Beirut Explosion

[En Passant 3,741]

1 hour ago, CoffinLodger said:

You might be surprised to know that I am not a nuclear expert, so if anyone here is could you tell me does a nuclear blast always lead to radioactive fallout or can it happen without it?

Neither am I. However, I know enough about it to know that this isn't one and couldn't be one. So please stop speculating about it.

 

A nuclear explosion is hard enough to create even when that is your intention.

It cannot happen without highly enriched material (uranium typically) which of itself is extremely hard to create, you are trying to separate two isotopes of exactly the same element, so no chemical process will work.

Reactors cannot accidentally  cause a nuclear explosion (their fuel is only moderately enriched, nowhere near weapons grade), they can however like Chernobyl, suffer a normal explosion which spreads radioactive material all over the place causing massive devastation over years or decades.. This is also what a 'dirty bomb' can do. But you still need a radioactive material of some sort to spread everywhere, and where do you get it?

 

More specifically to your question: Fallout is dependent more on 'where' you explode your nuclear weapon than it's innate construction. If near or on the ground it will irradiate all the earth and buildings and so on and the resultant particles rise up in the cloud and get blown about by the weather and are then rained down as fallout. If however you explode your device at height (as they are designed to do) this creates less fallout and also tends to cause more immediate devastation through blast wave and fireball.

 

I stand to be corrected by anyone who has a better grasp.

 

None of this is remotely possible in the Beirut explosion. Stop suggesting it and you'll get fewer facepalms

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,219]

15 minutes ago, En Passant said:

Neither am I. However, I know enough about it to know that this isn't one and couldn't be one. So please stop speculating about it.

 

A nuclear explosion is hard enough to create even when that is your intention.

It cannot happen without highly enriched material (uranium typically) which of itself is extremely hard to create, you are trying to separate two isotopes of exactly the same element, so no chemical process will work.

Reactors cannot accidentally  cause a nuclear explosion (their fuel is only moderately enriched, nowhere near weapons grade), they can however like Chernobyl, suffer a normal explosion which spreads radioactive material all over the place causing massive devastation over years or decades.. This is also what a 'dirty bomb' can do. But you still need a radioactive material of some sort to spread everywhere, and where do you get it?

 

More specifically to your question: Fallout is dependent more on 'where' you explode your nuclear weapon than it's innate construction. If near or on the ground it will irradiate all the earth and buildings and so on and the resultant particles rise up in the cloud and get blown about by the weather and are then rained down as fallout. If however you explode your device at height (as they are designed to do) this creates less fallout and also tends to cause more immediate devastation through blast wave and fireball.

 

I stand to be corrected by anyone who has a better grasp.

 

None of this is remotely possible in the Beirut explosion. Stop suggesting it and you'll get fewer facepalms

I am now waiting, with bated breath, for you to explain to him where babies come from.

[En Passant 3,741]

1 minute ago, Lord Fellatio Nelson said:

I am now waiting, with bated breath, for you to explain to him where babies come from.

Fuck off?

 

 

 

(ETA: in that, that's where babies come from, should my intention not be clear).

[maryportfuncity 10,647]

So, some port officials responsible for storing that volatile shit in the same place for six years are under house arrest tonight. 

 

Which means, surely: 

 

1 - They have houses that are still standing

 

2 - Their houses were a long way from the stuff they'd arranged to store in that warehouse.

 

 

[ladyfiona 2,589]

From what I read, those who had been keeping it at the warehouse where it was confiscated from original ship owner had been trying to get in touch with government officials about the nitrate etc for years but got no response back.

[maryportfuncity 10,647]

1 minute ago, ladyfiona said:

From what I read, those who had been keeping it at the warehouse where it was confiscated from original ship owner had been trying to get in touch with government officials about the nitrate etc for years but got no response back.

 

 

Oh aye, so now the same government has arranged their arrest. Actually - the BBC are reporting: "Beirutis have been unimpressed, seeing it as another attempt by the political elite to dodge the blame for disaster."

 

Silver linings - maybe they'll storm to paralympic glory in a few years

 

 

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

Just caught up on this thread and a couple of things to throw into the mix:

 

1. The latest story on the BBC website quotes specialists from Sheffield University estimating the blast to be approximately one tenth the power of the bomb that exploded in Hiroshima and "unquestionably one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history".

2. Currently catching up on 'Chernobyl' which I missed last year (excellent if you haven't seen it) and the immediate arresting of the port authorities is eerily similar to immediate efforts of the local party officials to blame low-level plant workers for the disaster rather than taking responsibility. Given Lebanon's fractious state currently, this is, to put it mildly, unlikely to be helpful for the government there.

[CoffinLodger 1,248]

1 hour ago, En Passant said:

Neither am I. However, I know enough about it to know that this isn't one and couldn't be one. So please stop speculating about it.

 

A nuclear explosion is hard enough to create even when that is your intention.

It cannot happen without highly enriched material (uranium typically) which of itself is extremely hard to create, you are trying to separate two isotopes of exactly the same element, so no chemical process will work.

Reactors cannot accidentally  cause a nuclear explosion (their fuel is only moderately enriched, nowhere near weapons grade), they can however like Chernobyl, suffer a normal explosion which spreads radioactive material all over the place causing massive devastation over years or decades.. This is also what a 'dirty bomb' can do. But you still need a radioactive material of some sort to spread everywhere, and where do you get it?

 

More specifically to your question: Fallout is dependent more on 'where' you explode your nuclear weapon than it's innate construction. If near or on the ground it will irradiate all the earth and buildings and so on and the resultant particles rise up in the cloud and get blown about by the weather and are then rained down as fallout. If however you explode your device at height (as they are designed to do) this creates less fallout and also tends to cause more immediate devastation through blast wave and fireball.

 

I stand to be corrected by anyone who has a better grasp.

 

None of this is remotely possible in the Beirut explosion. Stop suggesting it and you'll get fewer facepalms

A yes or no answer would have sufficed, but thanks for taking the time to educate me on the subject! It looks like it probably wasn't a nuclear explosion after all then. That is good news at least.

[maryportfuncity 10,647]

Carlsberg don't do car bombs.... But if they did

 

 

 

 

Might stop nicking Sicki jokes for a few days now 

 

[The Great Cornholio 902]

15 hours ago, Doc said:

I think this video does this best job at showing the scope of the damage.

 

 

 

 

Can we now consider that even massive explosions that size and heat dont destroy steal beams?

[Spade_Cooley 9,536]

The geopolitics behind the whole thing are pretty interesting. How does $1million's worth of ammonium nitrate get ordered by Mozambique, from Georgia, sailed by a Russian ship with a Ukrainian crew, and then when it gets held up in Lebanon Mozambique doesn't ask what's going on? My knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa isn't great, but I assume most companies in Mozambique don't have $1m lying about as couch money.

[The Old Crem 3,606]

 

[maryportfuncity 10,647]

1 minute ago, The Old Crem said:

 

 

 

Well, he would say that, wouldn't he - didn't notice any rapidly moving projectile in any of the freely available footage. Presumably some of the witnesses at sea would have reported a missile or bomb

[The Old Crem 3,606]

Just now, maryportfuncity said:

 

 

Well, he would say that, wouldn't he - didn't notice any rapidly moving projectile in any of the freely available footage. Presumably some of the witnesses at sea would have reported a missile or bomb

I think it would be unlikely to be a rocket not noticed by anyone at all - a bomb is easier to hard.

[En Passant 3,741]

3 hours ago, maryportfuncity said:

Well, he would say that, wouldn't he

This.

aka: The Rice Davies defence.

[One shot Paddy 1,206]

Before and after, 7500 ton cruise ship circled.

[TQR 14,400]

20 minutes ago, One shot Paddy said:

Before and after, 7500 ton cruise ship circled.

That’s just the EastEnders titles zoomed in isn’t it?

[One shot Paddy 1,206]

1 hour ago, The Quim Reaper said:

That’s just the EastEnders titles zoomed in isn’t it?

Shit, I thought I'd got away with it....

 

Still, it's a quick way to make more room for boats in the harbour.

[maryportfuncity 10,647]

1 hour ago, The Quim Reaper said:

That’s just the EastEnders titles zoomed in isn’t it?

 

 

I tell you what - when Eastenders finally comes back,  if they replaced the old titles with shots of blasted Beirut, that'd be a laugh - or summat

[the_engineer 1,415]

It was defo hit by something . Twitter is listing this at manipulated media. They either using that to censor the truth or the fact the image has a negative filter. Looks real to me.

 

 

 

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

1 hour ago, the_engineer said:

It was defo hit by something . Twitter is listing this at manipulated media. They either using that to censor the truth or the fact the image has a negative filter. Looks real to me.

 

 

 

 

I'd be more open to believing this if we had the undoctored footage alongside it too. Strikes me as unlikely that wouldn't have been picked up in any of the actual footage.

[Dying Probably 579]

8 minutes ago, RoverAndOut said:

 

I'd be more open to believing this if we had the undoctored footage alongside it too. Strikes me as unlikely that wouldn't have been picked up in any of the actual footage.

 

It's a thermo image thing - I doubt the old footage exists.

[Whitehouse 872]

The wife of the Dutch Ambassador to Libanon died of her injuries aged 55.

[Joey Russ 7,228]

 

 

[maryportfuncity 10,647]

1 minute ago, Joey Russ said:

 

 

 

 

So, what happens - they ring Reed's and get some duty managers flown in?