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I think modern US designs are fusion boosted, making them immune to predetonation. Older experiments are increasingly dangerous, especially high-yield uranium g

I think modern US designs are fusion boosted, making them immune to predetonation. Older experiments are increasingly dangerous, especially high-yield uranium guns.

SlickNixon 4y ago
Fission, boosted, or fusion all start with a fission bomb with a possibility to fizzle.
- ttyprintk 4y ago
  Can an implosion bomb designed in the 100t yield range go ambient supercritical even in the presence of a neutron reflector?
  - KMag 4y ago
    You forgot to add "asking for a friend" ;)
skorpeon87 4y ago
A single bomb core is a sub-critical mass; needing either neutron reflectors or another source of neutrons to start a chain reaction. But if you pile a bunch of such cores up together like they were cannon balls, that inherent safety goes right out the window.
- ttyprintk 4y ago
  In the context of this blog post, which explosive parts should we mothball and which ones are too dangerous to store intact, it’s unwise to store pre-boosted plutonium cores at all. But, as a thought experiment, what is the difference between a pile of boosted-era plutonium cores; and a weird but moderated reactor? Specifically, does an arbitrarily-sized pile of weapons-grade plutonium marbles have the same inevitability of criticality you expect than if those are designed for use in boosted triggers?