this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2026
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No idea what this is
It's a supercritical mass of plutonium. It's separated barely enough to avert catastrophe. It was brought together to take a photo demonstrating the plutonium facility's productivity.
more specifically the pieces aren’t secured and some are leaning against something, unsecured.
So if one was brushed it wouldn’t be held in place and could roll and then touch one of the others making the big blue flash of everyone dies painfully
lol quit worrying I I have a flat screwdriver
Well, that does it.
True, if by everybody you mean the people in the room.
Really? I though plutonium had to have a specific ignition process, at least for full fission. The first method I believe was to have explosives on five sides of it and detonate them all at the exact moment that imploded it somehow, I hear tell they do it different for the longest time now.
What is critical mass with plutonium? I think Uranium is like around 3 kilos.
Just mass and geometry will do it. Critical mass for a sphere is about 10kg. This photo contains much more than 10kg tho. It doesn't need to be a sphere to go critical, it just needs the right geometry of the right mass. It won't be an atomic explosion like a bomb going off, but it will generate a burst of neutron radiation, gamma, and heat that will blow the geometry apart. The plutonium rods will be fine but anyone nearby will be as far from fine as it is possible to be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core
not ignition, just supercritical, producing so much radiation it makes a glow.
A glow that encourages the organs of anyone nearby to slowly, painfully turn to liquid.
Um.
Supercritical? No it's just sitting there.