Christopher Campbell wrote:
The W-48 155mm nuclear artillery round is 34" long and weighs about 110 lbs.
It could fit diagonally in a large suitcase,

errrr no it woudldn't. Typical size of a suitcase (and the one claimed by
Lebed) is 24x16x8". And it would take two-three people to carry such
suitcase (depending on the required distance). And that's an every day sight
on the street or airport, right? Three people carying ONE briefcase - it
really doesn't look suspicus at all! By omitting the shielding, your device
will trigger the most cheapest toy radiation sensor (not to mention the
sophisticated ones that would detect you long before you even get into
plane).

The relatively short halflife of Pu239 means that a large amount of energy
is emitted through radioactive decay. The Pu239 produces about 2 watt/kg.
That's why a piece of Pu239 is warm. If you would use "Lebed's suitcase"
design with only Pu and explosive, the temperature of suitcase would rise
from room temperature to the boiling point of water in less than two hours.
(And to the alpha-beta transition point soon after). I guess they deliver
you "Lebed's refrigerator" for FREE of charge when you buy "Lebed's suitcase
nuke". Or maybe the suitcase has a built *large* cooler and a fan on the
outside, making it look like a large scale model of a cpu with intel sticker
on it - while 3 people carry it around the airport.

The Soviets claimed to have built prototype suitcase weapons 20cm thick. A

Do you have some relevant document/reference that proves this? It's getting
pretty annoying with stroies of "suitcase nukes", "aliens in area 51" and
"We were not on the Moon" conspiracies. (No hard feelings)