Fatal Strike: Mercenary Road of Gunfire Ranger-Chapter 1028 - 962: Counterintuitive Nuclear Material Trade

Nuclear material itself isn't all that remarkable; smuggling nuclear material at the US-Mexico border is not quite routine, but it's not a life-and-death problem either...

But at this moment, Kobe's full attention has been drawn...

In the future, he needs to coordinate a lot of work, including sorting out how much nuclear material has entered the border through this smuggling route and digging out all these people to find their connection with Death Angel.

Most importantly, he needs to use the current situation to unify the forces of the corrupt line and complete the encirclement of Death Angel with their help.

It turns out these nuclear materials are not as important as people imagine...

There's a very counterintuitive revelation: the price of nuclear material has never been high.

Nuclear uranium with a concentration of 3% to 5%, used commercially, has a market price of less than US$ 1,500 per kilogram.

This is the fundamental reason many countries vigorously develop nuclear energy...

Because raw materials are cheap!

A kilogram of nuclear fuel at 5% concentration generates about 570,000 kilowatt-hours, roughly equivalent to the power output of 700 tons of coal.

And how much does 700 tons of coal cost?

Calculating based on the current market median price of US$ 70 per ton, it would cost nearly US$ 50,000.

Even nuclear fuel at 18% concentration wouldn't have a particularly outrageous market price; twenty thousand dollars is about the limit.

Just there's a catch: uranium trading faces strict regulation, and ordinary people or even top businessmen find it hard to buy from the market, thus smuggling prices can be ten or even twenty times higher.

However, even then, 6 kilograms of enriched uranium at 18% concentration would cost just about US$ 2 million at the most.

Of course, if sold to terrorists, the price might multiply by ten again, yet fundamentally this transaction is unfeasible because no one can bear the consequences.

In the past, the Mexican Gang smuggled nuclear fuel calculated by tons, some even simply raw uranium ore like earth and stones; they transported these from ports to the United States, where American companies took over.

Sometimes this wasn't even illegal but rather non-compliant operations by American nuclear energy companies aiming to lower costs.

It's not just the United States; many countries around the world have done it...

Go to the uranium mining sites, contact the locals, purchase the uranium ore at earth-and-stone prices, and transport them back...

A ton of uranium ore costs about US$ 200,000, just how much does a ton of soil and stones cost?

The price difference here can sometimes reach thousands of times, enough to make related companies take risks.

Uranium is extraordinarily dangerous, but mere talk of quantity without discussing concentration is sheer hooliganism...

Without adequate processing means, uranium ore is merely harmful earth and stones to humans.

Therefore, in the past, major crime syndicates like Sinoloa dealing with nuclear fuel smuggling won by sheer volume, and their partners were inevitably major American corporations.

But later they got caught once, realized this stuff isn't only dangerous but less profitable compared to drugs, so they gave up.

Now appearing here, nuclear fuel at 18% concentration already approaches the upper limit of 20% concentration for commercial nuclear fuel.

This is an extremely sensitive concentration, especially when the United States faces a dirty bomb threat; the appearance of this stuff will undoubtedly attract huge attention.

Mountain Eagle now believes that if all these are orchestrated by Death Angel, then he must hate the people on this line intensely, aiming to eradicate them.

Los Zetas may act recklessly, but they're not foolish enough to send such enriched uranium through their channels into the United States to unknown people.

Thus, there must be someone inside the United States providing a guarantee, most likely a certain laboratory since nuclear energy companies don't need this concentration of nuclear fuel; only those labs do.

Outsiders might not see through, but Mountain Eagle already has; Death Angel aims to use this series of events to expose a range of problems inside the United States.

Specifically whether he wants to incite turmoil during the US change of administration time to alleviate the ISIS pressure in Syria or has other motives, Mountain Eagle can't tell...

But one thing is clear: Death Angel certainly won't settle for small gains, as Mountain Eagle initially speculated, Death Angel wants to negotiate, and will certainly surface himself!

To put it simply, Mountain Eagle never felt responsible to the United States regarding the dirty bomb issue; his goal from the beginning was to leverage for revenge and then find an opportunity to eliminate Death Angel...

Solving the dirty bomb crisis as a result would be excellent, but if not, that's the United States' problem.

Mountain Eagle even believes the dirty bomb won't explode as long as Death Angel survives!

The actual power of a dirty bomb is really minimal; if placed in a desolate area, it poses no threat.

According to intelligence, Death Angel previously detonated one in a remote small town in the eastern United States to prove possession, but its destructive power was very small, and after the news was sealed, Americans didn't know what happened?

The reality is this thing only threatens when placed in core areas of the United States, those places where property prices exceed US$ 100,000 per square foot, and its menace exists only when not exploded!

Once the dirty bomb blows up, it's a second 9/11, and ISIS would inevitably plunge into an irreversible abyss, and even much of the Arab World would face exclusion from secular politics.

A guy who could mobilize so many people into a frenzy wouldn't do something unprofitable like this.

Therefore, Mountain Eagle can't be as anxious as Kobe; his focus is entirely different...

While Kobe was deploying his subordinates to take over the scene, starting to load the women and children onto the vehicles, a convoy of police and civilian vehicles reached a position only a few kilometers from the farm.

Mountain Eagle didn't have time to keep comforting the little girl who showed strong reliance on him. He repeatedly instructed Kobe to send these people across the border, then turned to drive a car to the previous battleground, dismantling the Fire God from the fallen Black Hawk helicopter under the watchful eyes of Department of Homeland Security field agents, loading it onto the car, and reuniting with Robbin and Galahad, setting up a deadly trap on the highway near the farm...

Galahad watched Mountain Eagle rush in with a pickup to his position. The old guy stood up with a still sore old spine, looking astonished at Mountain Eagle single-handedly lugging the heavy Fire God down, even carrying the massive ammunition box single-handedly to the ground.

The old guy knew about what happened at the farm but didn't know the specific situation...

Watching Mountain Eagle prepared to wipe them out, Galahad shook his head with a sigh and said, "What are you doing?

First you set up the Broadsword on the road, now the Fire God...

Mountain Eagle, we aren't even sure who exactly is coming?

The convoy includes police vehicles, once we..."

Mountain Eagle set up a tripod, hammering rivets into the support legs of the stand, and while efficiently arranging Fire God, he said coldly, "The main force of Los Zetas got dragged in New Laredo, looking like they're preparing to fully trap those special forces and then negotiate with Mexican officials.

Los Zetas cannot send people here, New Laredo's police are even less likely to come over. So the ones coming either are people 'Arthur' arranged or those who want Kobe dead.

I lean towards the latter...

I promised Kobe to help him strike the corrupt line at the US and Mexico border; I intend to keep my word!"

Galahad watched Mountain Eagle skillfully manipulate the 'Fire God.' He nodded slightly and said, "Then it must hurt terribly when you strike."

Saying so, Galahad took out the infrared telescope, observing the roadside below where Robbin had finished setting up the Claymore Mine and retreated towards the hillside...

Galahad sighed and said, "30 Claymore mines, why would those mercenaries lose with so much stuff?"

Mountain Eagle didn't offer much explanation; smiling, he tested the electric activation of Fire God, ensuring it was running smoothly for triggering, checked his watch, and said with a smile, "Maybe because evil can never triumph over justice!

Later you keep a close watch, once confirmed no survivors left on the other side, we'll head to New Laredo time zone to catch 'Arthur.'

'White Whale' is already caught, once this old woman is dealt with, your mission and Robbin's are done!

Afterward, whether you want to reorganize 'Holy Grail Knight' or retire to a peaceful life, it's your choice."