posts, archives, links, feeds,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (597), and (277), nuclear (137), that (128), for (90), was (75), this (69), not (61), have (54), weapons (54), would (52), from (51), but (47), with (43), which (42), his (40), one (38), book (34), about (34), has (34), been (32), were (32), soviet (30), war (30), more (29), are (29), who (27), there (27), rhodes (26), you (25), their (25), all (24), had (24), most (23), they (23), like (22), can (22), much (21), also (21), well (21), other (21), #should (20), when (19), because (19), after (19), did (18), bomb (17), cold (17), such (17), many (17), 2010 (16), off (16), oppenheimer (16), even (16), iraq (16), nitze (16), what (15), world (15), part (15), them (15), how (15), these (15), out (15), than (15), material (15), may (14), two (14), said (14), kennan (14), life (14), very (14), north (14), 2008 (13), george (13), bush (13), known (13), president (13), last (13), energy (12), atomic (12), arms (12), him (12), gilder (12), does (12), any (12), new (12), oil (12), former (12), evidence (12), uranium (11), only (11), will (11), its (11), union (11), then (11), obama (10), uncategorized (10), reagan (10), iran (10), posted (10), clear (10), few (10), just (10), nations (10), first (10), korea (10), now (9), 2009 (9), into (9), russia (9), physics (9), important (9), down (9), could (9), problem (9), both (9), still (9), people (9), pellegrino (9), gulf (9), get (8), already (8), richard (8), probably (8), some (8), best (8), comment (8), schriever (8), times (8), point (8), others (8), years (8), weapon (8), yet (8), threat (8), against (8), country (8), says (8), enough (8), accounts (8), using (8), accident (8), account (7), nukes (7), radiation (7), missile (7), man (7), time (7), professor (7), seems (7), international (7), especially (7), spite (7), air (7), during (7), history (7), among (7), including (7), several (7), being (7), republican (7), almost (7), describes (7), rid (7), make (7), countries (7), film (7), case (7), efforts (7), bohm (7), site (6), comments (6), march (6), august (6), gorbachev (6), dyson (6), change (6), program (6), called (6), leave (6), paul (6), want (6), relatively (6), sheehan (6), little (6), less (6), policy (6), say (6), take (6), set (6), speech (6), response (6), doing (6), course (6), difficult (6), fact (6), blasts (6), put (6), seal (6), based (6), government (6), used (6), must (6), technology (6), she (6), kheifets (6), report (5), control (5), january (5), september (5), promising (5), apart (5), sword (5), robert (5), john (5), climate (5), israel (5), unfortunate (5), working (5), know (5), reactors (5), expert (5), physicist (5), particle (5), since (5), easy (5), university (5), decades (5), although (5), far (5), reactor (5), political (5), option (5), work (5), force (5), detail (5), power (5), job (5), american (5), while (5), post (5), responsible (5), scientists (5), through (5), later (5), disarmament (5), famous (5), use (5), soviets (5), might (5), trying (5), between (5), telegram (5), south (5), start (5), hiroshima (5), serious (5), author (5), story (5), fuoco (5), never (5), before (5), himself (5), absolutely (5), hands (5), signed (5), number (5), idea (5), crisis (5), thousands (5), end (5), officials (5), calls (5), thing (5), each (5), why (5), same (5), back (5), lead (5), turned (5), second (5), form (5), chernobyl (5), design (4), dreams (4), blog (4), global (4), february (4), april (4), where (4), perspective (4), again (4), nunn (4), terrorism (4), los (4), alamos (4), bernard (4), race (4), home (4), pages (4), tags (4), thus (4), role (4), neutron (4), matter (4), whether (4), seem (4), three (4), enrichment (4), reports (4), facilities (4), key (4), hope (4), least (4), interesting (4), fascinating (4), technical (4), missiles (4), done (4), instance (4), information (4), too (4), provides (4), comprehensive (4), think (4), thompson (4), thoughts (4), york (4), effects (4), half (4), administration (4), became (4), potential (4), books (4), state (4), official (4), better (4), solve (4), makes (4), otherwise (4), found (4), completely (4), clearly (4), reason (4), events (4), human (4), got (4), our (4), really (4), wing (4), needs (4), reduce (4), treaty (4), complex (4), final (4), reductions (4), worse (4), national (4), blast (4), support (4), experts (4), united (4), states (4), give (4), 000 (4), gas (4), around (4), effort (4), thinking (4), told (4), stop (4), abolished (4), bipartisan (4), seen (4), don (4), cannot (4), republics (4), terrorists (4), enriched (4), words (4), miscalculation (4), ones (4), accidents (4), concerns (4), talks (4), possible (4), acquire (4), simple (4), current (4), capability (4), inspectors (4), her (4), wordpress (3), com (3), view (3), sign (3), notes (3), october (3), 2007 (3), november (3), december (3), june (3), edward (3), teller (3), need (3), twilight (3), louisa (3), recent (3), espionage (3), reykjavik (3), paranoia (3), pakistan (3), india (3), hydrogen (3), specialty (3), likely (3), bombs (3), everyone (3), quite (3), understood (3), scientist (3), issue (3), tehran (3), until (3), way (3), action (3), mention (3), next (3), something (3), killed (3), development (3), fair (3), accurate (3), jfk (3), valuable (3), bringing (3), general (3), supposed (3), rather (3), easily (3), become (3), shows (3), character (3), great (3), associated (3), flight (3), whose (3), america (3), differences (3), men (3), volume (3), those (3), dove (3), open (3), hard (3), went (3), policies (3), century (3), security (3), military (3), advocated (3), regarded (3), hawk (3), pursue (3), thought (3), documents (3), influential (3), good (3), carter (3), extent (3), nature (3), name (3), along (3), presidents (3), future (3), shipping (3), fine (3), topic (3), read (3), discovered (3), letter (3), share (3), parsons (3), feet (3), simply (3), noted (3), won (3), mean (3), left (3), strategic (3), compared (3), interview (3), spill (3), going (3), ground (3), disaster (3), nothing (3), here (3), none (3), laboratory (3), test (3), solution (3), brought (3), detonated (3), wrote (3), perhaps (3), engineers (3), theory (3), huge (3), conventional (3), flow (3), top (3), giant (3), concrete (3), agreed (3), possibly (3), anyone (3), under (3), week (3), system (3), saw (3), ago (3), deep (3), exactly (3), abolish (3), getting (3), dream (3), decided (3), every (3), single (3), chemical (3), biggest (3), build (3), secure (3), securing (3), crude (3), mind (3), detect (3), fall (3), workers (3), cooperation (3), related (3), brzezinski (3), always (3), madness (3), without (3), incident (3), result (3), risks (3), kennedy (3), cited (3), cut (3), agent (3), wmd (3), disease (3), similarly (3), public (3), common (3), together (3), goal (3), context (3), hundreds (3), tells (3), dismantling (3), major (3), discredited (3), parts (3), building (3), npt (3), equipment (3), korean (3), third (3), africa (3), electromagnetic (3), separation (3), authoritative (3), quantum (3), quotes (3), paragraph (3), chapter (3), merkulov (3), named (3), fossil (3), safety (3), industry (3), partly (3), version (3), japanese (3), manage (2), reader (2), log (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), rss (2), posts (2), insights (2), fission (2), atom (2), 2011 (2), falls (2), shattering (2), riding (2), categories (2), schultz (2), proliferation (2), plutonium (2), media (2), liberals (2), isotopes (2), freeman (2), conservatives (2), abm (2), khan (2), east (2), itself (2), exact (2), lot (2), dead (2), field (2), theoretical (2), vice (2), phd (2), iranian (2), return (2), anonymity (2), sensitivity (2), interviews (2), web (2), language (2), dispute (2), trouble (2), ample (2), bombing (2), cause (2), problems (2), animosity (2), enthusiasts (2), arsenals (2), early (2), came (2), influence (2), outstanding (2), contributions (2), critical (2), period (2), digressions (2), project (2), encouraged (2), your (2), aware (2), mid (2), 1930s (2), apparently (2), asked (2), mail (2), loss (2), resulted (2), modern (2), neil (2), spent (2), writing (2), importance (2), starting (2), programs (2), fiery (2), remarkably (2), disagreements (2), remained (2), personal (2), friends (2), managed (2), rise (2), above (2), severe (2), highly (2), tremendous (2), impact (2), foreign (2), bring (2), lives (2), strongly (2), necessary (2), approach (2), reconciliation (2), followers (2), line (2), write (2), rightly (2), perceived (2), sense (2), neo (2), however (2), advocate (2), strength (2), inflation (2), acolytes (2), secret (2), document (2), various (2), ways (2), pipes (2), wolfowitz (2), toward (2), intentions (2), worked (2), weak (2), dangerous (2), diplomat (2), twentieth (2), away (2), age (2), prose (2), recommend (2), mainly (2), sent (2), americans (2), stalin (2), containment (2), respond (2), churchill (2), iron (2), nicholas (2), opposite (2), provided (2), graham (2), college (2), younger (2), debate (2), believe (2), risk (2), party (2), doubt (2), writer (2), henry (2), amazon (2), page (2), saying (2), further (2), printing (2), usual (2), riveting (2), joseph (2), head (2), instead (2), charles (2), mentioned (2), william (2), arming (2), given (2), five (2), made (2), omission (2), miller (2), advisor (2), urey (2), nobel (2), prize (2), research (2), countdown (2), seriously (2), detonation (2), separating (2), protected (2), sort (2), credit (2), position (2), right (2), enthusiasm (2), actually (2), remains (2), largest (2), late (2), percent (2), comparison (2), observation (2), russian (2), step (2), past (2), nuking (2), making (2), happen (2), technically (2), midst (2), senior (2), intervention (2), ideas (2), providing (2), mexico (2), championed (2), ban (2), pushing (2), treaties (2), rogue (2), explosions (2), purposes (2), wide (2), 1992 (2), racing (2), land (2), involved (2), 1966 (2), nordyke (2), wells (2), livermore (2), engineer (2), once (2), seafloor (2), feasible (2), extreme (2), heat (2), create (2), exploding (2), underground (2), rock (2), suggested (2), explosives (2), suggestions (2), dropping (2), command (2), features (2), according (2), secretary (2), else (2), table (2), federal (2), attempt (2), gained (2), pipe (2), successfully (2), try (2), caught (2), eye (2), ready (2), holding (2), old (2), mikhail (2), whole (2), importantly (2), zero (2), often (2), ludicrously (2), alert (2), followed (2), psychological (2), extensive (2), boundaries (2), talked (2), refreshingly (2), partisan (2), hearing (2), initiative (2), year (2), sam (2), abolishment (2), wmds (2), plus (2), economic (2), child (2), shielded (2), containers (2), day (2), high (2), low (2), misunderstandings (2), pose (2), danger (2), situation (2), ended (2), central (2), secured (2), grams (2), buyers (2), allow (2), instances (2), jimmy (2), middle (2), night (2), computer (2), malfunction (2), leaders (2), extremely (2), gives (2), recounts (2), cirincione (2), launch (2), yeltsin (2), leading (2), catastrophe (2), possibility (2), false (2), alarms (2), succinct (2), look (2), damocles (2), hanging (2), thread (2), cia (2), moment (2), forth (2), elliot (2), infectious (2), towards (2), humanity (2), owned (2), brings (2), appreciated (2), lugar (2), example (2), ctbt (2), develop (2), reasons (2), costs (2), run (2), meticulous (2), dick (2), cheney (2), record (2), invading (2), strategy (2), attacks (2), suspected (2), fueled (2), tried (2), tested (2), shipments (2), saddam (2), chinese (2), centrifuges (2), ideology (2), sanctions (2), tragedy (2), warheads (2), ambitions (2), koreans (2), kind (2), keeping (2), explain (2), heroes (2), own (2), water (2), consequence (2), diplomacy (2), framework (2), unfortunately (2), another (2), briefly (2), fear (2), david (2), congress (2), combination (2), cities (2), multiple (2), troubling (2), pursuing (2), primitive (2), conclusions (2), detailed (2), contain (2), flawed (2), sure (2), credence (2), student (2), communist (2), essentially (2), detailing (2), save (2), question (2), quote (2), works (2), slightest (2), allegations (2), widely (2), source (2), certainly (2), authors (2), schecter (2), willing (2), transmit (2), emphatically (2), add (2), kgb (2), knew (2), entanglement (2), unique (2), device (2), conversations (2), fuels (2), finally (2), benefits (2), argument (2), unlikely (2), natural (2), japan (2), committee (2), terms (2), review (2), deaths (2), present (2), designs (2), worst (2), hear (2), production (2), started, collapse, bar, subscriptions, content, privacy, feeds, sovietologist, saving, physical, hazard, green, freedom, watch, wonk, links, july, archives, mar, 2026, search, tmi, susidies, space, solar, santa, poisoning, defense, leo, szilard, mccain, indo, deal, hyrogen, gwyneth, cravens, koval, france, ethanol, environmentalists, corn, cohen, asat, acheson, lilienthal, 109, palace, previous, entries, preclude, tell, silly, teaches, 1939, greatest, enrico, fermi, learn, versa, movies, clooney, nicole, kidman, blockbuster, peacemaker, bad, guys, astrophysics, academics, spoke, telephone, specialized, lists, elementary, broadcaster, staunch, supporter, islamic, revolution, 1979, overthrew, shah, initiated, theocratic, rule, english, press, taught, contentious, scientific, specialization, assassinated, nyt, accusation, israeli, operation, anything, fetched, talk, israelis, osirak, 1980, immense, outrage, added, arab, assassinate, someone, playing, slow, plans, intimidate, planted, outside, speculation, outsiders, deficiency, amount, explained, plain, waned, latter, nevertheless, individual, telling, enormous, main, reflect, date, frequent, editor, shaved, tighter, narrative, definitely, helped, draw, attention, direct, meandering, boon, background, tidbits, inefficient, backwater, organization, till, outclassed, european, counterparts, pilots, deliver, wake, office, scandal, inexperience, flying, galvanized, fdr, directives, performed, service, obscure, driving, accomplishments, individuals, jump, shepherding, icbm, characters, mentors, school, hap, arnold, bete, noir, notorious, curtis, lemay, contact, brilliant, von, neumann, peace, ultimate, differing, perspectives, mortal, enemies, acute, close, grandson, mark, readable, sensitively, wisely, dissects, personalities, recommended, needless, hawkish, views, radically, differed, measured, opinions, fell, somewhat, favor, showing, agendas, subtle, complicated, occasionally, softer, joined, pressing, continued, mellowed, 1999, recommending, unilateral, dictating, tragic, unlike, see, shortcomings, detrimental, accompanying, cons, documented, peter, scoblic, conservatism, undermined, necessarily, employing, father, measure, suffices, realize, either, proteges, 1950, nsc, preemptive, exaggerated, pattern, growing, band, albert, wohlstetter, perle, donald, rumsfeld, consistently, whenever, reconciliatory, prepare, polices, exaggerating, frequently, formerly, portraying, passed, 2005, ripe, 101, resplendent, 1946, understand, looming, menace, knowledgeable, bluster, describing, instantly, catapulted, recognition, place, synonymous, indicated, weakness, curtain, rousing, moscow, inaugurated, diplomats, starkly, respects, immensely, direction, geopolitics, advice, shaped, makers, reviews, senator, carolina, lindsey, campuses, value, young, grew, recycling, environment, brainwashed, buy, embrace, belittle, genuine, science, buying, hoax, wacky, putting, legitimate, immigration, focusing, names, demographics, pass, sane, sadly, errors, cast, validity, pity, written, diverse, topics, ranging, jesus, tomb, atlantis, publisher, holt, blurb, halted, cherish, copy, victoria, zealand, sullied, sloppy, questioned, alas, virtually, fallen, reported, egregious, error, consists, planes, appearances, myself, scratching, having, heard, resources, took, missions, relevant, corliss, astonishingly, duped, admitted, submitted, photographs, letters, proof, mission, commendation, truman, proved, facile, con, articles, shake, gnawing, feeling, wrong, astonished, find, deke, naval, captain, played, designing, gun, type, boy, instrumental, earlier, bled, practicing, occur, precise, twenty, thousand, enola, gay, superb, stephen, walker, replied, exclusion, statement, stanley, harold, classic, experiment, pioneering, origin, discovery, deuterium, nominated, opinion, shockwave, bombings, nagasaki, horrific, singular, historical, retelling, deserves, picked, glue, chair, poetically, clinical, manner, beings, seconds, evaporating, blood, shock, bubbles, mere, train, impressive, big, scale, careful, quietly, didn, helps, disarm, maybe, wryly, reduced, stockpiles, greater, percentage, negotiating, implementation, 2001, removal, existence, yes, cringe, encouraging, pact, dmitry, medvedev, 2200, 1550, reminds, tiny, dramatic, ronald, internet, calling, jokes, blogger, full, toronto, radioactive, exploring, speaking, condition, unauthorized, ridiculed, diagnostics, side, kevin, roark, spokesman, birthplace, despite, rumors, contrary, devising, options, 1996, accord, meant, kinds, rules, alliances, insists, produce, free, seize, abandon, agenda, responsibilities, excuse, seek, strides, whatever, merits, constructive, agreement, conduct, peaceful, conducting, shaking, nevada, norris, historian, successful, explosion, fire, raged, uncontrolled, series, poor, geological, data, location, borehole, succeeded, milo, 2000, paper, lawrence, calif, described, 1981, michael, webber, mechanical, texas, austin, dot, earth, surprised, considering, seemed, unthinkable, sound, surprisingly, appropriate, attractive, tough, generates, temperatures, hotter, surface, sun, turn, acres, porous, glassy, plug, stopper, leaky, bottle, kibbitzers, scores, labs, assist, cap, claiming, prospectors, fires, boreholes, dynamite, destroying, wellhead, plugged, lowering, plastic, pillows, filling, block, squeeze, magnetic, clamps, attach, siphon, leaking, wildest, flood, proposed, bloggers, creative, types, deluged, agencies, company, drilled, phone, messages, unified, overseeing, deepwater, horizon, button, 800, responded, private, risky, unknown, disastrous, consequences, unwise, geopolitically, violate, over, crazy, stephanie, mueller, spokeswoman, department, neither, steven, chu, nor, failure, kill, buzz, grown, loud, felt, compelled, cnn, reporter, roberts, drill, hole, drop, nuke, send, detonate, hopefully, encasing, matt, simmons, houston, investment, banker, bloomberg, news, friday, attributing, fans, failed, stem, leak, setback, wednesday, latest, rescue, stalled, wire, slice, riser, stuck, reportedly, runaway, inserting, letting, melt, surrounding, shut, chatter, began, weeks, armchair, brainstormed, torrent, spilling, couple, days, trailer, champagne, 1986, meeting, within, hairsbreadth, straight, movie, meet, hardly, recognize, squint, ron, destroy, planet, perfect, nada, zilch, stock, lion, belabored, scant, effect, hair, trigger, forces, overwhelm, defenses, offenses, renouncing, overestimate, nixon, biological, 70s, offer, unprecedented, moral, authority, ask, unstable, regimes, act, signify, idealistic, sounds, amid, bickering, keep, traction, swathe, statesmen, parties, compelling, kissinger, perry, latched, address, threatening, truisms, separates, instituted, funding, embarrassingly, estimate, stolen, collapses, secondly, peacefully, body, strictest, safeguards, acquiring, paraphrasing, port, chaos, panic, collapsing, financial, notoriously, smuggling, kilograms, shielding, play, hidden, whopping, 100, entering, finding, kilos, 235, heavily, casing, countless, unimaginably, detectors, intensity, everything, fruits, papers, wood, emit, comparable, ambient, levels, deterrence, apply, stateless, actors, qaeda, accessibility, themselves, orphaned, severed, insecure, barely, padlock, preventing, access, potatoes, guarded, selling, impecunious, laid, lucrative, buck, literally, dozens, smuggle, across, borders, asia, addition, happy, trade, wannabe, jaw, remember, zbigniew, woken, 1500, headed, contemplating, caller, upgraded, 15000, sat, bed, alerting, increases, chances, concerning, examples, regular, loaded, plane, dakota, flown, halfway, noticing, cuban, lesser, dozen, accidentally, dropped, fortunately, pervasive, chilling, heart, stopping, 1995, recounted, russians, mistook, experimental, rocket, norway, codes, hierarchy, convinced, strike, approval, thankfully, drunk, trust, judgment, narrow, brush, protocols, embedded, opportunity, corrective, typically, minutes, decision, increasing, triggering, armageddon, simplest, ludicrous, causes, setting, chip, costing, dollar, palomares, dangers, layman, recently, opened, takes, posed, backdrop, quoted, flimsy, emphasizes, operative, illustrate, showcases, personnel, valerie, plame, harvard, matthew, bunn, allison, tony, blair, woman, slenderest, threads, capable, 1961, though, strong, leadership, terrible, owning, crime, regarding, parochial, leveraged, score, points, elections, underscore, scottish, gil, prevent, cure, believes, treated, anathema, eradicate, health, campaigns, crossed, hostile, mutually, cooperating, sheer, destructive, depoliticized, diseases, sees, instruments, aggression, patriotism, specific, scourge, threatens, irrespective, leanings, eloquent, sophisticated, easier, explosive, susceptible, misunderstanding, bottom, long, truly, reducing, achieve, regard, developments, laws, dictate, worthy, achieving, initiatives, testing, honed, board, singles, australian, butler, canberra, commission, special, praise, prudent, expense, billion, dollars, maintain, stockpile, succinctly, inspections, 1998, unearthed, furnished, documentation
Text of the page (random words):
nium can be almost completely shielded by lead but also because this uranium could be hidden in any one of a whopping 100 000 shipping containers entering the us every single day finding a few kilos of u 235 in a heavily shielded lead casing in one of these countless containers is an unimaginably difficult problem to solve set the detectors on high and one would not detect the low intensity radiation set it on low and one would detect almost everything else including fruits papers and wood which emit comparable ambient levels of radiation if terrorists manage to get past the most difficult step of acquiring nuclear material they can easily build a crude nuclear bomb plus paraphrasing churchill terrorists don t have to do their best they just have to do enough exploding a crude bomb in the port itself would not be what they have in mind but it would still be enough to bring about chaos and panic possibly collapsing the financial and economic system of a country so what can be done to address this life threatening problem one of the biggest truisms about nuclear weapons which separates them from other wmds is that if you don t have uranium or plutonium you cannot build these weapons period thus in theory you completely solve the problem if you secure the material programs for securing material from the former soviet republics have been instituted for years but funding has embarrassingly been a problem plus there is no accurate estimate of how much material may have been stolen after the soviet union collapses securing this material would be the first thing to do secondly countries who want to peacefully pursue atomic energy must be provided nuclear material by an international body under the strictest of safeguards but most importantly there is one almost perfect solution which there is no getting around reduce the nuclear arsenals of the world to zero nada zilch there is no doubt that the us and russia which still stock the lion s share of nukes should take the lead a point which has been belabored often to scant effect this should especially be ludicrously easy for the us which still has thousands of nukes on hair trigger alert and which has conventional forces that could easily overwhelm any other country s defenses and offenses if there is one country that does not need any nuclear weapons it s the us followed by russia the psychological impact of the us renouncing every single nuclear weapon would be hard to overestimate nixon did it with chemical and biological weapons in the 70s it would be tremendous and would offer the us an unprecedented moral authority to ask others to do the same while it may not be easy for countries like india and israel which share extensive boundaries with unstable and dangerous regimes such an act will signify huge potential this was a dream that president reagan often talked about as idealistic as it sounds it should be feasible at least for the us most refreshingly amid all the partisan bickering that we keep hearing about such an initiative has gained traction with a wide swathe of influential statesmen from both parties in a compelling document last year several former highly influential bipartisan officials like henry kissinger george schultz william perry and sam nunn called for the abolishment of nuclear weapons president obama has latched on to this dream it remains to be seen what he actually does about it as jfk said in his speech the weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us in 1986 during the very promising reykjavik meeting when reagan and gorbachev came within a hairsbreadth of getting rid of all nuclear weapons reagan told gorbachev about a dream that seems straight out of a movie he said that once the world has decided to get rid of all nuclear weapons he and gorbachev would meet again in reykjavik each holding the last nuclear missile in their hands they would both be so old that they would hardly recognize each other gorbachev would squint at reagan and say ron is that you and reagan would say mikhail and then they would both destroy the last two nuclear bombs on the planet and the whole world would have a giant party we will have the champagne ready trailer posted in uncategorized leave a comment where s edward teller when you need him june 3 2010 this just caught my eye i had thought of exactly the same thing a couple of days back the chatter began weeks ago as armchair engineers brainstormed for ways to stop the torrent of oil spilling into the gulf of mexico what about nuking the well decades ago the soviet union reportedly used nuclear blasts to successfully seal off runaway gas wells inserting a bomb deep underground and letting its fiery heat melt the surrounding rock to shut off the flow why not try it here the idea has gained fans with each failed attempt to stem the leak and each new setback on wednesday the latest rescue effort stalled when a wire saw being used to slice through the riser pipe got stuck probably the only thing we can do is create a weapon system and send it down 18 000 feet and detonate it hopefully encasing the oil matt simmons a houston energy expert and investment banker told bloomberg news on friday attributing the nuclear idea to all the best scientists or as the cnn reporter john roberts suggested last week drill a hole drop a nuke in and seal up the well this week with the failure of the top kill attempt the buzz had grown loud enough that federal officials felt compelled to respond stephanie mueller a spokeswoman for the energy department said that neither energy secretary steven chu nor anyone else was thinking about a nuclear blast under the gulf the nuclear option was not and never had been on the table federal officials said it s crazy one senior official said government and private nuclear experts agreed that using a nuclear bomb would be not only risky technically with unknown and possibly disastrous consequences from radiation but also unwise geopolitically it would violate arms treaties that the united states has signed and championed over the decades and do so at a time when president obama is pushing for global nuclear disarmament the atomic option is perhaps the wildest among a flood of ideas proposed by bloggers scientists and other creative types who have deluged government agencies and bp the company that drilled the well with phone calls and e mail messages the unified command overseeing the deepwater horizon disaster features a suggestions button on its official web site and more than 7 800 people have already responded according to the site among the suggestions lowering giant plastic pillows to the seafloor and filling them with oil dropping a huge block of concrete to squeeze off the flow and using magnetic clamps to attach pipes that would siphon off the leaking oil some have also suggested conventional explosives claiming that oil prospectors on land have used such blasts to put out fires and seal boreholes but oil engineers say that dynamite or other conventional explosives risk destroying the wellhead so that the flow could never be plugged from the top along with the kibbitzers the government has also brought in experts from around the world including scores of scientists from the los alamos national laboratory and other government labs to assist in the effort to cap the well in theory the nuclear option seems attractive because the extreme heat might create a tough seal an exploding atom bomb generates temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun and detonated underground can turn acres of porous rock into a glassy plug much like a huge stopper in a leaky bottle michael e webber a mechanical engineer at the university of texas austin wrote to dot earth a new york times blog in early may that he had surprised himself by considering what once seemed unthinkable seafloor nuclear detonation he wrote is starting to sound surprisingly feasible and appropriate much of the enthusiasm for an atomic approach is based on reports that the soviet union succeeded in using nuclear blasts to seal off gas wells milo d nordyke in a 2000 technical paper for the lawrence livermore national laboratory in livermore calif described five soviet blasts from 1966 to 1981 all but the last blast were successful the 1966 explosion put out a gas well fire that had raged uncontrolled for three years but the last blast of the series mr nordyke wrote did not seal the well perhaps because the nuclear engineers had poor geological data on the exact location of the borehole robert s norris author of racing for the bomb and an atomic historian noted that all the soviet blasts were on land and never involved oil whatever the technical merits of using nuclear explosions for constructive purposes the end of the cold war brought wide agreement among nations to give up the conduct of all nuclear blasts even for peaceful purposes the united states after conducting more than 1 000 nuclear test explosions detonated the last one in 1992 shaking the ground at the nevada test site in 1996 the united states championed the comprehensive test ban treaty a global accord meant to end the development of new kinds of nuclear arms president obama is pushing for new global rules treaties and alliances that he insists can go much further to produce a nuclear free world for his administration to seize on a nuclear solution for the gulf crisis officials say would abandon its international agenda and responsibilities and give rogue states an excuse to seek nuclear strides kevin roark a spokesman for los alamos in new mexico the birthplace of the atomic bomb said that despite rumors to the contrary none of the laboratory s thousands of experts was devising nuclear options for the gulf nothing of the sort is going on here he said in an interview in fact we re not working on any intervention ideas at all we re providing diagnostics and other support but nothing on the intervention side a senior los alamos scientist speaking on the condition of anonymity because his comments were unauthorized ridiculed the idea of using a nuclear blast to solve the crisis in the gulf it s not going to happen he said technically it would be exploring new ground in the midst of a disaster and you might make it worse not everyone on the internet is calling for nuking the well some are making jokes what s worse than an oil spill asked a blogger on full comment a blog of the national post in toronto a radioactive oil spill posted in uncategorized 2 comments obama should be much more like george h w bush april 8 2010 yes the comparison would probably make him cringe but freeman dyson makes an interesting and accurate observation in an interview obama just signed an encouraging pact with russian president dmitry medvedev that would reduce the number of strategic nukes from 2200 to 1550 yet dyson reminds us that this is a tiny step compared to the past he notes that the two presidents most responsible for dramatic arms reductions were both republican ronald reagan and george h w bush hw especially reduced nuclear weapons stockpiles by a greater percentage than any other president he was responsible for negotiating the start treaty with the soviet union which remains the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 percent of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence as dyson notes for all the enthusiasm on the left obama is actually doing much less than both reagan and bush and needs to do much more to reduce nukes maybe as dyson wryly says one needs to be a right wing republican to get rid of nuclear weapons dyson well he should be doing much more i mean this is i like obama and i like what he is doing but this is not at all impressive george bush sr did far more i mean george bush sr got rid more than half of our nuclear weapons just like that he was the one who really got rid of nuclear weapons on a big scale but george bush sr was careful because he was a republican he did it very quietly he didn t want to have his name associated with that but he got it done of course with obama it s sort of the opposite that he would like to get the credit for it but he is not really doing it and so it s i think he should be doing far more and i hope he will but he is in a much more difficult position it helps to be a right wing republican if you want to disarm posted in uncategorized tags disarmament leave a comment a promising book falls apart march 16 2010 the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki were such horrific and singular historical events that any new retelling of them deserves to be read seriously it was with such thoughts that i picked up charles pellegrino s the last train from hiroshima the first few pages were enough to glue me to my chair in an almost poetically clinical manner mr pellegrino describes the effects of the bomb on human beings in the first few seconds after the detonation his accounts of people evaporating and the iron in their blood separating while their friends who were protected in shock bubbles that were mere feet away were absolutely riveting yet in spite of this promising start i could not shake off the gnawing feeling that something was wrong for instance i have read my fair share of atomic history and so i was astonished to not find absolutely any mention of william deke parsons in the book parsons was a physicist and naval captain who played a part in designing the gun type little boy and was instrumental in arming the hiroshima bomb on flight earlier his hands had almost bled from practicing the arming which had to occur at a precise given time twenty five thousand feet up in the air on the enola gay there is a superb account of him in stephen walker s shockwave countdown to hiroshima in response to a comment i made on amazon mr pellegrino replied that he did not mention parsons simply because he has already been part of so many accounts which to me does not seem a good enough reason for the exclusion apart from this omission i also noted mr pellegrino s statement that stanley miller and his advisor harold urey won a nobel prize for their classic experiment pioneering origin of life research urey won a nobel but for his discovery of deuterium miller was nominated for the prize a few times and in my opinion should have won it alas the riveting start of the book and the author s accounts have now virtually fallen apart in two new york times articles it has been reported that the most egregious error in the book consists of the story of one joseph fuoco who was supposed to be on one of the planes mr fuoco makes several appearances in the book and i had found myself scratching my head when i read his accounts having never heard of him before the new york times and other resources discovered that mr fuoco never took part in the bombing missions instead the relevant man is one charles corliss who has not been mentioned in the book astonishingly mr fuoco se...
|
