United Nuclear

United Nuclear sells some scary stuff. Looking for some uranium? They've got it. As well as super radioactive ore. They'll ship it right to your front door. Plus, chemicals to build explosives. It all has a jokey feel to it, but the more I look at the site, the more convinced I become that it's real. I think it's a store for science hobbyists that's purposely going for the 'mad scientist' feel.

Science

Posted on Thu Feb 24, 2005



Comments

Here's a good FAQ if this site's gotten anyone interested in collecting radioactive rocks as a hobby.

http://www.crscientific.com/radiation.html

So it may be a somewhat more dangerous hobby than macrame, but it's probably safer than some other hobbies like mountain biking or collecting classic cars.
Posted by Matt  on  Mon Feb 28, 2005  at  08:21 AM
For those extra-paranoid about radioactivity, your body contains approx (uCi = microcurie):
.000030 uCi of Uranium
.000003 uCi of Thorium
.12 uCi of Potassium 40
.00003 uCi of Radium
.4 uCi of Carbon 14
.0006 uCi of Hydrogen 3
.001 uCi of Polonium

Unenriched uranium is about .710 uCi/g so you'd have to eat .75 grams of pure uranium metal (much more of diluted ore) to even double the amount of reactions in your body.

If that doesn't calm you down, try looking up the radioactivity of NoSalt, or check out what is in your smoke detectors.

Still spooked? All light is radiation. Everything from Gamma rays to ELF rays are radiation. Only the frequencies above mid-ultra violet are ionizing, meaning the wavelengths are small enough to knock electrons off track. They are more dangerous, but only when improperly used/encountered.

Still spooked? Ok... All the isotopes of tungsten have been found to be radioactive, they all have measurable half-lives. Same for bismuth (think pink medicine). In fact, every year we lose a few more "stable" elements. The fact that their half-lives are on the order of a few quadrillion times longer than the age of the universe doesn't matter. We used to think uranium was stable.

Still? OK, helium, all our lovely party balloons and blimps float because of radiation, the decay of primordial isotopes release helium nuclei into underground gas deposits, where helium is extracted. Once used, it is released into the atmosphere, where it escapes earth's gravity and is never returned.

Still? Ok.. all matter is radioactive, the half-life of a proton is only about 10^40 years, all protons now in existance will decay away eventually (and there doesn't seem to be a ready source of them). This means all matter will break down eventually, into smaller matter, and energy.

You are surrounded by radiation, you are part of it, you will eventually become it. Fearing it outright does no good. You must respect the radiation, like a fast car, beautiful woman, or website forum. Know what radiation will kill you, make you sick, spook the neighbours, get you arrested, and heat your food.

[rant ends]
Posted by Splarka  on  Tue Mar 01, 2005  at  01:07 AM
The site may or may not be legit. Some items, like the mortor tube seem to be well, suspect.

However, before you buy the hydrogen car kit, or any such: you might want to google search "Bob Lazar" who seems to run the site.

A really interesting link:
http://www.serve.com/mahood/lazar/timeline.htm
Posted by ZPL In Sh  on  Tue Mar 15, 2005  at  11:56 PM
The site is real. I have ordered from it numerous times. Yes, you can buy dangerous items from it, but ask yourself this, how much can you get from a hardware store. You can get potassium chlorate as welding supplies, fertilizers (such as ammonium nitrate although it is not always a high enough purity for explosives). You can get potassium nitrate as stump remover, and charcoal and sulfur to make a halfway decent black powder. It is scary, but you can do it. For some people it is the only way until they find UNSS or Skylighter.
Posted by robert  on  Fri Apr 01, 2005  at  08:05 PM
You may think I'm fulla crap here, but reading the above post just reminded me that I put a six-pack of beer (cans) in the freezer.

FIVE HOURS AGO.
:gulp:

I rescued them, although I hid behind the freezer door when I grabbed them. Ever seen a frozen can explode? It can blow the door open on your freezer.

It was the home-made explosive thingy that reminded me they were there, though, so thanks. At least they never exploded (not frozen solid YET, but all you have to do is open it and it would freeze from the air contact...) But if they had, I woulda posted a pic for you guys...

As for safe radioactive substances, they're all over. Read the back of your smoke detector sometime.
Posted by Rod  on  Fri Apr 01, 2005  at  08:28 PM
You are all very humorous. There are a lot of people, like me, that regularly visit the United Nuclear web site to check up on the progress of their hydrogen system...as we are greatly anticipating the release of their hydrogen conversion kits which will allow us to convert our automobiles to hydrogen power and be able to fuel our cars with some water and the power of the sun.

There is a lot of crap on their website specifically geared towards science teacher types. There are also a lot of things on their website that might teach you a thing or two.
Posted by govern mint type  on  Fri May 20, 2005  at  02:05 PM
Hello Folks,
I was forwarded an email that someone here received from a customer - asking if we were a legitimate company because of some comments he saw on a web page.
He gave us the address and this is apparently the site.
Yes everyone, United Nuclear Scientific Supplies is a legitimate business, and have been in business for quite some time.
Aside from the sales of unique scientific equipment, we are a primary Government contractor designing, building, repairing and maintaining radiation detection equipment for various national laboratories. We are also provide consulting services and are in the development of a Hydrogen Fuel System Retrofit Kit for late-model internal combustion engines.
We supply most schools & universities with scientific equipment and also specifically tailor ourselves to the home experimenter... offering some very hard to find scientific items.
Although we still have a lot of work to do in our Experiments & Projects sections, we also try to provide a source for the more interesting and unusual experiments & projects that are typically left out of your ordinary chemistry & science publications.

-United Nuclear Scientific Supplies
email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
website: http://www.unitednuclear.com
P.O. Box 851
Sandia Park, NM. 87047
505-286-2831
Posted by Bob, United Nuclear Scientific Supplies  on  Mon Aug 01, 2005  at  11:09 PM
United Nuclear is completely legit and you can buy the stuff on their pages. I've bought depleted uranium from them as well as deuterium oxide. They really are a great company. They also sell exotic radioactive isotopes, but only in micorsopic quantities, embeded in plastic disks.

Uranium is only mildly radioactive. Uranium ore is perfectly safe to handle and have around. It is toxic if ingested, but so are many things. Elements such as radium or plutonium are over a million times more radioactive than uranium is. Uranium ore occures naturally all over the US and all over the world. It is only midly radioactive.

There is radiation all around us, coming from space, minerals in the ground and natural isotopes like carbon-14 and potassium-40. Handling uranium ore is only a drop in the bucket of radiation you're exposed to every day.

There is nothing scary or illegal about anything United Nuclear sells.
Posted by Steve Packard  on  Sat Aug 13, 2005  at  10:28 AM
Hey, Steve: didn't you know that exposure to depleted uranium affects your ability to spell simple words? Good Lord, look what it's done to GWB... "Nuke-ya-lur"... I rest my case, and get a dikshunerry
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Sat Aug 13, 2005  at  10:35 AM
"Still spooked? Ok... All the isotopes of tungsten have been found to be radioactive, they all have measurable half-lives. Same for bismuth (think pink medicine). In fact, every year we lose a few more "stable" elements. The fact that their half-lives are on the order of a few quadrillion times longer than the age of the universe doesn't matter. We used to think uranium was stable." (sparkla)

*BUZZZZZZ*
Bismuth is actually not radioactive. It has the highest atomic number for a stable element. (this info was from the UN website: http://unitednuclear.com/bismuth.htm)
Posted by Kevohill  on  Wed Aug 17, 2005  at  08:44 PM
This website is clearly just selling novelty goods. If they were selling anything with useful radioactivity the government would have closed them. Cummon people! engage brains. Also lazar, he thinks aliens exist for god sake, and more than that he thinks he is the one "special" person that knows about them. It would be funny if it wasnt so sad. They sell nice black lights though, they're cool.
Posted by some guy  on  Tue Aug 30, 2005  at  12:42 PM
In the USA it is legal for people to own uranium metal and ore which is of course radioactive, I have bought numerous research samples from United Nuclear and find them to be an excellent company. Every item was exactly as described, people should also keep in mind that radioactivity is natually present in the earth and it is legal to own radioactive items. I firmly believe that most peoples fear of radioactivity is purely media induced because of press releases from groups like Greenpeace (who have no scientific training at all) that exaggerate the danger of every tiny nuclear issue by orders of magnitude for the last 30 years. This ignorance has cost the USA's economy untold of billions of dollars in losses because of nuclear power plant delays. The bottom line is nuclear reactors have always been the best way to generate base load electrical power and always will be.
Posted by Paul "No Fear" Weir  on  Tue Sep 20, 2005  at  08:16 PM
Hey- is that the same Paul Weir who wrote the play Aphorisims? I was going to be Musical Director, until you broke your neck . /paul a.
Posted by synthesizer paul  on  Wed Oct 05, 2005  at  09:30 PM
If any of you really think that some company is selling something that radiates Gamma or Beta
radiation then you are all nuts. First off the
same crap that all those Ex vets claimed to have been poisoned with in Desert Storm was U-238 or perhaps U-245 meaing it is entirely harmless.

Will not go into details but only FRESH highly enriched ios dangerous and the other is just a very dense metal such a gold or lead...Hell I have held A Geiger counter next to smaples of
REAL A-10 Warthog 20mm rounds for ten or twentyminutes and got more radiation readings from the damn microwave in our Lunch room so put your fears aside..the stuff is harmeless !!!!!

As far as aliens go then you had better look up Bentwaters AF Base sighting which happened in the eighties as that I believe...Bentwaters is located 100 miles from London,England and once housed Nuclear Weapons...Aliens dropped in to check out weapons and used a special beam to access enitre package in the bunkers while scarring the hell out of US Airforce personell.

They were some sort of probes sent into Earth to see our weapons stored at Bent waters in England!!!
Posted by Somebody who knows  on  Sun Dec 18, 2005  at  10:52 AM
United Nuclear seems to be registered with the NRC, the nuclear regulatory commision run by the US govt.
http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/uranium/united-nuclear-corporation-unc-.html
Posted by Avi  on  Fri May 26, 2006  at  04:46 AM
Beware of United Nuclear. While they do sell some interesting items, they are absolutely the SLOWEST company I have ever dealt with, often taking more than a month to fill an order. Even when you initially order and their computer tells you the item is in stock, you may hear a month later that it is not available.
Posted by JRoberts  on  Thu Jun 01, 2006  at  03:50 PM
This is to JRoberts.

You cannot blame united nuclear for the current slow service. They have said on their site for the past month+ that they are moving into a new warehouse, which will definitely slow service, plus they have to deal with the government. They were recently raided by the CPSC. Also, they have contracts to supply many laboratories, schools, and government organizations, which means they are a very busy company. And with the government trying to give all chemical suppliers as much crap as possible, blame the Government for trying to shut them all down..not slow service..NO service. So, before you say anything bad about UNSS, try to read into a website and what they tell you before you buy.

Many time VERY satisfied customer of UNSS,
Robert
Posted by Hoxie  on  Thu Jun 01, 2006  at  04:31 PM
i sell bismuth if u want to buy send me a mesage its urgent
Posted by ben  on  Sat Jun 10, 2006  at  10:36 PM
Still? Ok.. all matter is radioactive, the half-life of a proton is only about 10^40 years, all protons now in existance will decay away eventually (and there doesn't seem to be a ready source of them). This means all matter will break down eventually, into smaller matter, and energy.

just to tell you, there is a ready sorce of protons- neutrons! they will decay after the protons go, with a half life of 10 minutes.

Bismuth is radioactive, just with the longest half life every discovered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismuth
Posted by person  on  Sat May 05, 2007  at  11:24 AM
United Nuclear is a real and reliable company.
We buy Uranium Ores samples for our uranium synthesis and enrichment process and EMP experiments in our nuclear science & applied physics laboratory.
Samples came in radiation-proof cases, and can be handled safely.
Posted by Eric Rodriguez  on  Wed Jun 06, 2007  at  10:15 AM
I know United Nuclear sells quality ore because I have purchased it from them. They sell it with a certificate of it's CPM reading for authenticity.

My geiger counter confirmed their certificate to be 100% accurate (and radioactive).

While their items are radioactive, they could not be weaponized for a RDD or a dirty bomb. The US Postal Service scans for that type of material.

Any material that could be weaponized is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

If you fly across the coutry you would be exposed to more radiation than by handling most of these rocks for a couple of minutes.

If you ever get a sunburn that is also much more dangerous to your health.

United Nuclear takes the time to mark the more radioactive items and even has a page devoted to the safe collection and handling of these rocks for beginning collectors.

Also like one fellow mentioned, if you travel to states like Utah you could dig up your own radioactive specimens.
Posted by Chuck Lively  on  Wed Sep 12, 2007  at  09:12 AM
It's real, I even bought some uranium from them myself. Don't worry, I have lead pigs to store it in.
Posted by me  on  Sun Oct 07, 2007  at  08:18 PM
It is true. Radiation is not dangerous unless it above certain levels. All of these are true and have been purchased by me. Obviously youre not a Ph.D in Nuclear Research.
Posted by James Breckonridge Ph.D, M.D.  on  Tue Jan 29, 2008  at  10:35 AM
James Breckonridge.

I find it very hard to believe your signature "Ph.D, M.D." with your grammar. No one "is" a Ph.D, but they may attain one.
Posted by Hoxie  on  Tue Jan 29, 2008  at  02:28 PM
I don't know about the uranium stuff, but United Nuclear is a real company. I ordered an iron ring stand from them, and I have to agree with the previous poster who said they are the SLOWEST company. And unless they are still moving into their new warehouse 2 years later, I don't think that's the reason. It took over two weeks to get my ring stand, and when it got here the order was wrong.

The rod for the ring stand doesn't fit into the base so it's unusable, and I can't get anyone to respond to my emails about how to get a replacement. Very very very bad customer service. I just filed a complaint through paypal, and I guess if they don't respond in 20 days I'll at least get my money back.
Posted by Leigh  on  Wed Apr 23, 2008  at  06:39 AM
i have a problem can anyone help me?
Posted by HID Conversion Kits  on  Wed May 21, 2008  at  11:11 AM
The Hydrogen conversion system for cars is being moved to Michigan. Great news. Maybe by the end of 2008 you could see product. By the way I to have worked with these guys, they are slow because 99% of their main bussiness is getting the Hydrogen system off the ground. The rest is just to help cover expenses.
Posted by Willies World  on  Sun May 25, 2008  at  11:13 AM
I've bought from UN multiple times and have never been disappointed with the products. They can be pretty slow though, so if you need something next week don't get it from them. Then again, they ARE opening up a storefront up in MI, so if you're in that area there's an option.
Posted by Eric  on  Mon Jun 09, 2008  at  05:41 PM
I wouldn't bother ever ordering from them if you care at all about receiving your order in a timely fashion or would like curteous customer service when you have a question about when you could expect it to arrive. My dealings with them have left me wishing I had gone elsewhere. Expect AT LEAST 2-3 weeks for your order to process and no response to email inquiries (that will be your email's fault of course, though mine works fine for some 1500 or so emails per month). I resorted to calling, which they try on their website to discourage (imagine that), only to be met with complete indifference. I turned to Paypal in exasperation and filed a complaint which they still refused to respond to. My final call today was met by rudeness but they at least (finally) did ask who I was and actually checked on the order.
Posted by Barbara  on  Mon Jun 30, 2008  at  01:04 PM
Barbara's experience (above) was fairly similar to mine. I tried contacting them many many times by email about my order that was wrong. Nobody ever responded back until I filed with paypal. I then heard back from them promptly and was told that their email had been down.

They finally sent the correct item, but it took about 2 months total time and filing a grievance with paypal to get the order filled properly.
Posted by Leigh  on  Mon Jun 30, 2008  at  01:39 PM
Strange, I've ordered lots of stuff from them and haven't had anything but good experiences. I've ordered many items from them through out the years for various science fairs for my siblings. (Magnet sphere suspending a metal ball in the middle. and some other cool things) Yes, if you order during a high ordering time then it will take some time to get your order. Avoid holidays or when science fairs are going on and you should get the item in 7-10 days. They discourage calling because that takes time out of filling orders.
Posted by Brendan  on  Sat Nov 01, 2008  at  10:17 PM
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