

Is your city prepared for a home-made nuke? - winanga
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327163.900-is-your-city-prepared-for-a-homemade-nuke.html?full=true

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lutorm
I mean yeah, it's good to be prepared, but given how much money would be
thrown at every town preparing for a nuclear attack that could happen with
some very low probability, I can't but think that if we want to save peoples
lives the money could be better invested in things like reducing traffic
accidents, accidental gunshot wounds, obesity, cancer or any number of things
that kill that many people every couple of years.

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EvanK
Nuclear technology is not something you can just build in your garage. You
can't just download the specs off the internet, pick up some plutonium and
cooling rods at the Home Depot, and do it over the weekend. It requires an
immense amount of knowledge and skill that can't be easily acquired, and
billions of dollars of specialized equipment and raw materials.

No one short of a sovereign nation has the resources to even _potentially_
acquire a nuke. And no sovereign nation would attack another nation with a
nuke, because the backlash would far outweigh any gains. Even Kim Jong Il
realizes this, and he's about as mentally unstable as leaders get.

