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| Europe | ||||
| Ukraine Says It Seized 'Red Mercury' | ||||
| 2004-05-17 | ||||
KIEV, Ukraine - Ukrainian security officers have arrested two Middle Eastern men whom they said possessed a substance that has been touted by sellers as an ingredient in nuclear weapons and dismissed by others as a hoax. Security agents in the southern city of Odessa seized 24 pounds of a substance they said was radioactive and identified as "red mercury," a State Security Service spokesman said Monday on condition of anonymity. He said they arrested two men from a Middle Eastern country,
"Foreign citizens were looking for an opportunity to purchase a quantity of radioactive material in Ukraine and to sell it in the Middle East," said the spokesman, who would not say what country the men were from or where the material came from. He said the arrests were made several weeks ago. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, black marketeers have been peddling substances they call red mercury, apparently passing it off to buyers as a highly radioactive compound that purportedly was developed in Soviet nuclear facilities and could be used in powerful weapons.
Samples that have turned up in Europe have proved to be bogus, however, and many scientists and law enforcement officials say the substance does not exist or is far less potentially dangerous than it has been made out to be.
Still, the Ukrainian statement appeared likely to add to concerns that terrorists have been seeking to acquire radioactive substances in the former Soviet Union.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #13 Just so long as they don't get a hold of green kryptonite. |
| Posted by: A Jackson 2004-05-17 9:52:01 PM |
| #12 Only way to get Red Mercury is through a cold fusion array. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-17 7:20:36 PM |
| #11 Red Mercury Perhaps this link will be of help from chemistry.about.com |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-17 5:36:47 PM |
| #10 I'd heard of Red Mercury as part of a sting operation about 15 years ago. Perhaps the term has been reused in recent years? |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-05-17 5:21:18 PM |
| #9 "Google's Sci.Chem group has had a lively ongoing discussion about the possiblity of a" Whoever wrote this originally seem that think Sci.chem belongs to Google. Usenet != Google. Google just archives Usenet posts. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-05-17 3:53:12 PM |
| #8 My hypothesis concerning the utilisation of this substance as an agent for cold fission relies on two mechanisms. One is muon induced atomic fission (initiated by cosmic radiation) and the other is a neutron cascade due to the neutron mirror effect of mercuric ions trapped between antimony and lead atoms at temperatures in excess of mercury's normal boiling point. The analogy between the densification of tinted lead in the (so-called) alchemical gold and that of mercury, amalgamated in a 5 MW reactor with the pyro-antimonate, also represents an important condition for and strong constraint upon this hypothesis. It is the point at which RM and PS become crucially codependant on each other's existence. If the one never existed then, in all likelihood, the other never can. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-05-17 2:53:04 PM |
| #7 Red Mercury - Hoax, Scam or a breakthrough in nuclear physics. You decide. |
| Posted by: Lux 2004-05-17 2:47:08 PM |
| #6 A Ballotechnic Mercury Compound Presumably red in color. Ballotechnics are substances which react very energetically in response to high-pressure shock compression. Google's Sci.Chem group has had a lively ongoing discussion about the possiblity of a an explosive form of mercury antimony oxide. According to some reports, red mercury is a cherry red semi-liquid which is produced by irradiating elemental mercury with mercury antimony oxide in a Russian nuclear reactor. Some people think that red mercury is so explosive that it can be used to trigger a fusion reaction in tritium or deuterium-tritium mixture. Pure fusion devices don't require fissionable material, so it's easier to get the materials needed to make one and easier to transport said materials from one place to another. Other reports refer to a documentary in which is was possible to read a report on Hg2Sb207, in which the compound had a density of 20.20 Kg/dm3 (!). Personally, I find it plausible that mercury antimony oxide, as a low density (nonradioactive?) powder, may be of interest as a ballotechnic material. The high-density material seems unlikely. It would also seem unreasonably dangerous (to the maker) to use a ballotechnic material in a fusion device. One intriguing source mentions a liquid explosive, HgSbO, made by Du Pont laboratories and listed in the international chemical register as number 20720-76-7. Anyone care to look it up? If contaminated during the irradiation process, it may be useful as a radiological bomb component. Beyond that, it sounds more like a scam. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-05-17 2:46:41 PM |
| #5 Well, this "Red Mercury" could be moderately radioactive slag, and still be hazardous to human life. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-05-17 2:42:35 PM |
| #4 24lbs of Freddy Mercury? Did al-Zaqawi cut off his head too? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-17 2:34:22 PM |
| #3 LOL RC 24 lbs. of Freddy Mercury? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-17 2:22:05 PM |
| #2 "No, no, we said Freddy Mercury." |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-17 2:17:30 PM |
| #1 Jeez. I've seen the rumors, too. If someone got 24 pounds of that stuff, it's extremely worrying. (If it exists.) Does anyone remember a story about Ukranians seizing some tritium a couple weeks back? I wonder if it's related. |
| Posted by: Pete Stanley 2004-05-17 2:09:24 PM |