4 ms·
Any damage to the warhead would likely make it impossible to have a nuclear reaction. In order to do that, the warhead would have to explode multiple precisely
by robryk 9y ago
Any damage to the warhead would likely make it impossible to have a nuclear reaction. In order to do that, the warhead would have to explode multiple precisely shaped conventional explosives with precise timing. If any one of them was deformed, nothing (apart from the small conventional explosion) would happen, even if all the safeguards incorrectly decided to explode the warhead.
- robotresearcher 9y agoparent was concerned about > risking nuclear contamination. not a nuclear explosion. A conventional boom could spread radioactive materials all over.
- robryk 9y agoEDIT: I was wrong. See the child for correction. There are no radioactive materials in the warhead. In other words: there are no materials that undergo radioactive decay. What is in there are fissile materials: ie. materials that emit neutrons upon being irradiated with neutrons. The only way the warhead might become radioactive is if it partially detonated.