
Turkish police seize 1.4 kg of radioactive californium in Ankara - Thorondor
https://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2018/03/19/turkish-police-seize-radioactive-californium-element-in-ankara
======
thisisforyou
Article mentions seizure of red mercury
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury))
which suggests that either the writer is incredibly misinformed or this is an
intentional disinfo piece.

~~~
Erlangolem
_Everything_ in the article suggests that it’s either moronic clickbait (FB
tier) or disinformation.

Implausible amounts of Californium, nonsense about red mercury, the bit about
Al... it reeks.

~~~
Thorondor
I'm also pretty skeptical about this story to be honest, but FWIW it was
repeated by the BBC. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
europe-43463195](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43463195) The link I
submitted is the nearest I can find to an original source.

The truth is probably either that a smaller amount of californium was seized
(possibly 1.4g) or the californium was part of a 1.4kg assembly including some
other elements.

~~~
Erlangolem
1.4 grams would be more than 4 years total world production.

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jsjohnst
> radioactive Californium element worth $70 million

> with a worth of approximately $4 million per gram.

> The amount of seized Californium was reported as 1.441 kilograms.

I realize this isn’t the important part of the article, but did the writer
really not notice how bad they failed at basic math?

1,441 * $4M = ~$5.8 _billion_

~~~
ax0ar
Thanks for pointing this out, I'm from the Daily Sabah team and asked the
editor of the article to make sure the numbers aren't off. The legit price of
it is $4m/g, but apparently the guys were going to sell it for $70m on the
black market. The article will be clarified.

~~~
Erlangolem
Some other issues...

Red mercury doesn’t exist.

Californium isn’t used in nuclear warheads, it’s a neutron source with a short
half-life. As such it can be used to startup a reactor, or more typically in
neutron diffraction spectroscopy.

1.4 kilos of Califorium? No.

 _Microgram quantities of californium-252 are available for commercial use
through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.[50] Only two sites produce
californium-252: the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, and
the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Russia. As of 2003,
the two sites produce 0.25 grams and 0.025 grams of californium-252 per year,
respectively.[54]_

High purity aluminum is not controlled, is used in aerospace and electronics,
and while it would have applications in enriching Uranium, so do concrete and
steel.

The entire article is a farce.

~~~
eesmith
To add to that, [https://www.metalary.com/californium-
price/](https://www.metalary.com/californium-price/) says "Since the discovery
of californium in 1950, scientists have only succeeded in producing just 8
grams of californium-252."

Wikipedia has a picture of the 50 ton container used to transport up to 1 gram
of californium-252 safely, at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californium#/media/File:CfShie...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californium#/media/File:CfShield.JPG)
.

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woliveirajr
> with a worth of approximately $4 million per gram > The amount of seized
> Californium was reported as 1.441 kilograms. > The suspects reportedly
> agreed to sell the element for $72 million.

Seems that some value is off. It should be worth $5,764 million. Selling
something that worths $5 billion for just $72 million is a big discount.

~~~
cobbzilla
I am guessing it's like "drug bust" numbers where they take the highest market
price for a small amount, then multiply it by what they seized, ignoring the
fact that larger size lots can have a much lower unit cost.

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zyztem
Hard to believe. Worldwide production of Californium is just a few milligrams
per year.

~~~
Analemma_
With most of that coming from Oak Ridge, where the resulting distribution is
intensely scrutinized by the NRC. This is bull.

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chomp
>In 2016, police seized 13 nuggets of pure aluminum, a material used in
nuclear energy production.

Anyone know more about this? I have pure aluminum in my pantry at home.

~~~
douchescript
[https://www.google.se/amp/s/www.dailysabah.com/investigation...](https://www.google.se/amp/s/www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2016/02/11/man-
in-possession-of-nuclear-material-destined-for-iran-detained/amp)

