> I think you over-estimate the abilities of sane quantities of anfo.
> a decent concrete bunker with a fair bit of thickness to it, 10-20
> meters of steel + concrete in a plug would do the job well enough that
> the semi of anfo could be better applied to a local seat of government.

Maybe :-).
It would help if you can tie the "plug" of concrete out into local bedrock etc.
Maybe

> You *could* blow it with less stuff, but your going to need more bang
> than thump (ie something other than anfo),

ANFO is a true detonation.
It does need confinement to get going well, but farmers remove the
largest of tree roots with ease. And this is just another large root
;-). Efficacy is about 0.4 TNT (which is not to be sneezed at) and you
can get better results with Aluminum powder and/or Nitromethane.
Perlite may be useful if ... what say I stop there. Wikipedia knows
far too much already anyway ... :-)
           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANFO

> to drill a bunch of very deep
> holes (which a few sheets of high hardness armor steel in the mix would
> make very difficult) and use a pretty decent timed detonation sequence.

Yes. I didn't see them targeting the core - just drilling sloping
holes under it with a power augur. You can defend against (almost)
anything with enough money and effort. At stome stage the marines and
black helicopters get cheaper. And along the way the 'electricity too
cheap to meter" starts to get even more expensive.

But even the potential viability of such an approach would drive the
fear factor and thus also insurance costs (even further) through the
roof, and to date nuclear reactors of any sort have NEVER been
open-market insured. In a true open market situation there has never
been any question of economic viability due to insurance issues alone.
It doesn't matter if the invisible hand is irrationally scared or
rationally scared - if it says it won't touch the industry at any sane
cost level then it's not open market viable. The whole nuclear power
industry depends utterly on government liability guarantees.

> I would happily have the first one under my back yard if they did the
> landscaping while they were at it and hooked me up for free.

And James Newton is on record re taking a few cubic meters of concrete
around a nuclear waste source as a heat supply for his section on
similar terms. I'd even consider that if there were enough of them to
spread the risk of mine being targeted.

> Personally I think fusion power is the answer to most of the problems we
> face and is worth any amount of money to get.

That's long been my thought too.
Once the desperation levels get high enough, strip mining the lunar
surface is expected to turn up enough He3 to supply the world's energy
needs with relative ease. Getting the technology working for He3
fusion is left as an exercise for the student.


  R
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