The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

He was also thinking over the alternatives and presenting his best estimate of
the situation.
'Have you sent your technical people to Sarova yet?'
'Day after tomorrow. My best man was sick, just got out of the hospital – broke
his leg in a fall down some stairs.'
'Have him carried there if necessary. I want a worst-case estimate of plutonium
production at the DDR power stations. Send another man to Kyshtym to back-check
the people at Sarova. Pull in the other people you sent to Germany. We'll
restart the investigation more carefully. Two-man teams, and the backup man is
to be armed . . . that is dangerous,' Golovko said on reflection.
'General, it takes a lot of time and money to train my field people. I will need
two years to replace Feodorov, two whole years. You can't just pull an officer
out of another branch and drop him into this line of work. These people must
understand what they are looking for. Assets like that should be protected.'
'You are correct. I will clear it with the Chairman and send experienced
officers . . . maybe some people from the Academy . . . credential them like
German police officials . . . ?'
'I like that, Sergey Nikolay'ch.'
'Good man, Pavel Ivan'ch. And on Feodorov?'
'Maybe he'll turn up. Thirty days before he's declared missing, then I'll have
to see his wife. Very well, I'll pull my people in and start planning the next
phase of the operation. When will I have a list of the escort officers?'
'Tomorrow morning.'
'Very well, General, thank you for your time.'
Golovko shook the man's hand and remained standing until the door closed. He had
ten minutes until his next appointment.
'Damn,' he said to his desktop.
***
'More delays?'
Fromm did not quite manage to hide his disgust. 'We are saving time! The
material we will be working on has machining characteristics similar to
stainless steel. We must also manufacture blanks for the casting process. Here.'
Fromm unfolded his working drawings.
'We have here a folded cylinder of plutonium. Around the plutonium is a cylinder
of beryllium, which is a godsend for our purposes. It is very light, very stiff,
an X-ray window, and a neutron reflector. Unfortunately, it is also rather
difficult to machine. We must use cubic boron-nitride tools, essentially an
analog to industrial diamond. Steel or carbon tools would have results you do
not wish to contemplate. We also have health considerations.'
'Beryllium is not toxic,' Ghosn said. 'I checked.'
'True, but the dust resulting from the machining process converts to beryllium
oxide, which when inspired converts again to beryllium hydroxide, and that
causes berylliosis, which is uniformly fatal.' Fromm paused, staring at Ghosn
like a schoolmaster before going on.
'Now, around the beryllium is a cylinder of tungsten-rhenium, which we need for
its density. We will purchase twelve kilograms in powder form, which we will
sinter into cylindrical segments. You know sintering? That is heating it just