From: gisin@uniserve.com   
      
   "Ernie Stye"  wrote in message   
   news:L-udneEgTK_gI3PVnZ2dnUVZ_tCdnZ2d@giganews.com...   
   >   
   > "The Wise One"  wrote in message news   
   gciibd$hab$1@aioe.org...   
   >> Shoppers accidentally buy nuclear waste   
      
   >> Three residents of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's Aksu city   
   mistakenly purchased and   
   >> brought home nuclear waste.   
   >>   
   >> In August 2006, the three men - one of whom is surnamed Liu, while the   
   other two are surnamed   
   >> Wang - purchased a glittering "treasure" for $2,000 in Kyrgyzstan. They   
   brought it back to   
   >> Xinjiang, hoping to make a fortune by selling it.   
   >>   
   >> Because they knew nothing about the 274-kg stone, they sliced off a piece   
   to bring to Beijing   
   >> for expert analysis last January.   
   >>   
   >> Last September, geologists at Tsinghua University concluded it was depleted   
   uranium and called   
   >> police.   
   >>   
   >> Prosecutors in Aksu decided against arresting the men, because they   
   obviously had no idea what   
   >> they had purchased. The men have undergone medical examinations and appear   
   to be in good health.   
   >   
   >   
   > The strangest thing about that story is, uranium doesn't glitter.  It looks   
   about like lead.   
      
   Correct, but even heavier than lead.   
      
   The major flaw is calling it "nuclear waste". Uranium is completely natural.   
   Depleted uranium is the left over U238 after you extract the valuable U235.   
   U238 is less radioactive than natural U, 20X less radioactive than yellowcake   
   ore.   
   Doesn't stop the paranoid schizos from claiming it causes Gulf War Syndrome   
   and other evils.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)