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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

The Sarcophagus

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Jean-Pierre Lajoie and his team considered themselves lucky. Although a radiation detection system for the highways and railways of France had been proposed some years ago, a paper describing such a system had been published in the United States in 2008, the cost of such a system had been considered prohibitive.

Luckily for Lajoie, a prototype system had been deployed around a number of French ports, mostly along the Mediterranean, in early 2025. It had worked during testing, up to a point. The scientists had noted that the radiation which could be detected had to be at very high levels. So high that whoever was transporting the material wouldn't survive the exposure for more than a few days.

But the system had been left in place as top government and private labs worked on a system which could detect much lower levels of radiation. But, as one scientist quipped, "We don't want it so sensitive that an older watch with tritium or radium won't set it off." What was in place worked, but only if a strong source was presented.

That had happened on a wet afternoon in late September when the system had sent out an alarm as a train had passed out of Marseille, northbound to Paris.

Maxime Lemaigre had studied the data from the sensors and had shaken his head, "This is enriched uranium, it has to be. Whatever someone used to shield it has broken down or has degraded in some way."

That's when Lajoie and his team had been dispatched. Six boxcars had been detached from the train and had been shuttled to a nearby siding and placed in a maintenance barn. Lajoie knew that the shielding from that barn would be inadequate and had told the government so. Of course, they didn't believe him.

So Louis Bonnot of the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN)¹ had been sent. When he arrived and talked with Lajoie, then taken his own measurements, he immediately phoned his superiors at ASN.

"Sir, this thing is throwing off lots of radiation, it would be suicide to approach it in order to determine what it is. My guess is that it's a uranium bomb. I will know more once the data analysts at ASN have had a chance to run the data through our computers. But from what I've been told, and where this crate came from, it almost certainly is an old Soviet tactical nuclear weapon."

Bonnot listened for a few moments, then spoke again. "It will be difficult enough decontaminating this place where it sits now, not to mention the 15 kilometers of track leading back to Marseille. Sir, this is a major incident. Somehow we must get this device far away from here. No Sir, I don't know how."

After a few more moments listening now to the Director of ASN, Bonnot simply said, "That's only a stopgap solution, Sir. But better than none."

Hubert Dufresne watched as his boss turned to him, Bonnot shook his head, "We need to seal this off for now, Hubert."

"How much, chef?"

"The entire barn, the military is flying in security for the site and ASN is trying to find enough material to build a sarcophagus over the barn. Much like the Soviets did at Chernobyl."

"That will cost millions of Euros!" Dufresne exclaimed.

"Yes, but for some reason the Director thinks he knows a source to fund the project."

"Really?"

"Don't ask me Hubert, I only work here."


President Nakagawa called Bill Aspinall into the office, he had told everyone to leave while he took a phone call.

"Who was that, Sir?"

Nakagawa looked ill, but he answered quickly enough, "That was the French President and his Prime Minister, they believe they have located the second bomb."

"Where?"

"On a railroad siding about ten miles north of Marseille. Seems the French have a partial nuclear detection system around their major Mediterranean ports."

"I thought that they were only able to detect a serious level of ..."

"Seems the crate the weapon was in was dropped in Marseille after being taken off a ship. Apparently whatever shielding was around the weapon has been compromised. It's leaking badly. One French dock worker has already died, three others are in critical condition."

"Damn, what did they do, lick the f**king crate?" Aspinall knew a bit about the subject.

"Apparently some highly radioactive bits of rust came out of the crate, it's believed the first man might have inhaled some of the dust from that. The others got sick from handling the cleanup."

"Damn. What are the French going to do?"

"Something along the lines of what was done at Chernobyl, President Beaugendre has ordered that task to be done immediately. The site is being evacuated for a distance of five miles around."

"Jesus, that's going to cost a lot of money!" Aspinall noted.

Nakagawa nodded, then said, "I let the French in on our little problem in Zürich. The cabal and how it's probably their weapon that the French intercepted."

"Ah Sir, that information is highly classified ..." then Aspinall stopped himself, the President was the man who made that call. He could determine who had a need to know and who didn't. Heck, if he wanted to the President could have the whole thing printed out on flyers and posted on telephone poles around DC.

"Yep, I classified it Bill. But Prime Minister Girardot had a brilliant suggestion, make the cabal pay for the cleanup. After all, it's their mess."

"And how would we make them do that?"

"Well, as Girardot put it, clean up the mess, or be shot. After being tortured."

Aspinall grimaced, "Wasn't Jean Girardot a French para?"

"He was indeed, he was indeed."

"What about the Swiss government?" Aspinall knew how tight-fisted Swiss bankers were.

"Beaugendre thinks the Swiss will cooperate for a piece of the action."

"Sir?"

"Well, the cabal is going to go from extraordinarily wealthy to dirt poor overnight. Seems they keep the bulk of their funds in Zürich, the Swiss can make the argument that the money is the proceeds of a criminal conspiracy and subject to forfeiture."

"What keeps the Swiss from keeping all of the money?"

"Beaugendre believes that they are amenable to reason. He also has leverage of some sort that he wouldn't talk about. He said, 'Trust me, the gnomes of Zürich will, as you Americans say, play ball.'"

"Damn."

"Yes, indeed."




¹ Nuclear Safety Authority

50 comments:

  1. The ancient Egptians left

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    1. Too early this morning, hit the wrong key and Bingo! What I wanted to say was that the ancient Egyptians left the world the Pyramids and the Sphinx, now the Russians are responsible for concrete sarcophagus with death lurking inside.

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    2. N12 #1 - See Michael below. Now you know why I sometimes flip-out over typos.

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    3. N12 #2 - I really wish Blogger had an edit option on comments. WordPress does (or did) heck, even the Book of Faces let's you edit your comments.

      But yes, the Russians (more properly the Soviets I guess) did leave us that.

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  2. You mean like this: Runit Island is one of forty islands of the Enewetak Atoll of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The island is the site of a radioactive waste repository left by the United States after it conducted a series of nuclear tests on Enewetak Atoll between 1946 and 1958.

    And this: Highest Levels of Fukushima Radiation Detected Off The US West Coast, still ONGOING.

    Mishandled radioactive materials seems more common than expected.

    This one had terrorist "help". So the Russians did it?

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    1. Yes, and it's not something to be casual about. The stuff is radioactive for, in many cases, centuries.

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    2. When my dad was the Air Force Liaison for Kwajalein, 1970-1973, one of his responsibilities was escorting the yearly inspection team to Enewetak to take radiation measurements of the radioactive waste repository. Basically everything small was shoved into one hole then covered by a concrete dome. Mom has a picture of him standing on the top of the dome. Kind of neat, no?

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    3. That is kind of neat, but stand on top of the dome? They don't print enough money for me to do that.

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    4. Or me. That sort of thing is generally contraindicated.

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    5. At the time it was not leaking, so, well, not a lot of radiation to worry about. It's not like he went diving on some of the very radioactive at-that-time wrecks, at least he didn't tell us about that if he did.

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  3. No edit option, Runit island concrete sarcophagus has been leaking for decades.

    The Gnomes of Switzerland indeed. Assister or Nazi Gold Bullion and along with the Vatican Rich Nazis to Suth America. The Gnomes run with nice rich people.

    So, the terrorist rats trusted the Gnomes will ALL their wealth? My bet is suitcases of Krugerrands are awaiting them if they don't get wiped out root, tree and leaves.

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    1. Yes, I hate that Blogger has no edit option on comments.

      From what I understand (and have read) the Swiss were far more proactive about forcing down Allied aircraft which had strayed into Swiss airspace than they were Germans. I know, big bad Wehrmacht next door, but with so many Germans tied down in the East, the Wehrmacht was really no threat to the Swiss. But then, where would all that stuff the Nazis stole get deposited otherwise?

      Yeah, not a fan. (Also, you can bet the cabal has money stashed elsewhere. Assuming they can get out to spend it.)

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    2. I had not heard that about the Swiss before but thinking about it doesn't surprise me, the Allies were not surrounding the Swiss for most of the war.
      How about Sweden? Did they have a preference in wayward fliers or were they too far away from the action for it to come up often?
      Just curious..

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    3. The Wehrmacht was never a threat to Switzerland after 1941 (though the Swiss may have thought differently, especially if their generals were as bad as the French). As to the Swedes, they did intern Allied flyers but as the Luftwaffe never really operated in that area there weren't any that I can find.

      In fairness to Switzerland, they did shoot down somewhere around ten German aircraft (according to one source) during the campaign in France.

      Finally, a neutral Switzerland was more useful for the Nazis than a conquered one. For a number of reasons.

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    4. It's part of the very nature of the Swiss that they are, well, somewhat mercenary. It's how they survived for so long surrounded by so many very powerful nations and people. And anyone who ever believes a banker, let alone a Swiss banker, about how untouchable their funds are is a fool. The Swiss have been playing the banking game for a very long time and know how to skate on the edges of outright piracy in connection to their banks. High interest rates, predatory contracts and whatever else they can think of to skim off the top and keep what remains. Sure, they are secure, they'll smile and say they're neutral, but they're working for themselves first then the 'customers.'

      Eh, it's Europe. They've had a relatively stable government far longer than most European nations.

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    5. And surrounded by mountains as it is allows Switzerland to take that whole "honey badger" attitude.

      Speaking of mercenaries, Swiss pikemen were once the terror of Europe. Until extensive use of gunpowder weapons made them targets.

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    6. And their guards still are in Vatican City. Body armor is often real plate over more modern aramid style armor. Halberds, swords, fully automatic machine pistols, and totally fabulous uniforms.

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    7. I have seen them in person, they look like soldiers, good ones.

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    8. They are, and their armory has everything they've used since they started guard duty at VC. Water-cooled Maxim? Gonnes? Matchlocks? MG-34s? Muskets? Rifled Muskets? Bolt-action Mausers? All in there.

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  4. Man, my pre-coffee spelling is terrible. Call in CONman the Grammarians STAT!

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  5. "Well, as Girardot put it, clean up the mess, or be shot. After being tortured."

    I rather admire the official unofficial methods of Applied Justice the French have. Not that it would pass any Constitutional test, either ours or theirs, but the government can always disavow "the actions of a few overzealous individuals."

    Re West Coast Radiation Exposure from Fukushima: https://www.epa.gov/radnet/radnet-near-real-time-air-data#radnet-dashboard at Eureka CA it looks like ~0.005 mR/h.. That seems to be well under the:

    High Altitude Living:
    1.) Assume a Sherpa living in Tibet at 12,000', which high altitude means less atmospheric and electromagnetic shielding of cosmic rays, receives a constant dose rate of .04 mR/hr.

    2.) Given that 365 days a year x 24 hours per day equals 8,760 hours per year of exposure.

    3.) Therefore, annual dosage from high altitude living equals 350 mR (.04 mR/hr x 8,760 hours).

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    1. Ah yes, the overzealous individuals, there is probably much that wouldn't get done otherwise.

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    2. A little research about Sherpas will show a much higher community cancers than Americans.

      That and the more expensive fish are much higher on the food chain and accumulate higher levels of heavy metals and radiation.

      Alpha and Beta radiation is generally thought of as minor risk UNLESS EATEN.

      Michael

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    3. Sound wisdom, don't eat that sh!t.

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    4. Elon Musk has no problems eating fish or other foods from Fukashima. But he won't eat tuna due to high levels of mercury. Guy's weird, but he has done his research.

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    5. Uh, is Fukushima a major exporter of some foodstuff I'm unaware of? Been eating tuna my whole life, as does everyone in my family. Mom is almost 94, none of us show any symptoms of mercury poisoning. Just saying.

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    6. At the time, people not in Japan were wigging out over 'radioactive Fukushima food' but some of the first 'industries' that came back were agricultural and commercial fishing, all under the close supervision of very persnickety government officials. The negative press pissed Elon off, as he did a lot of research into radiation effects, so he went and stuck a finger in the negative-voices eyes.

      As to fish, if you don't overdue it, you're safe. It's the people who are both very sensitive to mercury poisoning and who eat beaucoup amounts of tuna and other 'top of the foodchain predators' that can react.

      It's like just about any food issues. Moderation and not having a sensitivity to what you are eating will keep a lot of issues away.

      Much like small seeds and people with diverticulitis. If you're in the risk group, you need to not eat that stuff.

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    7. I looked up the Elon Musk comment. I noted a few ah, anomalies or wiggle room (ahem).

      SNIP To support nuclear power, Elon Musk will eat food grown in high radiation zones
      Musk is taking the plunge into potentially irradiated food.

      SNIP Business Insider
      Elon Musk says he will travel to a high-radiation location and 'eat locally grown food on TV' after his tweet calling for more nuclear-powered energy in Europe draws criticism

      and so on.

      NOT that Musk routinely EATS it to prove a point but SAID He'd WOULD in support of his desire for nuclear energy world wide.

      Thus, I suspect a publicity stunt comment, not a lifestyle decision.

      Personally if we could find a cure for NIMBY (Not in my back yard) by perhaps offering Free Electricity for life to homeowners within 5 or 10 miles of a Properly designed (Not one designed to produced nuclear weapons with electricity as a side benefit) THEN I'd be overjoyed for a lot of well built plants.

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    8. Also, I have to laugh about the "all under the close supervision of very persnickety government officials" thoughts.

      You might want to look up WHO those persnickety officials hired and disposed of to do much of the Fukashima clean-up.

      In India, they'd call them untouchables.
      SNIP from the UN about Fukashima cleanup:

      Since that time, tens of thousands of workers have been recruited under a decontamination programme. Workers hired to decontaminate Fukushima reportedly include migrant workers, asylum seekers and people who are homeless – UN Special Rapporteurs

      Or as that Meme goes "Daddy am I supposed to TRUST the Government?"

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    9. Beans - Seawater is very good as a radiation shield.

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    10. Sarge, a colleague at work studied the question of why people that extensively eat seafood with a high mercury content but show no effects. The answer seems to be that the same seafood also contains high levels of selenium. There is a (little known) ammino acid selenocysteine (an analog of cystine where a sulfur atom is replaced by a selenium atom) that is critical to brain function. Mercury will bind to it, preventing it from functioning (mad hatter's disease). The dietary selenium overwhelmingly bonds to the mercury forming one of the most insoluble chemical compounds known and will be excreted.

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    11. Now that is very interesting, explains rather a lot, I think.

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  6. In the finest tradition of the iron cardinal: person with this document acted with my acceptance for the good of France. Any 163x series and 3 muskeeters fans out there?

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    1. Now that's a good series, it's on my list.

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    2. Charlton Heston was da Bomb as the Cardinal in the 70's version with Michael York, Raquel Welch, and Oliver Reed.

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    3. A very good series. All 7 or 8 of them. If you're reading the first book and the first paragraph isn't a long, rambling description of some sad sack riding on a near-to-death horse of unusual color, well, stop reading that version and find the long one. Dumas really loved his words, a lot.

      For a good, probably the best, version on film of the first two books are the two movies that have Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Charlton Heston, Michael York, Rachel Welch and Meryl Streep. The movies follow the story very closely, only cutting things down to make the story fit in a movie format. Excellent costuming, excellent acting, some of the best rapier fighting ever.

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    4. Rick T - You had me at Charlton Heston.

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    5. Beans - There's the 1632 series by Eric Flint and there's The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I am confused as to which book thou art referring to.

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    6. Dumas, baby, Dumas. The 1632 series is good, but not "The Three Musketeers" and "In the Service of the King/The Four Musketeers/The Red Sphinx."

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    7. Okay, now we're on the same page.

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  7. So a sort of "Crowdfunding", then. Sounds reasonable given the circumstances.

    Stories like this and even discussions of the accidental leaks in real life make the fact that people throw around the idea of "going over red lines" all the more frustrating. Nuclear holocaust is theoretical - until it is not.

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    1. In a manner of speaking ...

      Those who speak of nuking things are not serious people. While I think a full exchange on MAD terms is unlikely, pop one of those suckers off, and it becomes more likely that someone will "pop" back. Best to keep the nuclear genie in the bottle.

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  8. Good, make the bastids pay. I am really tired of these WEF NWO jackwagons.

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  9. Bravo Zulu Sarge!!! I had forgotten about foreign contaminants like iron being irradiated and transmuting to radioactive isotopes.

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    1. Thanks, Don. But it was Rick T's comment yesterday about ingesting radioactive dust as the proximate cause of Michel Masson's rapid onset of radiation poisoning that inspired me.

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