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Among others, Japan and South Korea will get nuclear weapons. Taiwan had a nuclear weapons program in the past, and in the '95-'96 Taiwan Straits crisis, its pr

Among others, Japan and South Korea will get nuclear weapons. Taiwan had a nuclear weapons program in the past, and in the '95-'96 Taiwan Straits crisis, its president made a declaration hinting at restarting the program [1], only to backpedal a few days later, presumably due to international pressure (mainly from the US). Taiwan currently has nuclear power plants, so, if it wants to procure Plutonium for weapons, it can. For the time being, it appears Taiwan is not trying at this point to acquire nukes, mainly because it still thinks the US security umbrella is sufficient. South Korea and especially Japan are much closer to being able to build nukes, if they so desire. I personally heard the former US defense secretary, Robert Gates, stating that he thinks Japan can get nukes in a matter of weeks. So, if China takes over Taiwan, there won't be anything in the world to stop Japan from getting nukes, and South Korea may join the party too. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Republic_of_China%27s_nuclear_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Republic_of_Ch...

beaunative 5y ago
nuclear fussion and fission are two very different reactions. It would require significant amount of work to transfer the content of power planet to an atomic bomb
- credit_guy 5y ago
  Not sure what you're getting at. The spent rods from nuclear reactors contain Plutonium, which is quite trivial to separate chemically. If Japan wants to do that it can certainly can do it (and it's likely they already stockpiled some Plutonium for a rainy day). Plutonium can then be used to make a Nagasaki-type bomb. Nothing to do with fusion. If someone wants to go further and make a hydrogen bomb (i.e. fusion-based), that's also possible, but fission-based atomic bombs are good enough to provide deterrence.
  - beaunative 5y ago
    Well, in your case, it would still require extensive testing, it's not a flip the coin kind of thing, otherwise you are effectively setting off a nuclear bomb on your homeland.

beaunative 5y ago

nuclear fussion and fission are two very different reactions. It would require significant amount of work to transfer the content of power planet to an atomic bomb

credit_guy 5y ago
Not sure what you're getting at. The spent rods from nuclear reactors contain Plutonium, which is quite trivial to separate chemically. If Japan wants to do that it can certainly can do it (and it's likely they already stockpiled some Plutonium for a rainy day). Plutonium can then be used to make a Nagasaki-type bomb. Nothing to do with fusion. If someone wants to go further and make a hydrogen bomb (i.e. fusion-based), that's also possible, but fission-based atomic bombs are good enough to provide deterrence.
- beaunative 5y ago
  Well, in your case, it would still require extensive testing, it's not a flip the coin kind of thing, otherwise you are effectively setting off a nuclear bomb on your homeland.