Uranium ore for sale on Amazon

Amazon sells uranium ore, "in compliance with Section 13 from part 40 of the NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules and regulations." $23 a throw. Link (via Making Light)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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ratmonkey

I’m sorry, but did anyone else notice the “Customers who bought items like this also bought….” below the product description. I can understand the mousetrap stuff, but anal douches? Really?
paulkdickson

Thank god. I was wondering how I was ever going to power up that flux capacitor. Now I just need to remember which billboard i parked the Delorian behind.. hrmm.
Nonseq

While selling uranium 238 ore on Amazon is…frightening, it’s not nearly as scare the items listed in the “Customers Who Bought Items Like This Also Bought” section…
Anonymous

hahahaha!!!! NOW I CAN RULE THE WORLD!!!!!!! ONLY $23 MEANS I CAN STOCK LOAD THEM IN MY UNDERGROUND SECRET EVIL WAREHOUSE!!!!
GO EVIL INC!!!!
Phliar

Why is it frightening? I can go to any hardware store and buy things thousands of times deadlier. About all you can do with this is wave it in front of your Geiger counter to hear lots of ticks. Oh, and you can dye pottery green.
Fritz Bogott

We had some of this stuff growing up– in a little glass vial, that we kept in a dice-shaped puzzle box.
CaptainGroggySwagger

I keep some of this in a little box where my cat lives. I wonder how that cat’s doing?
- Anonymous
  
  Genius.
mightymouse1584

ok, so is this stuff safe to keep around as long as you dont plan on licking it?
mistersite

The container makes it look like shoe polish… or hair gel…
juhuacha

People are in an uproar over lead in Chinese made toys and yet uranium ore is being sold on amazon, I am amused.
hyperkine

Yes it’s safe, it’s uranium ore not pure uranium. Basically rock that you can you to scare people if you have a Geiger counter handy.
William A

Mightymouse, the listed activity of the uranium in the photo is 766 cpm, which is around 12 Bq, or 354 pCi. By comparison, a typical Americium source in a smoke detector is around 1 uCi, or 36 kBq, if I recall correctly.

Also, U238 is an alpha emitter, so as long as you don’t eat it, or somehow absorb it into your body, it should be almost entirely harmless. Essentially, if you keep the container sealed, and the container is decent, your health is more at risk from the container falling and hitting your head.

That said, I should add a disclaimer that one shouldn’t trust advice on radiation safety from random strangers on the internet.
o0oo00o0o

I read recently that until the 1980s they used uranium in false teeth, because supposedly uranium will glow phosphorescent under black light–just like real teeth do. Then they realized, “whoops–radiation!” and also that the faslies glowed red and green under black light.
kristofer

Did you guys read the comments on Amazon below the product? totally goofy and just off the wall stuff..
akbar2001

Dear Amazon Sirs,
I would like five thousand of this wonderful product for which youb are selling. Please send them to my post office box as my home mail-slot is sadly out to have repairs. Kindly wrap it and add a gift card which should read as follows: “Here is the cheese of we spoke in March. The leopard will surely return come the winter.”

Many blessings to you and your offspring,

A
Crash

So this is how the feds found out about the Iranian nuke program.
Jason

I’m sure in 1985 plutonium is available at every corner drugstore, but in 1955 it’s a little hard to come by. — Doctor Emmett Brown
Brad S.

If you want to have some real fun, skip on over to United Nuclear, which I first read about here. Lots of fun stuff to be had there!
Crash

#14: I’m still laughing.
afo

I like the idea of purchasing “used” uranium ore. from amazon.
Swift Loris

Turns out there’s a several-hundred-item section of Amazon items people have tagged as Oddities (the Uranium Ore is one of them):

http://www.amazon.com/tag/amazon%20oddities/ref=tag_dpp_cust_itdp_t

http://tinyurl.com/2x9hvq

Includes Pierced Attachable Nipples, Magic Answer Me Jesus, Wolf Urine Lure, Rechargable Horse Trimmer, Heinz Spotted Dick Pudding, Stink-Free Stink-Finder Ultra-Violet Light and Flashlight, Trichogramma Pretiosum (12,000 Eggs, currently unavailable), Gorilla Snot, Inflatable Party Sheep, Brain Mold, and so forth. Some of them have funny user reviews, others cry out for one.
devoinregress

Best Amazon product page I have ever seen! Related products and reviews are hilarious.
Slickace

I just a read a collection of some of the strangest stuff Amazon sells here the reviews people submit make the items even better.
Kayin

Alright, as someone already pointed out, the most disturbing part of this is the “customers who bought items like this also bought” area…

Putting aside the fact that someone apparently bought this item, they also purchased an Ultimate Anal Douche (two anal douches and a G string thong to be exact).

Sleuth a bit more , and you’ll notice that someone who bought an Ultimate Anal Douche also bought a copy of Smallville Season 4.

Insert Kryptonite Enema joke here.
RickB

The company also offer a UFO detector-

http://www.amazon.com/Images-SI-Inc-UFO-02-Detector/dp/B000FVUKKO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1196487991&sr=1-5

which perhaps connects to the need for an anal douche.
Anonymous

so the seller is seriously selling uranium ore?
Where do they get it?
eclectro

Just an FYI, its U238′s little brother U235 that you make bombs out of;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium-235
This can only be useful in breeder reactors if it is highly refined. I doubt if this stuff is even useful as dirty bomb material. For the most part it’s innocuous, as long as you don’t go eating it.
clone 452326

im selling used uranium any takers(i am not responsible for any and what probaly will be a horrible accident and/or radiation poisoning)
Takuan

along with your tritium? Is it in a Fisher Price radionuclide cask?
Anonymous

I see uranium ore on ebay from Jungle Jims Surplus in a bunch of sizes, prices, and activity. Pretty cheap for the smaller sizes.
ROSSINDETROIT

Tritium is great. It used to be used to illuminate watch hands and numerals. It’s safe in small quantities but because of the difficulties in safely handling and using it in bulk it’s been phased out in favor of photosensitive illuminating compounds. In a few years, a decade at most, my last tritium painted watches will go dark, with no original replacement dials and hands. All because of a little hazardous radiation. I say we blame the liberal media.
- Antinous
  
  I say we blame the liberal media.
  
  I say that we blame this guy. Full article
maestrosync

#19: Then clearly you aren’t familiar with Tuscan Whole Milk.
http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032G1S0
Anonymous

Isn’t Uranium 235 the uranium that they use for nukes?
ROSSINDETROIT

That was about 10 miles from here.
- Antinous
  
  You should knock down his shack and sell the boards on eBay as souvenirs.
dannysland

“DOC! Watch out for the LIBYANS!”
MoleMan

This is news? Oh, that Ama.zone sells U Element #92, I guess.

These guys below have some of the last U-doped
glassware around – all individually tested &
certified as to known calibrated sources, all the
docs included. It fluoresces under UV light like
you wouldn’t believe.

Alpha and beta emitters mostly. Safe to handle, just don’t eat or smoke the free ore sample they send. It’s from the same mine that supplied the Manhattan Project and is MUCH hotter than the glassware.

http://www.unitednuclear.com/marbles.htm
http://www.unitednuclear.com/supplies.htm
ivan256

Who needs amazon? I can dig some out of my back yard.

I’d be more happy that there was “news” about this if I thought it would educate people to be less scared about things they don’t understand…
Takuan

as night lights?