Free use Section VERSION http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1.html July COPYRIGHT 14,1.11 1.

0: 1995 of CAREY this Types SUBLETTE material of Nuclear is hereby Weapons granted provided that proper attribution is Nuclear weapons can be grouped into different classes based on the nuclear react given. ions that provide their destructive energy, and on the details of their design. The popular division of nuclear weapons into fission bombs and fusion bombs is n ot entirely satisfactory. The spectrum of weapon design is more complex than thi s simple classification implies. All nuclear weapons so far invented require fis sion to initiate the explosive release of energy. Weapons that incorporate fusio n fuel can do so in various ways, with different intended effects. This section attempts to survey the basic types of bomb designs systematically. More detailed and discussions design principles of the physics of each type will be covered in more detail in later secti 1.1 ons. 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Section A http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_1.html nuclear variety Terminology U.S. Units Pure Combined Cobalt 1.1: reactions weapons, Nuclear Fission of of Bombs Terminology names Measurement Fission/Fusion fission Test Weapons are atomic Names used bombs, bombs for Weapons weapons fusion (A-Bombs), bombs, thathydrogen release thermonuclear energy(H-Bombs), bombs through (not to ment weapons ion "physicsis terminology package" probably and in"device"). order. TheAearliest few comments name for about such a weapon appears to be "atomic bomb". This has been criticized as a misnomer since all chemical exp losives generate energy from reactions between atoms - that is, between intact a toms consisting of both the atomic nucleus and electron shells. Further the fiss ion weapon to which "atomic bomb" is applied is no more "atomic" than fusion wea pons are. However the name is firmly attached to the pure fission weapon, and we ll accepted by historians, the public, and by the scientists who created the fir st nuclear weapons.Since the distinguishing feature of both fission and fusion w eapons is that they release energy from transformations of the atomic nucleus, t he best general term for all types of these explosive devices is "nuclear weapon " (hence the name of this FAQ). Fusion weapons are called "hydrogen bombs" (H-B ombs) because isotopes of hydrogen are principal components of the nuclear react ions involved. In fact, in the earliest fusion bomb designs deuterium (hydrogen2) was the sole fusion fuel. Fusion weapons are called "thermonuclear weapons" b ecause discussing Section Before http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_2.html high 1.2:temperatures U.S. U.S. Nuclear nuclear are Test required Names the tests, for designation the fusion reactions system used to to occur. identify th e tests and each bomb that is tested should be clarified. Each test bomb has a c ode name that identifies it, the actual test has another code name. Thus the fir st atomic was testedbomb in operation was called Trinity. Gadget,The andearly it test operations were conducted as par t of ascale large test operation series, a where many scientists, support technicians, military perso nnel, etc. assemble in order to set off and observe a number of devices over sev eral weeks or months. This test series has another code name. For example the se cond and third test explosions of nuclear weapons (which were the fourth and fif th nuclear explosions of course) were part of the Crossroads test series. The tw o tests were designated Able and Baker. In the early test series, the same test names were reused several times. Thus there was an Able test in the Crossroads, Ranger, and Tumbler-Snapper Buster-Jangle, test series. To unambiguously identify each test the convent ion is to list the series code name, followed by the test name: Crossroads Able, Ranger Able, and so on. After mid-1952 unique test names began to be used, so t hat this convention necessary. However it was isno useful longer tostrictly specify the series as well, so this FAQ makes the practice of identifying all tests by the series-test combination. After 196 1 the test series system was dropped as underground testing in Nevada became rou tine, all Series. There of which was aare final considered series of part open ofair thetesting Nevada in the Pacific (the Pacific Series)in 1962, and a few special test programs (Plowshare, Vela Uniform Seismi c Detonation) but starting in 1961 all tests are identified simply by their test names. The code names of the actual devices are generally not well known. Many remained be testedclassified once, identifying until recently the device (or by still theare). test in Since which a bomb it was candetonated only is unambiguous. In the open literature the test name has usually been used to desig nateyield Section The http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_3.html the1.3: bomb of nuclear Units that of was weapons Measurement tested, isausually convention measured followed in megatons, here as well. kilotons (or even just tons), depending on yield. These units of measurement are derived from atte mpts to compare the explosive force of a bomb to conventional explosives, the or iginal intention was to equate it with tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT) - a workhor se military explosive. This presented problems very quickly. Which tons are bein g referred to short tons, long tons, metric tons (tonnes)? And the explosive for ce of TNT is not exactly a universal constant. The energy release is affected by things such as charge density, degree of confinement, and temperature. Energy outputs ranging over 980-1100 calories/g are reported. To simplify things, kilotons (me gatons,unit metric etc.) equal wereto redefined exactly 10^12 to be calories a (4.186x10^12 joules). Thus treating kilotons as a metric mass measurement (kilotonnes) of TNT gives a value of 1000 c/g, well within the reported range, while treating it as "kilo short tons of TN

T" gives 1102 c/g, at the extreme upper end of the reported range. Thus a kiloto n can be called a "kilo metric ton of TNT" and a "kilo short ton of TNT" with ab out equal Section These http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_4.html are 1.4: validity. weapons Pure that Fission only Weapons use fission reactions as a source of energy.Fission bombs operate by rapidly assembling a subcritical configuration of fissionable m aterial into one that is highly supercritical. The original atomic bombs tested in July, 1945 and dropped on Japan in August, 1945 were pure fission weapons. Th ere are practical limits to the size of pure fission bombs. Larger bombs require more fissionable material, which 1) becomes increasingly difficult to maintain as a subcritical mass before detonation and 2) makes it harder to assemble into a high efficiency supercritical mass before stray neutrons cause predetonation. Due to secrecy, and the boosting issue described below, it is somewhat difficult to identify the largest pure fission bomb ever tested for certain. It may have been the 500 kt Ivy King test (11/15/52), but the UK 720 kt test (5/31/57) is al so anuclear Section All http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_5.html candidate. 1.5:weapons Combined that Fission/Fusion are not pureWeapons fission weapons use fusion reactions to en hance their destructive effects. All weapons that use fusion require a fission b omb to provide the energy to initiate the fusion reactions. This does not necess arily mean that fusion generates a significant amount of the explosive energy, o r that Section The http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_5.html earliest explosive 1.5.1: application Boosted force Fission isof even fusion the to Weapons desired useful effect. weapons was the development of boos ted fission weapons. In these weapons several grams of a deuterium/tritium gas m ixture are included in the center of the fissionable core. When the bomb core un dergoes enough fission, it becomes hot enough to ignite the D-T fusion reaction which proceeds swiftly. This reaction produces an intense burst of high-energy n eutrons that causes a correspondingly intense burst of fissions in the core. Thi s greatly accelerates the fission rate in the core, thus allowing a much higher percentage of the material in the core to fission before it blows apart. Typical ly no more than about 20% of the material in a pure fission bomb will split befo re the reaction ends (it can be much lower, the Hiroshima bomb was 1.4% efficien t). By accelerating the fission process a boosted fission bomb can raise this to as much as 50% (an unboosted 20 kt bomb can thus become a 40 kt bomb). The actu al amount of energy released by the fusion reaction is negligible, about 1% of t he bomb's yield, making boosted bomb tests difficult to distinguish from pure fi ssion of tritium testsis (detecting about thetraces only way). Due to the marked increase in yield today mos t fission bombs are boosted, including those used as triggers in true fission-fu sion weapons. Boosting multiplies the yield of fission bombs, but still has the same fundamental fission bomb design problems for high yield designs. The boosti ng technique is most valuable in small light weight bombs that would otherwise h ave low efficiency. Tritium is a very expensive material to make, and it decays at a rate of 5.5% per year, but the small amounts required for boosting make its Section These http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_5.html use economical. weapons 1.5.2:use Staged fusion Fission-Fusion reactions involving and Fission-Fusion-Fission isotopes of light elements Weapons(e.g. hy drogen and lithium) to remove the yield limits of fission and boosted fission de signs, to reduce weapon cost by reducing the amount of costly enriched uranium o r plutonium required for a given yield, and to reduce the weight of the bomb. Th e fusion reactions occur in a package of fusion fuel that is physically separate from the fission trigger, thus creating a two-stage bomb (the fission trigger c ounts as the first stage). The energy produced by the fusion second stage can be used to ignite an even larger fusion third stage. Multiple staging allows in pr inciple the creation of bombs of virtually unlimited size. The fusion reactions areBy 1) 2) used directly using to high-energy boost releasing the yield or a "fast" large in two amount neutrons ways:of generated energy in by fusion fusion reactions; to release energy through fissioning of U-238 in the form of natural or depleted uranium, which i s ordinarily considered non-fissionable. Bombs that release a significant amount of energy directly by fusion, but do not use fusion neutrons to fission U-238, are called Fission-Fusion weapons. If they employ the additional step of fast-fi ssioning U-238 they are called Fission-Fusion-Fission weapons. Bombs that are bi lled as "clean" bombs (a relative term) obtain a large majority of their total y ield from fusion. These are always fission-fusion bombs, the fusion-fraction of these designs as demonstrated in tests has been as high as 97%. Fission-fusion-f ission bomb are dirty, but they have superior "bang for the buck" and "pow per p ound". They generate a large amount of fission fallout since fission accounts fo r much of their yield. A fission-fusion-fission weapon can have a fission fracti on well above 50% (Ivy Mike, 11/1/52, had a fission fraction of 77%).The staging

concept allows the use as fuel pure deuterium, or varying mixtures of lithium 6 and 7 in the form of a compound with deuterium (lithium 6/7 deuteride). These n atural stable isotopes are vastly cheaper than the artificially made and radioac tive tritium. Three stage designs have been tested and deployed to produce very high yield weapons. The largest nuclear explosion ever set off (50 mt) was a Sov iet three stage fission-fusion-fission design. The test omitted the final fissio n blanket Section Andrei http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_5.html Sakharov 1.5.3: however, Theso and Soviet Vitalii that Layer it Ginzburg wasCake actually jointly Design a devised _150 mt_adesign! synergistic fission-fusio n scheme dubbed the "Layer Cake" that was developed into a deliverable weapon by the Soviet Union prior to their development of the staged designs described abo ve. This design is something of a hybrid and could be considered either a type o f boosted fission device, or a one-stage type of fission-fusion-fission bomb. Th e layer cake design is so named because it used concentric shells of U-235/Pu-23 9, a U-238 fission tamper, a layer of lithium-6 deuteride and tritium, and a U-2 38 fusion tamper. The fisson bomb in the center started a coupled fission-fusion -fission chain reaction. Slower fission neutrons generated tritium from the lith ium, which then fused to produce very fast neutrons that in turm caused addition al fissions in the fusion tamper. In effect the fusion fuel acted as a neutron a ccelerator allowing a fission chain reaction to occur with a large normally nonfissionable U-238 mass. The fusion fraction is fairly small, 15-20%, and cannot be increased beyond this point. This design is also limited to the same yield ra nge as pure fission and boosted fission weapons. Although apparently not used in any weapons now in service, it remains a viable design that should probably be considered Section Neutron http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_5.html 1.5.4: bombs distinct are Neutron nuclear fromBombs other weapons classes whereof the nuclear burst of weapons. neutrons generated by a fus ion reaction is intentionally not absorbed, but allowed to escape. The intense b urst of high-energy neutrons is the principle destructive mechanism. High energy neutrons are not readily stopped by most materials. The U.S. has developed neut ron bombs for use as anti-missile weapons (the approximately 20 kt warhead for t he Sprint missile), and as an anti-personnel weapon against armored forces (low kiloton weapons developed both as artillery and missile warheads). More than one approach may exist for designing these weapons, the issue is discussed in Secti on 4. Neutron bombs may generate a large part of their energy from fusion, but n ot necessarily. The Lance missile warhead developed by the U.S. gained about 60% of its energy from fusion, the rest from the fission trigger. Tactical neutron bombs are primarily intended to kill soldiers who are protected by armor. Armore d vehicles are very resistant to blast and heat produced by nuclear weapons, but steel armor can reduce neutron radiation by only a modest amount so the lethal range from neutrons greatly exceeds that of other weapon effects. The lethal ran ge for tactical neutron bombs can exceed the lethal range for blast and heat eve n for unprotected troops. Armor can absorb neutrons and neutron energy, thus red ucing the neutron radiation to which the tank crew is exposed, but this offset t o some extent by the fact that armor can also react harmfully with neutrons. All oy steels for example can develop induced radioactivity that remains dangerous f or some time. When fast neutrons are slowed down, the energy lost can show up as x-rays. Some types of armor, like that of the M-1 tank, employ depleted uranium which can undergo fast fission, generating additional neutrons and becoming rad ioactive. Special neutron absorbing armor techniques have also been developed, s uch as armors containing boronated plastics and the use of vehicle fuel as a shi Section eld. This http://astro.uchicago.edu:80/home/web/jeffb/abomb/nfaq1_6.html design 1.6:is Cobalt reminiscent Bombs of fission-fusion-fission weapons, but a thick cobalt metal blanket is used to capture the fusion neutrons to maximize the fallout ha zard from the weapon (this is also called "salting"). Instead of generating addi tional explosive force (and dangerous fission fallout) from fast fission of U-23 8, the cobalt is transmuted into Co-60 (natural cobalt consists entirely of Co-5 9). Cobalt 60 has a half-life of 5.26 years and produces energetic (and thus pen etrating) gamma rays. The Co-60 fallout hazard is greater than the fission produ cts from a U-238 blanket because 1) many fission-produced isotopes have half-liv es that are very short, and thus decay before the fallout settles or can be prot ected against isotopes have very by short-term long half-lives sheltering; and thus 2) many do not fission-produced produce very intense radiatio n; or 3) the fission products are not radioactive at all. The half-life of Co-60 on the other hand is long enough to settle out before significant decay has occ urred, and to make it impractical to wait out in shelters, yet is short enough t

hat intense radiation is produced. The idea of the cobalt bomb originated with L eo Szilard who publicized it in Feb. 1950, not as a serious proposal for weapon, that but it to would point soon out be possible in principle to build a weapon that could kill ev erybody on earth (see Doomsday Device in Questions and Answers). To design such a theoretical weapon a radioactive isotope is needed that can be dispersed world wide before it decays. Such dispersal takes many months to a few years so the h alf-life of Co-60 is ideal. Initially gamma radiation fission products from an e quivalent size fission-fusion-fission are much more intense than Co-60: 15,000 t imes more intense at 1 hour; 35 times more intense at 1 week; 5 times more inte nse at 1 month; and about equal at 6 months. Thereafter fission drops off rapidl y so that Co-60 fallout is 8 times more intense than fission at 1 year and 150 t imes more intense at 5 years. The very long lived isotopes produced by fission w ould overtake the again Co-60 after about 75 years. Zinc has also been proposed for salting. The isotope Zn-64, which makes up 48.9% of natural zinc, would be c onverted to Zn-65 which is a gamma emitter with a 244 day half-life. The advanta ges of Zn-64 is that its faster decay leads to greater initial intensity. Disadv antages are that since it makes up only half of natural zinc, it must either be isotopically enriched or the yield will be cut in half; and that it is a weaker gamma emitter than Co-60, putting out only one-fourth as many gammas for the sam e molar quantity. Assuming pure Zn-64 is used, the radiation intensity of Zn-65 would initially be twice as much as Co-60. This would decline to being equal in 8 months, in 5 years Co-60 would be 110 times as intense.Militarily useful radio logical weapons would use local (as opposed to world-wide) contamination, and hi gh initial intensities for rapid effects. Prolonged contamination would also be undesirable. In this light Zn-64 is possibly best suited to military application s. As noted above ordinary "dirty" fusion-fission bombs have the highest initial radiation intensities and must also be considered radiological weapons.No cobal t or zinc bomb has ever been atmospherically tested, and as far as is publically known none have ever been built. In light of the ready availability of fissionfusion-fission bombs, it is unlikely any special-purpose fallout contamination w eapon will ever be developed.