4 ms·
I believe the highest risk is that some unplanned external influence sets off the trigger mechanism. As you said, the nuclear core itself will not spontaneously
by yccs27 4y ago
I believe the highest risk is that some unplanned external influence sets off the trigger mechanism. As you said, the nuclear core itself will not spontaneously explode from an impact, but there are surrounding explosives designed to mke the core achieve criticality - can we be sure they don't accomplish their goal unintentionally?
- samus 4y agoThe activation of the explosives has to be precisely aligned, else it will just explode and distribute the nuclear material over the surrounding area. Events that happen on the scale of microseconds determine the success and final yield of the nuclear chain reaction. Therefore, an uncontrolled detonation of the explosions is likely to thwart the reaction from happening.
- yccs27 4y agoI‘m with you there, it‘s very unlikely. Still, it doesn’t feel comfortable when failing to successfully detonate might become the only thing preventing a nuclear disaster.