Cobalt

Hello,
from reading in the threads relating to nuclear war in the '80s, they
mention "cobalt weapons". Can anyone explain what these are? I very vaguely
remember a mention to them a book once but have no real idea.
cheers
dan

"Dan Welch" wrote in message
...
Hello,
from reading in the threads relating to nuclear war in the '80s, they
mention "cobalt weapons". Can anyone explain what these are? I very
vaguely
remember a mention to them a book once but have no real idea.
cheers
dan



The theory is that if you put a cobalt sheath around a nuclear
weapon you get lots of rather nasy cobalt 60 in the
fallout zone. The doomsday merchants would have you believe this
could wipe out all life on earth. The reality is nasty to be sure
but not quite that bad.

Keith

thanks Keith. I take it Co-60 is particularly nasty. I didn't know if the
whole idea of Cobalt bombs was enhanced blast, radiation, etc.
Were Co-60 weapons developed / deployed?

Cheers
dan

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"Dan Welch" wrote in message
...
Hello,
from reading in the threads relating to nuclear war in the '80s, they
mention "cobalt weapons". Can anyone explain what these are? I very
vaguely
remember a mention to them a book once but have no real idea.
cheers
dan



The theory is that if you put a cobalt sheath around a nuclear
weapon you get lots of rather nasy cobalt 60 in the
fallout zone. The doomsday merchants would have you believe this
could wipe out all life on earth. The reality is nasty to be sure
but not quite that bad.

Keith

"Dan Welch" wrote in news:3fd7c4ad$1_2@mk-nntp-
1.news.uk.worldonline.com:

thanks Keith. I take it Co-60 is particularly nasty. I didn't know if the
whole idea of Cobalt bombs was enhanced blast, radiation, etc.
Were Co-60 weapons developed / deployed?

Cheers
dan

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"Dan Welch" wrote in message
...
Hello,
from reading in the threads relating to nuclear war in the '80s, they
mention "cobalt weapons". Can anyone explain what these are? I very
vaguely
remember a mention to them a book once but have no real idea.
cheers
dan



The theory is that if you put a cobalt sheath around a nuclear
weapon you get lots of rather nasy cobalt 60 in the
fallout zone. The doomsday merchants would have you believe this
could wipe out all life on earth. The reality is nasty to be sure
but not quite that bad.

Keith






Cobalt bombs were to be extremely DIRTY enhanced-fallout bombs,Cobalt-60
being a hi-level radioactivity isotope. I don't know what the half-life is
for it,though. Reasonably long,I suppose.

It's used for food irradiation sources in the US.

--
Jim Yanik,NRA member
jyanik-at-kua.net

"Jim Yanik" wrote:
| "Dan Welch" wrote in
news:3fd7c4ad$1_2@mk-nntp-
| 1.news.uk.worldonline.com:
|
| thanks Keith. I take it Co-60 is particularly nasty. I didn't know
if the
| whole idea of Cobalt bombs was enhanced blast, radiation, etc.
| Were Co-60 weapons developed / deployed?
|
| Cheers
| dan
|
| "Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
| ...
|
| "Dan Welch" wrote in message
| ...
| Hello,
| from reading in the threads relating to nuclear war in the '80s,
they
| mention "cobalt weapons". Can anyone explain what these are? I
very
| vaguely
| remember a mention to them a book once but have no real idea.
| cheers
| dan
|
|
|
| The theory is that if you put a cobalt sheath around a nuclear
| weapon you get lots of rather nasy cobalt 60 in the
| fallout zone. The doomsday merchants would have you believe this
| could wipe out all life on earth. The reality is nasty to be sure
| but not quite that bad.
|
| Keith
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Cobalt bombs were to be extremely DIRTY enhanced-fallout
bombs,Cobalt-60
| being a hi-level radioactivity isotope. I don't know what the
half-life is
| for it,though. Reasonably long,I suppose.
|
| It's used for food irradiation sources in the US.

And the original "cobalt bomb" was a cancer radiotherapy device.

http://www.usask.ca/research/news/994316710.shtml

In article ,
Jim Yanik wrote:

Cobalt bombs were to be extremely DIRTY enhanced-fallout bombs,Cobalt-60
being a hi-level radioactivity isotope. I don't know what the half-life is
for it,though. Reasonably long,I suppose.

A little over five years, which makes for a very nasty fallout pattern.

The thing is, you would have needed a *lot* of cobalt bombs to kill (or
even seriously harm) all life on Earth. Outside of prompt fallout
patterns, you wouldn't see a lot of cobalt-60 contamination (the jacket
of cobalt would have been pretty inefficient at making the -60 isotope).

Basically, every Soviet warhead would have had to have been coated with
a hundred pounds or so of cobalt, and that was never going to happen.

You couldn't get a single bomb to vaporize enough cobalt, either, even
in the 100 megaton range.

Due to the way weather patterns work, the southern hemisphere would have
been mostly spared, too - you don't get a lot of mixing between north
and south.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

You will find the first part of this interview with John Burns (NY
Times) relevant to cobalt-60:
http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml...ate=11/25/2003


"Dan Welch" wrote in message ...
Hello,
from reading in the threads relating to nuclear war in the '80s, they
mention "cobalt weapons". Can anyone explain what these are? I very vaguely
remember a mention to them a book once but have no real idea.
cheers
dan

In article ,
"Dan Welch" wrote:

thanks Keith. I take it Co-60 is particularly nasty. I didn't know if the
whole idea of Cobalt bombs was enhanced blast, radiation, etc.

Enhanced fallout, mainly.

Co60 is a gamma and beta emitter, with a half-life of about 5 years;
pretty hot, and if ingested will dump most of its load during the
ingestees normal life, assuming a sublethal dose.

It's used for some medical applications.

Jim Yanik wrote:

"Dan Welch" wrote in news:3fd7c4ad$1_2@mk-nntp-
1.news.uk.worldonline.com:

The theory is that if you put a cobalt sheath around a nuclear
weapon you get lots of rather nasy cobalt 60 in the
fallout zone. The doomsday merchants would have you believe this
could wipe out all life on earth. The reality is nasty to be sure
but not quite that bad.

Keith

Cobalt bombs were to be extremely DIRTY enhanced-fallout bombs,Cobalt-60
being a hi-level radioactivity isotope. I don't know what the half-life is
for it,though. Reasonably long,I suppose.

According to
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/resourc...pdf/cobalt.pdf, 5.2 years.

See also http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...1111.Ph.r.html
for the potential effects of Goldfinger's fictional, but quite nasty,
cobalt/iodine weapon on the contents of Fort Knox, KY.

/------------------------------------------------------------\
| George Ruch |
| "Is there life in Clovis after Clovis Man?" |
\------------------------------------------------------------/

It's used for food irradiation sources in the US.

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message ...
"Dan Welch" wrote in message
...
Hello,
from reading in the threads relating to nuclear war in the '80s, they
mention "cobalt weapons". Can anyone explain what these are? I very
vaguely
remember a mention to them a book once but have no real idea.
cheers
dan


http://thomasmc.com/0828a.htm

Here's some info you might find useful, Keith Willshaw notwithstanding...

Rob