Hafnium Weapon of Mass Destruction

 The element Hafnium, found as a small percentage of the mineral zirconium, is being considered by scientists, military leaders and arms dealers as the next super weapon.

One gram of hafnium contains the equivalent energy of 660 pounds (299 kg) of TNT.

Because of its high neutron-capture cross section and excellent mechanical properties, hafnium is used for fabricating nuclear-control rods.

the US Army, Navy and Defence Threat Reduction Agency are all trying to perfect the weapon, as is the UK’s Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.It seems likely that China and Russia (as well as a few other countries) will also divert funding from their biological weapons programs to develop hafnium weapons of mass destruction.

Australian Strategic Materials Ltd is producing a high purity hafnium dioxide from ore mined at Dubbo in New South Wales.The company is part of Alkane Resources. chaired by Melbourne business heavyweight Ian Gandel. Production capacity is expected to exceed 200 tonnes a year. The current price of hafnium has surged to $5000 a kilogram ANSTO, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation helps the exploitation of the resource. Unfortunately. ASM has run into some financial headwind and may not be in a position to fully exploit the resource.


Comments

  1. freerangerFebruary 21, 2023 at 8:44 PM

    Demand for hafnium has already pushed the price to $5,000 a kg

    ReplyDelete

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