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Jim_from_GA t1_itkylva wrote

The point of a dirty bomb is that you don't need to refine the Uranium, just blow the junk into smithereens and let people deal with radioactive fallout. The big benefit of using Chernobyl or any other Ukrainian sourced waste is that the signature will certainly be traceable to Ukraine. If they used Russian waste, there is a chance that it could be pegged to Mother Russia.

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mysticalfruit t1_itkzoc7 wrote

By refining I meant to extracting the dust particles from the soil around chernobyl.

Just picking up 2 tons of dirt around chernobyl wouldn't do much.

Unfueling a reactor and then using explosives to turn it into mist would be bad.

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Jim_from_GA t1_itpp70m wrote

If it were me, I would not waste my time with either of those approaches. I would either get some highly contaminated piece of equipment that had been used near the core or an actual spent fuel rod from the cooling basin and use that. Either choice would provide what is needed without nearly the work at the level that you are thinking.

Either way, yes, it sounds like I overread your initial post.

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