Article mentions seizure of 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.
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 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.
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.
You might also want to ask them to change the way red mercury is referred to near the end, as its existence is generally believed to be a hoax[1]. Charles Stross actually wrote a fun short story that uses references it[2].
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.
To add to that, 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."
I suppose there will be a major markdown from this coming from the black market. It's not like a new TV in that it can be easily explained away. I can't imagine trying to bluff where I got >$1Bn worth of radioactive material.
I would also think the lack of accounting and paper trail would limit it's uses.
Also holding onto this material would be expensive and potentially dangerous (especially if it was being looked for), which I imagine would lead them to take a lower than market price.
Right, but the wording of the article said “worth $70M” then went on to describe the worth as something different. I’m not disputing the amounts (even though all of it seems suspect), just pointing out that they aren’t in agreement with each other.
> 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.
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.
