"Wil McCarthy - The Technetium Rush" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCarty Sarah)

Now, with a radioactive half-life of several million yearsтАФmeaning a very slow
decay, hence little radioactivityтАФтАЭTeaтАЭ (as Solanki playfully called it) is considerably
safer than the potions we swallow in radiomedicine, and in fact is only about four
times as hazardous as ordinary concrete and granite, which as we all have heard,
emit low levels of radon gas. So does a gaslight mantle, as it turns out, although
gaslights are even rarer than tungsten filaments and may be unfamiliar to readers
whoтАЩve grown up under the cold glare of the white LED. Nevertheless, to place a
coin of technetium in oneтАЩs pocket, immediately adjacent to oneтАЩs reproductive
organs, would take a bit of faith.

Everyone knows, of course, that soon thereafter, technetium coins were in
fact minted and sold by a private company called the Palwal Mint and Trust, which
can in no way be connected to Rakesh Solanki, Abha Solanki, or the Kakodar
Nuclear Power Station. The content and purity of the coins has been verified by any
number of outside bodiesтАФmatching very closely to the recipe laid down in
SolankiтАЩs paperтАФbut the actual source of the metal has never been identified. Still,
itтАЩs a known product of Energy Amplifier Thorium Reactors (or тАЬEATERS,тАЭ as
their proponents call them), of which KNPS is one of only three operating in India,
in a total of four worldwide. And about three months before the coins were first
unveiled, the Kakodar station was shut down for a day on the excuse of тАЬplumbing
adjustments,тАЭ although an internal memo called it, more specifically, тАЬrepairs to
correct an unauthorized modification.тАЭ

The evidence is circumstantial at best; no court would base a conviction on it.
The best we can do is dream a little dream; could Abha, short of funds as always,
have monkeyed with her precious reactor to produce an excess of technetium for her
hubby to dispose? A physicist friend confirms it is possible. Could
RakeshтАФdressed up in some ungainly homespun radiation suitтАФhave broken open
one of his barrels one night, dropped the slag in some centrifugal furnace of his own
design, refined out the тАЬtea,тАЭ and then buried the whole apparatus along with the
waste? Again, thereтАЩs nothing in the laws of physicsтАФor probabilityтАФto deny it.

It should be noted, in all fairness and charity, that if such a venture
occurredтАФand IтАЩm not saying it didтАФthe Solankis do not seem to have profited
from it. Indeed, they never moved from their apartment, never bought a car, never
took that trip overseas. Not then. But if they owed a lot of money to gangsters, one
supposes a lot of strange things could happen around them, with or without their
grudging consent.

At any rate, the coinsтАФreal enough for any skepticтАФwere sold in lead-lined
jewelerтАЩs boxes, and thatтАЩs where most collectors have kept them. In many western
countries and in China and Japan, importation of the coins was prohibited, and in the
United States they were classified as a terrorist munition for which five unlucky
collectors were handed stiff jail sentences. DonтАЩt answer the phone, Yank; let
freedom ring and ring. Eventually the Indian government got tired of the diplomatic
heat and shut the enterprise down, but before they did, the coins made a lot of
money for someone.

Imagine Rakesh Solanki stewing about that.