255 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
255 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
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"The problem of nuclear weapon proliferation will not be solved until the
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root cause is attacked. This is the belief that nuclear weapons are desirable
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things to have, whether for use in fighting wars, in deterring and/or
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intimidating adversaries, or only as symbols of technological power or
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political equality with the mighty. Until all these motivations are shown to
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be empty, and until nuclear weapons are outlawed by a world consensus that
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they are too dangerous, politically and militarily counter-productive and
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morally unacceptable, the threat of nuclear proliferation will remain."
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p.83, Uranium Enrichment & Nuclear Weapon Proliferation, SIPRI, A. Krass et al.
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IMPLOSION ASSEMBLY
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The idea here is to have a hollow shell of fissionable material, and compress
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it using carefully placed surrounding explosives. By pressuring the material
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into a smaller volume, you increase the density. By doing so, you increase the
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probability of a neutron split over neutron loss. You need a precise spherical
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shock wave for compression.
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The collapsed core is then irradiated with external neutrons to start fission.
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The number of nuclei fissioning during later generations is proportional to
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how many nuclei you have fissioning initially. This depends on the initial
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neutron flux.
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Fusion Boosting
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At the centre of the core you can have solid Li6D. Some time before detonation
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you could also inject the core with T gas, from some exterior device. The idea
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is to achieve a fusion reaction in the central pit.
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During implosion, the core gains a high enough temperature and
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pressure for fusion reactions to occur. The synergy between fusion and fission
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reactions greatly improves chain reaction efficiency. Neutrons released from
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fusion have much higher energies than those released via fission processes.
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When these ultra fast neutrons hit U-235 nuclei, the splitting releases more
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neutrons than when U-235 are hit with fission neutrons. The chain reaction
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multiplies rapidly, leading to higher temperatures, and more fusion. The
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ultimate result is more U-235 splitting than you would have without the
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boost.
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The shell may be made of U-235 or Pu-239. The first Chinese test employed
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a U-235 shell.
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Another technique is to introduce a tamper of some sort, which is another shell
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surrounding the fissionable material. This shell is usually made of
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Beryllium or U-238. It's purpose is to reflect escaping neutrons back into
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the reaction. This has the effect of reducing the amount of fissionable
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material needed for a reaction.
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The Fat Man bomb used a hollow core, but present day weapons might employ a
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solid (subcritical) core of fissile material. The density increase in a solid
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core reduces the amount of critical mass required for a chain reaction. This
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is because the reaction cross section is substantially increased.
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Core Levitation
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To increase the impact of the tamper on the fissionable shell, you can
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levitate the shell. You leave an air gap between the two materials. This
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has the effect of increasing momentum transfer, and hence facilitating
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implosion. According to Ted Taylor, in John McPhee's book (see Refs):
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"[Taylor] said there was something about the structure of implosion
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bombs that he had not gone into, and that he could not go into, which
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contributed greatly to their yield... 'All I can say is this: They
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had known all along that the way to get more energy into the middle was
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to hit the core harder. When you hammer a nail, what do you do? Do you
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put the hammer on the nail and push?'"
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============================================================================
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[1] Uranium Detonator
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-----------------
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Comprised of 2 parts. Larger mass is spherical and concave.
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Smaller mass is precisely the size and shape of the `missing'
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section of the larger mass. Upon detonation of conventional
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explosive, the smaller mass is violently injected and welded
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to the larger mass. Supercritical mass is reached, chain
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reaction follows in one millionth of a second.
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[2] Plutonium Detonator
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-------------------
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Comprised of 32 individual 45-degree pie-shaped sections of
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Plutonium surrounding a Beryllium/Polonium mixture. These 32
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sections together form a sphere. All of these sections must
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have the precisely equal mass (and shape) of the others. The
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shape of the detonator resembles a soccerball. Upon detonation
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of conventional explosives, all 32 sections must merge with the
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B/P mixture within 1 ten-millionths of a second.
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____________________________________________________________________________
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- Diagram -
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-------------
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____________________________________________________________________________
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[Uranium Detonator] | [Plutonium Detonator]
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______________________________________|_____________________________________
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_____ |
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| :| | . [2] .
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| :| | . ~ \_/ ~ .
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| [2]:| | .. . ..
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| :| | [2]| . |[2]
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| .:| | . ~~~ . . . ~~~ .
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`...::' | . . . . .
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_ ~~~ _ | . . ~ . .
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. `| |':.. | [2]\. . . . [1] . . . ./[2]
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. | | `:::. | ./ . ~~~ . \.
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| | `::: | . . : . .
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. | | :::: | . . . . .
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| [1] | ::|:: | . ___ . ___ .
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. `. .' ,::||: | [2]| . |[2]
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~~~ ::|||: | .' _ `.
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.. [2] .::|||:' | . / \ .
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::... ..::||||:' | ~ -[2]- ~
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:::::::::::::||||::' |
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``::::||||||||:'' |
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``:::::'' |
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[1] = Collision Point | [1] = Collision Point
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[2] - Uranium Section(s) | [2] = Plutonium Section(s)
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______________________________________|_____________________________________
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============================================================================
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- Diagram for Plutonium Bomb -
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--------------------------------
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[Gravity Bomb - Implosion Model]
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--------------------------------
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-> Cutaway Sections Visible <-
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============================================================================
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/\
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/ \ <---------------------------[1]
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/ \
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_________________/______\_________________
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[2]-------> | : ||: : |
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| :______||:_____________________________: |
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|/_______||/______________________________\|
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\ ~\ | : |:| /
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\ |\ | : |:| /
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\ | \ | :__________|:| /
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\ |:_\ | :__________\:| /
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\ |___\ |______________| /
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\ | \ |~ \ /
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\|_______\|_________________\_/
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|_____________________________|
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/ \
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/ \
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/ \
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/ _______________ \
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/ ___/ \___ \
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/____ __/ \__ ____\
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[3]_______________________________ \ ___|
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/ __/ \ \__ \
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/ / \/ \ \
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/ / ___________ \ \
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/ / __/___________\__ \ \
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./ /__ ___ /=================\ ___ __\ \.
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[4]-------> ___||___|====|[[[[[|||||||]]]]]|====|___||___ <------[4]
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/ / |=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=| <-------------------[5]
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.' / \_______ _______/ \ `.
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: |___ |*| ___| :
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.' | \_________________ |*| _________________/ | `.
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: | ___________ ___ \ |*| / ___ ___________ | :
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: |__/ \ / \_\\*//_/ \ / \__| :
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: |______________:|:____:: **::****:|:********\ <---------[6]
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.' /:|||||||||||||'`|;..:::::::::::..;|'`|||||||*|||||:\ `.
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[7]----------> ||||||' .:::;~|~~~___~~~|~;:::. `|||||*|| <-------[7]
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: |:|||||||||' .::'\ ..:::::::::::.. /`::. `|||*|||||:| :
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: |:|||||||' .::' .:::''~~ ~~``:::. `::. `|\***\|:| :
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: |:|||||' .::\ .::''\ | [9] | /``::: /::. `|||*|:| :
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[8]------------>::' .::' \|_________|/ `::: `::. `|* <-----[6]
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`. \:||' .::' ::'\ [9] . . . [9] /::: `::. *|:/ .'
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: \:' :::'.::' \ . . / `::.`::: *:/ :
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: | .::'.::'____\ [10] . [10] /____`::.`::.*| :
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: | :::~::: | . . . | :::~:::*| :
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: | ::: :: [9] | . . ..:.. . . | [9] :: :::*| :
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: \ ::: :: | . :\_____________________________[11]
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`. \`:: ::: ____| . . . |____ ::: ::'/ .'
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: \:;~`::. / . [10] [10] . \ .::'~::/ :
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`. \:. `::. / . . . \ .::' .:/ .'
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: \:. `:::/ [9] _________ [9] \:::' .:/ :
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`. \::. `:::. /| |\ .:::' .::/ .'
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: ~~\:/ `:::./ | [9] | \.:::' \:/~~ :
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`:=========\::. `::::... ...::::' .::/=========:'
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`: ~\::./ ```:::::::::''' \.::/~ :'
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`. ~~~~~~\| ~~~ |/~~~~~~ .'
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`. \:::...:::/ .'
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`. ~~~~~~~~~ .'
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`. .'
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`:. .:'
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`::. .::'
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`::.. ..::'
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`:::.. ..:::'
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`::::::... ..::::::'
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[12]------------------> `:____:::::::::::____:' <-----------------[12]
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```::::_____::::'''
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~~~~~
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============================================================================
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- Diagram Outline -
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---------------------
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[1] - Tail Cone
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[2] - Stabilizing Tail Fins
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[3] - Air Pressure Detonator
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[4] - Air Inlet Tube(s)
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[5] - Altimeter/Pressure Sensors
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[6] - Electronic Conduits & Fusing Circuits
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[7] - Lead Shield Container
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[8] - Neutron Deflector (U-238)
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[9] - Conventional Explosive Charge(s)
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[10] - Plutonium (Pu-239)
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[11] - Receptacle for Beryllium/Polonium mixture
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to facilitate atomic detonation reaction.
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[12] - Fuses (inserted to arm bomb)
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============================================================================
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1994
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