4 ms·
The difficulty with creating nuclear weapons has been 99% in refining and processing the fuel, not the structure of them, for a very long time.
by lazide 4mo ago
The difficulty with creating nuclear weapons has been 99% in refining and processing the fuel, not the structure of them, for a very long time.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 4mo agoTrue for fission bombs. Less true for fusion bombs. The principal makeup and manufacturing of fusion device parts like tampers are still unknown to the public. Having a supply of HEU does not tell you how to assemble a functional triple stage device or how to utilize tritium, an isotope that measurably decreases in purity by the day.
- lazide 4mo ago[flagged]
- ickyforce 4mo agoseriously, what was the point of this comment?
- HeatrayEnjoyer 4mo agoWas something I said unclear? The purpose was to clarify that the obstacles to constructing modern nuclear weapons is not accurately characterized as "99%" fuel-related. Even if a group were to obtain a stockpile of ready HEU and plutonium-239, there is knowledge they simply will not have because they did not spend a trillion USD testing different bomb configurations last century. The difference in yield is two orders of magnitude.
- lazide 4mo agoAka this has zero relevance to the proliferation discussion. Anyone having the problem you are describing long ago already created a basic nuclear stockpile. Notably, neither China nor Russia seemed to have issues creating Thermonuclear weapons despite the shortcomings you identified either.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4mo agoAnd that is relevant how? I'm sure something in the few dozen kilotons range doesn't need all that stuff, while still giving you more than enough heat-rays to "enjoy".
- chasd00 4mo agoYou need a fission bomb to ignite a fusion bomb btw.