• skisnow@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 day ago

    I’m fairly sure that “spin up a piece of uranium ore” is covering a ton of stuff that you’d have to Google (and possibly get put on a list for).

    • Pika@rekabu.ru
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      24 hours ago

      Sure enough, that would help to make it much better and more reliable, but overall, this is really all you need. Centrifuge that thing, try not to die, and you’ll have a basic nuclear fuel.

      Now, to make a good nuclear fuel in large quantity, let alone make weapon-grade uranium most folks are actually concerned about, you need a much better machinery, and this is what three-letter agencies are on the lookout for.

      To put into perspective how easy it is to start a “just to make a point” nuclear fission if you have uranium available: there are signs that some natural uranium deposits effectively served as nuclear reactors, generating up to 100kW of heat.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

      • skisnow@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        15 hours ago

        this is really all you need. Centrifuge that thing

        See that just makes me think you’re imagining tossing a rock into a spinny thing, which I’m fairly sure isn’t right. You need to do something to make it gaseous first, but I’ve no idea what.

        • Allero@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          10 hours ago

          No, obviously it’s not THAT easy. But, again, can be done.

          Gaseous uranium hexafluoride is obtained through sublimation at conditions that are reachable with old tech.

          And overall, even natural uranium can be used, you’ll just need a lot of it and it won’t cause a chain reaction, but rather a set of small individual reactions. But the water will heat up somewhat. Also, you don’t necessarily have to go with uranium specifically if you’re not sure you’ll make it work.

          • skisnow@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            9 hours ago

            Gaseous uranium hexafluoride is obtained through sublimation at conditions that are reachable with old tech.

            Either you googled that, or your level of knowledge is very much not representative of most people’s. Either way it doesn’t meet the implicit conditions of the meme.

            • Pika@rekabu.ru
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              9 hours ago

              Fair enough. But then again, we went way too far from the meme :)

              Plenty of people could make at least small amounts of electricity given respective resources, if they remember anything from school.

              E=mc2 will require a bit more involvement. But it can be worked out.